The ALRTA celebrated our 40th Anniversary in style with a huge Gala dinner and awards night attended by over 320 people. This included 8 life members of the ALRTA.
The Rural Transport Rising Star Award was a tie between the 2 finalists. Isaac Davis 23 from Southfork Transport in Scottsdale Tasmania. Kyle Nicholas 28 from Edmonds Transport in Naracoorte SA. Both young Men impressed the judges with their maturity and passion for the industry. Both demonstrated a clear desire to better their industry knowledge through training and personal development. So, with the support of our sponsor BP Australia, the ALRTA awarded both finalists the award jointly. Isaac and Kyle were thrilled to share the award as they had built up a great new friendship throughout the lead-up to the announcement and only verified the decision by delivering 2 fantastic speeches. Congratulations Isaac and Kyle.
The ALRTA and Kenworth honored Craig Congram from Finley NSW as the Icon of the Road for 2025. When presenting the award Athol Carter of the ALRTA likened Craig to the “modern day Swaggy” often spending days and weeks on the road just for the love of what he does. An emotional Craig was just “blown away” that the industry could view him in such high regard. Craig said, “I simply loves carting livestock, and I love driving trucks”. Congratulations Craig.
The Bruce McIver Award for 2025 was presented Posthumously in honor of Jack Mitchell from Western Australia. Jack was the founding Vice President of the ALRTA in 1985 and was a huge advocate for the livestock and rural transport industry in the Associations formative years. Jack passed away in 1989 aged 57. The award was received by Jack’s son John Mitchell, acknowledging his father’s hard work and his strong friendship with Bruce McIver. John said” He only wished his dad was here tonight to receive the award himself”.
The night culminated with a fireside chat with the founding legends of the ALRTA. Executive Director Anthony Boyle hosted a 40-minute reflection on the creation and journey of the ALRTA and its involvement in the industry. Including its role in establishing the Australian Trucking Association ATA. Legends of the industry included Ross Fraser OAM from QLD, Gordan Martin NSW, Peter Berwick Tasmania, Gavan O’Sullivan VIC, Joe Sepos NSW, and the first Executive Director of the ALRTA Robert Gunning. The panel described the journey and challenges they overcame to build the association into the respected organization it is now. The audience sat in silence for the duration and gave the panel a standing ovation at the completion of the event. Anthony Boyle described the task of hosting the chat as “Extremely daunting, but equally rewarding” to be able to honor the people that have established the pathway for the ALRTA’s 40 year existence.
The Rural Transport Woman of the year was awarded to Pauline Kearney from Barooga NSW. Pauline started her journey in the transport industry aged just 15 washing trucks and now with her husband Glen and 3 sons they operate 8 trucks servicing all aspects of rural transport. Including Pauline having a long-time hands-on role driving trucks all over rural Australia.
To round out the Gala event the LRBCA of NSW presented Joe Sepos a Life Membership, which for Joe brought on a huge amount of emotion and gratitude for the evening, after earlier taking part in the Fireside chat. Joe heads up the JS Transport Group of companies which includes Stocktrans.
ALRTA 40th Anniversary Gala Evening and Awards night
The ALRTA celebrated our 40th Anniversary in style with a huge Gala dinner and awards night attended by over 320 people. This included 8 life members of the ALRTA.
The Rural Transport Rising Star Award was a tie between the 2 finalists. Isaac Davis 23 from Southfork Transport in Scottsdale Tasmania. Kyle Nicholas 28 from Edmonds Transport in Naracoorte SA. Both young Men impressed the judges with their maturity and passion for the industry. Both demonstrated a clear desire to better their industry knowledge through training and personal development. So, with the support of our sponsor BP Australia, the ALRTA awarded both finalists the award jointly. Isaac and Kyle were thrilled to share the award as they had built up a great new friendship throughout the lead-up to the announcement and only verified the decision by delivering 2 fantastic speeches. Congratulations Isaac and Kyle.
The ALRTA and Kenworth honored Craig Congram from Finley NSW as the Icon of the Road for 2025. When presenting the award Athol Carter of the ALRTA likened Craig to the “modern day Swaggy” often spending days and weeks on the road just for the love of what he does. An emotional Craig was just “blown away” that the industry could view him in such high regard. Craig said, “I simply loves carting livestock, and I love driving trucks”. Congratulations Craig.
The Bruce McIver Award for 2025 was presented Posthumously in honor of Jack Mitchell from Western Australia. Jack was the founding Vice President of the ALRTA in 1985 and was a huge advocate for the livestock and rural transport industry in the Associations formative years. Jack passed away in 1989 aged 57. The award was received by Jack’s son John Mitchell, acknowledging his father’s hard work and his strong friendship with Bruce McIver. John said” He only wished his dad was here tonight to receive the award himself”.
The night culminated with a fireside chat with the founding legends of the ALRTA. Executive Director Anthony Boyle hosted a 40-minute reflection on the creation and journey of the ALRTA and its involvement in the industry. Including its role in establishing the Australian Trucking Association ATA. Legends of the industry included Ross Fraser OAM from QLD, Gordan Martin NSW, Peter Berwick Tasmania, Gavan O’Sullivan VIC, Joe Sepos NSW, and the first Executive Director of the ALRTA Robert Gunning. The panel described the journey and challenges they overcame to build the association into the respected organization it is now. The audience sat in silence for the duration and gave the panel a standing ovation at the completion of the event. Anthony Boyle described the task of hosting the chat as “Extremely daunting, but equally rewarding” to be able to honor the people that have established the pathway for the ALRTA’s 40 year existence.
The Rural Transport Woman of the year was awarded to Pauline Kearney from Barooga NSW. Pauline started her journey in the transport industry aged just 15 washing trucks and now with her husband Glen and 3 sons they operate 8 trucks servicing all aspects of rural transport. Including Pauline having a long-time hands-on role driving trucks all over rural Australia.
To round out the Gala event the LRBCA of NSW presented Joe Sepos a Life Membership, which for Joe brought on a huge amount of emotion and gratitude for the evening, after earlier taking part in the Fireside chat. Joe heads up the JS Transport Group of companies which includes Stocktrans.