After being postponed last year, the annual Lights on the Hill Memorial Convoy was back on the weekend, with 409 trucks from across the state converging on Gatton in Queensland to remember drivers who have died.
Kenworths, Macks, Western Stars and everything in between rumbled east through Toowoomba and west through Brisbane over two days to meet at the Truck and Coach Drivers Memorial in Lake Apex Park.
During Sunday's memorial, 54 drivers' names were added to the wall.
Drivers are added when they have contributed substantially to the Australian transport industry and have died in a truck or work related accident, or died by other means.
Lights on the Hill president Gary Simpson said while interstate drivers were largely absent this year, he was "stunned" by the turnout.
"I've been very surprised because there's always a lot of interstate blokes in it and I was a little worried it would be a fizzer," Mr Simpson said.
"But they proved me wrong and I was so happy about that.
"Having said that, we don't care if there's five or six trucks there - there's going to be a convoy and a party."
Mr Simpson said the number of people attending the service had increased on previous years.
"[Usually] we have about 18 trucks that line each side of the memorial, but this time we must've had 60 or 70 that turned up. The whole park was just full."
One of the highlights for the president this year was the seamless cooperation from government departments.
"... Main Roads [was] so good to let us through Toowoomba again - they were very supportive. We hadn't been through Toowoomba for three or four years."
Mr Simpson said while he was the figurehead for the organisation, it was the other volunteers who deserved much of the credit for organising the event.
"I may be the president, but I'm not the boss. I've got an awesome crew. They're an amazing bunch of people and their heart's in it."
Mr Simpson became involved in LOTH in 2004 after a friend in the industry died on the job and he wanted to pay tribute to him.
"He had a heart attack behind the wheel down in Melbourne and we were just great mates," he said.
"We did the whole tour that year. We put him on the Tarcutta memorial wall, the Tamworth memorial wall, and Lights on the Hill, and that's how I first found out about it."
Federal Road Safety and Freight Transport Assistant Minister Scott Buchholz, who was recently in Gatton, said the memorial was significant for the country and for the region.
"The Lights on the Hill Memorial is an important legacy of Australian trucking, particularly here in the Lockyer Valley ...," Mr Buchholz said.
"I pay respect and tribute to all of those truck drivers lost on our roads, I think of them every time I hit the highway ..."
Lights on the Hill was founded by Kathy White, who began raising funds for the memorial wall in 2003. The first convoy followed in 2004, and the wall was officially opened in 2005.
Before Slim Dusty died in 2003, he and his wife Joy agreed to let the organisation use his song name for the memorial and became patrons of it.
More photos of the event will be released in the coming days.
- courtesy Queensland Country Life.
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Brandon Long
Brandon Long is a Queensland Country Life journalist based in Toowoomba.
Brandon Long is a Queensland Country Life journalist based in Toowoomba.
