Australia’s road transport legends: Graeme ElphinstoneFriday 5 Sep 2025
This week, his lifetime of dedication was recognised on the national stage, with Graeme inducted into the prestigious Shell Rimula National Road Transport Wall of Fame. Joining the ranks of Australia’s trucking pioneers, Graeme’s name is now etched alongside the men and women whose vision and determination forged the backbone of the nation’s road transport industry. The honour not only celebrates his engineering brilliance but also acknowledges the indelible mark he has left on generations of operators who relied on his ingenuity to get the job done. The Shell Rimula Wall of Fame is a cornerstone of Australia’s road transport heritage. Held annually as part of the Festival of Transport in Alice Springs, the induction ceremony celebrates the men and women who have helped shape the transport industry through decades of service, ingenuity, and dedication. Graeme Elphinstone’s induction to this Hall of Fame is a testament to his five decades of innovation in heavy vehicle design and safety. A Tasmanian born and bred, Graeme began his career in the early 1970s and quickly became a problem-solver for the transport challenges of the era. In 1976, Graeme and his brother Dale imported and fitted Australia’s first on-vehicle truck weighing system – installing scales on a Tasmanian log truck to accurately measure its load. This pioneering step revolutionised load management, allowing drivers to know their weight before hitting the highway, and laid the foundation for modern onboard mass monitoring in heavy vehicles. With Graeme’s help, Tasmanian Pulp and Forest Holdings’ woodchip mill in Triabunna introduced a groundbreaking “non-payment for overload” policy that removed the incentive for truck drivers to carry overweight loads. This initiative, a collaboration between the mill, logging contractors and Transport Tasmania, is regarded as one of the first practical applications of today’s Chain of Responsibility (COR) principles in Australian transport. Graeme’s efforts in ensuring trucks were no longer overloaded beyond legal limits improved safety and fairness for drivers and operators alike, inspiring a new era of innovation in the industry. More >> Source & image credit: Roadtrains Australia  | ||
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