Veteran interstate truckie shares his life in pictures

Since he started driving trucks in the 1990s, 55-year-old Cam Deans has travelled to every state and territory except Tassie, from behind the wheel of a big rig – and he’s now documented almost 30 years behind the wheel through the camera lens.

Currently based in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region, Cam grew up in Perth – and spent stints living in Darwin, Sydney and Brisbane. 

His travels across this vast Australian landscape have offered a perfect opportunity to capture the life of a truckie in pictures.

From 16 years of running east-west, to working for some of the industry’s major players, to owning his own fleet of four trucks – Cam’s time on the road has been anything but drab.

“The first thing I would pack into the truck was the camera bag. I’ve got four banana boxes filled with photos – some good and some not so good,” he told Big Rigs, as he spoke about his career, reminiscing about the good old days of comradery and developing lifelong friendships with those he met out on the road.

“I’ve taken thousands of photos. It wouldn’t be uncommon for me to shoot four or five rolls of film in one trip,” said Cam.

“If I was running into Sydney, I had a couple of places I’d go to get them developed – and I’d double check they’d be ready that day, before I had to head back west. I would get the photos developed while on the road wherever I could. I’d keep the good shots and throw away the shit ones.

“Now everything is on the phone. I do still love it but there was something about the manual photography.

“It wasn’t uncommon when I’d be travelling at night through outback NSW with two or three trucks, you’d all stop together and have a laugh. I’d set up a tripod, cable release, three lenses and take a heap of photographs.”

Cam says his love of trucks was inspired by a friendship he struck up with a truckie named Shane Robertson, when he was in his teens.

However it wasn’t until Cam was in his mid-twenties that he decided to give trucking a crack.

He got his start in trucks with a company called Winmarley’s. “I was pretty disillusioned after ringing around and struggling to get a job because I didn’t have the experience,” explained Cam. “But they let me have a crack, and the rest was history. I was there about 18 months. That was the start of it all. It was the operations manager there, Bob Sadick, who gave me my start.”

At Winmarley’s Cam drove a 1988 Kenworth T600 with a Detroit engine and 14-speed Spicer gearbox. “I was glad I cut my teeth on a Spicer first up. Not the easiest box to master,” Cam said.

“A driver named Johnno Warren was working at Winmarley’s when I first started. He lives not far from me now in the Wheatbelt and we’ve remained good friends. I’ve gained invaluable knowledge from him over the years.”

Cam quickly got onto the interstate runs, travelling to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Though he admits the industry back then in the 1990s was a far cry from what it is today.

“A lot of trucks were capable of 140km/h plus. Myself and a lot of us used the extra legs when needed. There was a time and a place to do it,” laughed Cam.

“It wasn’t uncommon for a lot of interstate drivers to have quick trucks. It would make your head spin now. I was beating today’s two-up teams on my own.

“I was doing Perth to Melbourne in 36 hours, Perth to Sydney in 46 hours, and Perth to Brisbane in 46 hours.

“Then they decided to slow the trucks down, first speed-limiting them to 110km/h, then down to 100km/h.”

From Winmarley’s, Cam started working for BJR Transport. As he explained, “Brad ‘BJ’ Auhl was an owner operator who needed a two-up driver, so I started doing that.”

The pair would cart ammonium nitrate out of Perth to a mine in Broken Hill, then either go down to Port Pirie and load lead for Sydney or head out to Lake Menindee and load cotton that went into Penrith.

“BJ is sadly no longer with us but I owe a lot of what I know to him. He was a little bit older than me and came from a successful family truck business. Rarely did people become friends doing two-up, but we did – and we did that together for a good couple of years,” revealed Cam.

“BJ was fastidious with his truck, a 1986 Kenworth W-Model with a 400 Cat engine and an 18-speed Roadranger. It was immaculate in every way.

“The best time of my life was on the road in the mid 1990s and beyond. My time at Kinnear Trans running Brisbane and my time at Time Road Transport running to Sydney were the best jobs. They were both family businesses and were great people to work for. Thanks to Bob, Karen Kinnear and family, and Michael and Karen Straits and family, it was a pleasure to go to work.”

A lot of my friends now are still from that era and the comradery and loyalty can’t be beaten.”

Cam went on to work in various roles, including running his own small transport fleet, carting clay for a newly opened brickworks in Perth and running to the north-west of the state. He did that for about five years until he decided to sell his trucks and go back to working for an employer after a relationship break-up.

Today, Cam is behind the wheel of a 2015 Mack Superliner, pulling a set of grain tippers and carting lime, sand and gypsum to local farms throughout the Wheatbelt.

Cam has fond memories from his many years of travelling across the country, but says now the local work suits him best.

“I have a 10-year-old daughter so I want to be closer to home. I also have a 33-year-old daughter and spent so much time away when she was growing up – and missed so much.”

Looking back on his early years in trucking, Cam says a lot has changed on the road. “Back in the early days when I was driving interstate, I thought it was the best job in the world. The freedom of driving is what I love and that was the motivator when I got into trucking.

“Now you couldn’t get away with anything we were doing back then!”

Cam believes that the over-regulation of the industry has sadly taken much of the enjoyment out of the job, adding to issues with attracting people into truck driving.

“There needs to be some sort of enjoyment in what you do for a job. There has to be something interesting, something that keeps you there. The looseness of the industry back in the day and the fact there was still a job that had to be done, was probably a big attraction to me. Now it’s so heavily regulated,” he said. 

“It wasn’t uncommon back then to be parked up with 30 drivers on the side of the road around a bonfire. That doesn’t happen now. We were always responsible – we never drank and drove.

“Whenever you saw someone stopped, you’d always help each other out, whether it was to fix a tyre or anything else – regardless of whether you knew the person or not. And that’s how a lot of friendships were made. I still have many friends over in the eastern states because of that.

“Sadly, there are a lot of drivers out there who aren’t qualified to do the job. Then there are others with untold experience and skills they could pass onto the next generation. But sadly, so many of these old-timers have given it up because it’s gotten too dangerous out there.”