Bumper Brighton show delivers for Tassie truck fans

Jonathan WallisNovember 25, 2025, 9:53 amDecember 8, 2025

It was a great pleasure to attend the 20th Annual Brighton Truck Show at the Pontville Recreation Grounds on November 9. Despite a run of rain and lousy weather, the day indeed turned out to be happily pleasant.

Once again superbly organised by Michael Purdon, Vice President and Life Member of the Brighton Show Society, with his hard-working committee, the popular and highly compatible truck show is run in conjunction with the Brighton Agricultural Show, which is among the oldest established local shows in Tasmania having been held since 1946

Brighton Agricultural Show Society President Geoff Jackson said the one-day event, which attracted approximately 20,000 people this year, was again a huge success.

Michael Purdon had arranged for the well-known transport icon Glenn ‘Yogi’ Kendall and his wife Amanda to attend as guests of honour which undoubtedly attracted a good crowd of admirers and friends including Rick Sutcliffe, who sadly suffered from a heart attack on arrival at the showgrounds and had to be medevacked to the Royal Hobart Hospital for treatment.

Happily he has made a good recovery since and is now back on his feet, and he would like to thank the Brighton Saint John’s staff who were on the spot, all those who promptly attended him at the show as well as the staff at ER at the Royal Hobart for their prompt and kind assistance and finally all those who have been enquiring about him.

Being close to Hobart, this show popularly maintains its authentic country links.

[L-R] Matthew Andrew, Michael Purdon, Anita McKinlay, Hayden Purdon and Heath Williams.

There were all the usual attractions on hand, including the state high-jump competition for dogs, a popular and well supported ute show organised by the Brighton Rural Youth and as usual the show program included livestock, and agricultural exhibits, as well as joy rides provided by Jason Clarke from Ultimate Helicopter Flights, free pony rides and live entertainment including country/rock performances.

We were also fortunate to catch up with Anita McKinlay, statewide sales representative from AJL Heavy Industries, originally founded in Burnie by Andrew Lawson who have five locations in Tasmania and Victoria.

They are now a dealership for Daimler Trucks which includes Freightliner and Mercedes with Fuso coming on board in 2026.

She told us how impressed she had been with the entire Brighton Show and especially with the amount of interest shown in their display and trucks.

The Thames Trader runner-up in the Best Classic category leads in the RECYCAL Scanias.

Being, finally, a fine day, after a lot of unseasonal rain, a large crowd had turned out to welcome the 75 impressive and lovingly detailed trucks as they lined up on the oval adjacent to the main entrance, and the family friendly atmosphere was conducive to a great amiable gathering for truckies and their families as well as for the general public who came to admire, compare and generally look at this line up of rigs and chat with their owners and drivers.

We note that this interaction is a great bonus for the industry being one of the few occasions when the public gets to put real faces and names and people inside the trucks they pass on the highway, and hopefully gain a better understanding of this essential industry itself.

Michael Purdon asked us to thank all those who turned up and supported the show, and in particular CKD, Quinn Transport and Spreading and from AJL, all of whom donated the handsome and keenly contested trophies.