Radius Fulton Dunedin resident Rae Tangiora said she had seen plenty of change in the trucking industry since she started out in Queensland as a teenager in the 1960s.
She was reflecting on her career ahead of International Women’s Day yesterday.
"My dad was a truck driver, and most of his family were truck drivers."
As an only child it was obvious that, "seeing I was the only ‘boy’ born, that I’d get up into a truck".
The appeal was "to prove to everybody that I could, [that] girls can do that", Ms Tangiora said.
"People sort of went, ‘do you drive a truck? One of the little Tonka ones?’ and I went, ‘yeah right, come and have a look’.
"They went and looked and went, ‘you don’t drive that’. And I said, ‘the hell I don’t’."
She hauled sugar cane, machinery and heavy cargo across the Outback in multi-day trips and, later in her career, trained other drivers. Over time, the number of women drivers grew.
"[The trucks are] quite hard to manoeuvre. But once you get the hang of it, there’s no stopping you."
The freedom of the road and the people she met on the job were her favourite part, she said.
"I’d go back there tomorrow if I could, as old as I am. I’d love it."
