Slim’s widow devastated by alleged theft of Eyre Highway memorial

Delphine Mugridge, the widow of revered interstate truckie Neville ‘Slim’ Mugridge, is devastated by the news that her late husband’s roadside memorial on the Eyre Highway has been removed, feared stolen.

Slim was tragically killed, along with two other drivers, in a two-truck crash on the SA highway about 27km west of Yalata on April 4, 2024.

The memorial was made by Bruze Custom Trucks and erected at the accident site last July.

Delphine is thankful to the industry for offering a replacement, but is still shocked that the memorial inscribed with the words, ‘RIP Slim’ and ‘Legend in a Legend’ could disappear.

“Who would do something like that? It’s something so unique that nobody could say, ‘Look what I’ve got’. Everyone’s going to know now that it was stolen,” she said.

“A lot of people would slow down too because they knew there had been an accident there.”

Delphine drew some comfort from erecting a plaque for Slim at the White Hill Truck Drivers’ Memorial Wall in Murray Bridge on March 1, but said it’s too upsetting for her to visit the Eyre Highway site.

She said many truckies would pay their respects to Slim as they passed.

“A lot of the truck drivers thought that Nev was watching over them.”

Delphine said the shock news of the memorial’s disappearance – just a few days away from the anniversary of Slim’s passing – has only made her more determined to lobby for nationwide changes to licensing pathways for international drivers.

Her online petition has already helped convince SA to lead the way, and she is drawing strength from the fact that signatories supporting her cause continue to climb – 22,615 at the time of writing.

She’s planning to relocate to her home state of Queensland soon, where she’s already made approaches to the state government for a meeting with the Minister for Transport and Main Roads Brent Mickelberg in the hope of broadening a lasting legacy for Slim.