Hayden Hinkley

In-depth

9 Feb

Hayden Hinkley sits behind the wheel of his 1997 T950 on the Sunday morning, nursing a slightly sore head – the result of a great convoy followed by a greater night.

Working for Haore Bros out of Geelong, Hayden’s job is to move this earthmoving company’s equipment to wherever it’s needed. It could be a 5 ton excavator or the 125 ton big boy. “Its 150 ton rated and the C15 CAT does a great job no matter the load. I’ve been in it since last May and it hadn’t had a lot of TLC. Took me 2½ hours just to clean the cab out. Now I can eat breakfast off the floor. That’s the way I like it.”

Originally from Edenhope where he grew up on a farm, the love of trucks and machinery started when he was very young. His father had two trucks – a KGL Bedford and an FA 50 Ford. “I started to learn how to drive them on the farm which is a good place to start. You can’t get into too much trouble and you get a wealth of experience.

“In 1991 I was coming home on the school bus and I saw this magic truck in next door’s driveway. I got really excited and said to Mum and Dad we have to go next door and meets the new neighbours. Dad said, what do you mean? I simply said ‘truck’. We have to go and have a look. So we all piled in the car to do just that. Remember, on a farm next door is more than just over the fence. Well, it is just over the fence, but the fence is a long way away. And that’s when I met Leo Kelly who owns the Midnight Special W900.

“In 1996 when I was 15, we moved from Edenhope down to Apollo Bay, which was a nice sea change. Mum and Dad got out of the farm and were managing a caravan park there. I got to know a bloke, Geoff Higgins, who had a cement business and he had a few flash trucks. One of them was an ex-Wettenhall’s 1974 S2 Kenworth with a 903 Cummins on it. I learnt to drive properly in that truck.

4. S2 when Hayden was working for Geoff Higgins at Apollo Bay.jpg

“I bought that S2 from him and I still have it, as well as an old Sutherlands cab over, much to the wife’s disgust. ‘You can only drive one truck at a time!’

**Hayden’s Cab-over in its Sutherland days**

“Dad always said to me, ‘Don’t ever go out and buy your own truck and work it. Just go and drive for someone else, and earn wages. You don’t have to worry about tires, the motor blowing up, or the gearbox or a differential or whatever.’

“In 2001 I saw an army ad on TV and I thought I’d give it a go. I joined for six years, spending 3½ years up in Darwin which I loved, then the last 2½ with 85 Transport at Moorebank where we were driving old S lines with 20 speed Spicers in them. That was road train and heavy haulage work which was good.

**Hayden’s Army S-line at RAAF Base, Curtin**

“Getting out in 2006 I worked for a mate at Balranald doing Red Gum sleepers and a bit of grain. When work dropped off I thought I’d look for work down around Geelong. Dad said there was a job going at Wettenhall’s if I wanted it so I started there on the logs. I did that for a month and put a log truck arse overhead – which wasn’t my fault by the way.

“I finished with Wettenhall’s in 2010, going to STS Bulk Haulage. Then to Hoare Bros for the first time nine years ago. That first time the Transport Manager they had was an absolute idiot. He wanted everything done now and he wanted it done whether it was legal or not.”

“So I moved on, doing a bit of earthmoving around Winchelsea followed by a stint with Mick Hudson for five years. Good boss and good gear, but into Melbourne every day for five years - and a lot of local driving around Melbourne had got me to the stage where if I didn’t get out of the truck and come back to Geelong I was going to get out of the truck and belt someone. It was getting to me a bit. So I got a job at Batesford near Geelong on a dozer for a couple of months when someone worded Hoare Bros up that I was available. And here we are.”

Hayden Hinkley has had a few jobs over the years, but he’s never been out of one. Could there be a little Hinkley to follow in Dad’s footsteps? Little Verity is a bit over 2½ years old and truck crazy. “She cracked it yesterday because she wanted to come with me.”