ATHS Member “Peter Williams” aka Lizard Inductee to Road Transport Hall of Fame

I started wondering about who of our ATHS members have been inducted into the Road Transport Hall of Fame, Shell Rimula Wall of Fame and l have found a few! Time fly’s by pretty quick so l thought l would bring to light some of the past. This information was off the website for the Road Transport Hall of Fame.

So lets start with our Northern Victoria Representative Peter Williams aka ” Lizard”.

WILLIAMS, Peter (Lizard)
Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at ReUnion 2014.
Peter Williams started out driving trucks on the Hume Highway in 1965 when he was just 19 years of age. Peter, or Lizard as he later became known, drove for some of Australia’s largest and most iconic transport companies including Arnolds, Marsden’s, Harry Powell, Barney Kerr, Ansetts, Eastoes and John Nash.
By 1978 Peter was sick of driving the Hume Highway and moved to Alice Springs in search of new adventures. He wanted to drive for Buntine’s, however they wouldn’t give him a start then as he had no cattle ‘savvy’ at the time. Never the less Peter decided to stay on in the Territory working over the next few years for K&T Transport and then Barry Bail doing Darwin-Brisbane return. He then decided to try Buntine again and started carting lime from Alice Springs to the Ranger Uranium Mine at Jabiru. When that contract ended in 1981 manager Peter Gunner suggested he move up to Katherine and “go into cows”.
For the next three decades Lizard worked under the legendary Buntine / RTA banner for Noel Buntine, Bob Dodds, Dicky David, Jim and Jamie Cooper and David Jones. Lizard recalls that cattle carting out in the bull dust was the best job ever; stiff barring through rivers and getting towed up jump-ups, and lots of time getting yourself in and out of strife. “It’s very satisfying later to talk about but very hard when you are actually doing it” he said. Lizard enjoyed carting boat cattle for export but for him the bush, withs its mateship and hardships of the early days were the best.
“A pair of Redwing boots and a bottle of rum would get you through just about anything! The rough and tumble of the job is what I really loved, you just get up and go and do it”
Some of the men Lizard drove with were Legends in the real sense of the word, Men like Jack Taylor, Noel Tones, Pissy Pepperill, Reg McGinnes, Marty Smith, and also the blokes who are still in the game such as Tino Geonacelli, Prickles, Peter Byrnes and 10 Stud Turner; they have all been there and done that. So has Lizard!