Wanaka man George Wallis has been inducted into the New Zealand Road Transport Hall of Fame at the Bill Richardson Truck Museum in Invercargill.
Hall of Fame organisers said Mr Wallis was recognised for his lifelong passion for International brand trucks - which began when he bought his first truck, an International SF174 in 1959 - but more importantly for his role in putting in log bridges on the Hawea River in the 1950s, which helped open up the West Coast and Central Otago regions to heavy vehicles.
In 1960, Mr Wallis and his father, Arthur, established Haast Timbers Ltd, which milled Haast logs at Luggate.
After Arthur's death in 1961, George and his brother, Tim, accepted Carter Merchants' (later Carter Holt Harvey) offer to buy cutting rights for Wallis timber, and George Wallis continued the logging and timber cartage contract for Carters.
He formed Haast Transport Ltd in 1965, and bought B. H. Cowan Ltd in 1968.
He established a freight run linking Haast with Central Otago, had five trucks on permanent contract to the Ministry of Works, which was building the Haast road, carted deer carcasses twice weekly to Christchurch, supplied Mobil fuel and organised the livestock cartage for the massive annual cattle sales for the West Coast region.
The Haast contracting business was sold in 1974 and Mr Wallis and his family moved to Wanaka, but Mr Wallis continued to haul freight and fuel from Cromwell to Haast and ran businesses supplying lucerne pellets and carrying out agricultural contracting work.
He helped establish the Warbirds Over Wanaka International Airshow with Sir Tim, and the Warbirds and Wheels visitor attraction at Wanaka Airport.
He still owns six trucks today, along with several classic cars and tractors.
''There are a lot of great characters who've been involved with the road transport industry all around New Zealand over the years, so it's quite an honour to be included with these guys,'' Mr Wallis said of his Hall of Fame recognition at a gala dinner on Friday.
