Paydon: Transporting From the 1850’s

In-depth

12 May

In the 1850’s, the Paydon family first ventured into the transport industry with a horse-drawn Hansom Cab service operating in Richmond, Victoria. With three sons from the marriage it soon became obvious that there was not enough work for all the men, so in 1893 William John Paydon, one of the sons went to Dandenong and set up a Hansom Cab service at the newly arrived railway.

As Dandenong grew from its small beginnings, there came a need for a carrying service between Melbourne and Dandenong. W.J. Paydon set up a covered wagon drawn by a three horse team. It took 12 hours for the Melbourne to Dandenong trip, which meant two wagon trips per week.

Great, great, grandson John Paydon comments: “So they ran from Dandenong to Melbourne originally with three horse teams. They used to change the teams at Oakley to a five horse team so they could traverse the hills at Toorak. Today probably no one notices that there even are hills at Toorak.”

By 1916 W.J. had several horse teams, but motorised transport was available and others in the district were looking to become opposition. In 1916 the first motor vehicle was purchased but due to lack of money the horse-drawn wagon became the back of the truck.

From 1916 through to 1956 the business prospered and by 1950 was running 14 trucks. The business closed in 1956 but by then there had been 4 generations involved in the transport industry.

John William Paydon (A reverse of the originals first two names) is a fair way down the pecking order in terms of the family history which started in 1850. “That was my great, great, grandfather right through to our dad, Aleck who went in and started with the trucks. Sadly he couldn’t seem to get it together and the business folded in 1956.

“The original depot was in Little Collins Street. They had the phone on there but it was only a three digit number - which shows how long ago it was.

Living in Gippsland, John had his own business for years, running Adelaide and Perth. “I got out of that in 2001 because it just wasn’t working anymore and I also had a few other issues going on. So I went and worked for other people for 10 years then I just decided I’d done my bit and I was going to do what I wanted from then on.”

What he wanted to do was to rebuild a truck to remember his father, Aleck’s time in the industry. That truck is a beautifully rebuilt Ford, proudly displaying his father’s name on the doors. “It has been a brother thing. The three of us put a lot of time and effort into it and rebuilt it in the old man’s name. It is a ‘48 Flathead Ford. We took it to Alice Springs a couple of years ago with the intention of leaving it there, but there is that much stuff up there that everything is out in the open now, and so we bought it back home. It’s just kind of history for the old man really.”

The truck bears the name ‘Ailsa’, who was John’s mother’s name. “Sadly we lost her at age 49 back in 1970. We lost dad eight years ago at 87. He was in transport all his life.

The truck rebuild was a family affair. “I did pretty much all the bottom – the wheels and tires, the brakes, the running gear. My older brother, Aleck and one of his mates did the tray and then the younger bloke, Donald did the cab with another mate of his.”

“It had an awful lot of rust in it. The cross members were eaten through. It was in a pretty desperate space. Someone had actually stuck a fork-lift blade through the left-hand door. Daryl did a great job of the cab. As I said it’s a family thing. It’s good to keep these old things going.

“I’m still kind of a truckie - well sort of. But I would hate to take this to Sydney with a ton on it. Dad had K5 Inters and Fargo’s as well - one of which I’ve just bought which I’m going to build up - again in his name.”

Hats off to the Paydon’s who, along with many others keep this country’s transport history alive.