Who’s Older?

In-depth

22 Jan

Looking at George Dawson beside his truck, it is difficult to guess who is older and when I ask George a wry smile spreads across his face.

“I’ll take that as a sideways compliment,” he says. “The truck’s a 1946 model, and I’m a fair bit older than that, so you’re saying I don’t look any older than the truck, yes?”

The truck min question is a Maple Leaf. It was born in 1946 and first registered in March of 1947. George has owned the truck for 10 years. Born in Castlemaine, he left that town 70 years ago and moved to Rayworth near Bendigo.

His first truck was a ’44 Chevrolet bought from Alf Bentley in Castlemaine and which George ran for a few years. Upon moving to Rayworth he bought the General Store which came with a truck.

“I used to do all the general carrying around the area in those days. It’s not far from Bendigo and I used to do the cartage run between Rayworth and Bendigo every Tuesday and Friday, carting eggs and wool or whatever needed to be carted to Bendigo. The return trip was whatever was needed for the shop. That was in the 50’s.

“In ‘53 we bought a school bus run which came with a Bedford. In 1956 we got a second run - my father drove one and I drove the other in between the shop and whatever.”

**George keeps a bus as well as the Maple Leaf because, why not?**

In 1959 the local garage was closing up and George – never one to miss an opportunity – got it at a great price and reduced his servicing costs as well. Kangaroo Bus Lines at – yep, you guessed it – Kangaroo Flat had been around since 1928 and the then owners had it as a hand-me-down from their parents.

“They wanted someone more or less to run the buses. I went there in 1975 as a shareholder and I bought it completely in1992.”

George then promptly sold half of the business off to pay for what he’d borrowed – in the process keeping the buses. Renaming the company Bendigo Coachlines he undertook charter work.

“We used to do Red Centre trips and safari trips. We had 15 coaches doing that. We were also specialists in Gold Coast trips for secondary schools. We’d have three or four coaches from one school go up which kept us out of mischief, plus all the charter work from Bendigo to Melbourne.”

Retiring ten years ago, George bought the Maple Leaf, having had one in a younger life.

“It was a complete truck virtually. A one owner, it had been in the same family ever since new, out at Newstead and I reckon they must’ve kept it under cover most of the time.

“When the paint is 60 years old you expect a bit of fading and bit of rust or top rust but it was in pretty good nick overall. Mechanically I had to do the motor up, and all the brakes of course. There were new rubbers and a general reconditioning of everything really. A new coat of two-pack paint went on and it brought her up nicely. I don’t have to polish it, just clean it. The older I get the less likely I like to clean.”

“She has a six cylinder, smash feed Chev motor - if that means anything.”

It didn’t to this relative youngster, so George explained further….

“On the conrods - for lubrication - that have a little scoop which scoops the oil out of a tray and that’s all the lubrication to the big ends. In 1954 they changed to oil pressure. Too many revs will kill it because it won’t get enough oil, and they will rev out all right so you have to watch the right foot. Keep the revs down and the big ends will last.”

George also has a Hino LA truck - the first ones with the wider chassis rails. “All the Japanese trucks at that time had narrower rails. If you had an American body you had to modify the tray to fit on the Japanese chassis but when the LA came out with a wide chassis I could take the body of an International and put it straight on the Hino. That’s the 1979 model. Hino were the best of any of the Japanese trucks, and many others as well, I reckon. Did you know their engines propelled the Japanese tanks? Don’t mention the war.”

These days George and his wife live a happy retirement at Kangaroo flat, pulling the Maple Leaf out to attend the Castlemaine Truck show and getting particular enjoyment out of the convoy though the township.

He never did divulge his age but I hope I’m doing as well as he is when – and if – I get there!