FROM trekking across Australia with his beloved camels to years spent carting grapes in Coonawarra, Murray Weston has led a colourful life and made a significant impact on the community of Penola.
As a chapter of his life providing earthmoving and cartage services across the region draws to a close, Mr Weston has looked back on some of his fondest working life memories over the years.
Growing up with 10 sisters and three brothers in rural Victoria at Peronne, Mr Weston started his working life clearing scrub with his father.
“I did that for many years and it was a memorable time in my life – we used to camp out together while working,” Mr Weston said.
Later on in life, Mr Weston worked as a shearer in Apsley, Victoria, buying a bungalow with his wife Colleen.
“This is where I met my wife Colleen in Apsley and where we bought our first house,” he said.
However, with work slowing down in Apsley, Mr Weston started to look for job opportunities elsewhere.
“I came across an (advertisement) in the paper for a job going in Coonawarra, so we packed up and moved there,” Mr Weston said.
After arriving in Coonawarra, he then started shearing sheep and purchased his first small truck.
“My first truck was a 1947 Ford,” he said.
“I then bought a bigger truck and got into the trucking business with my son Simon and this is where we began carting grapes.”
He then gained a contract at Wynns Coonawarra and has provided services in various areas of the winery with vineyard work and carting grapes.
“I have been working for Wynns for 35 to 40 years and this has included putting new roads in the vineyards, putting irrigation in and of course carting grapes,” Mr Weston said.
“I have put a lot of work into the winery.”
Mr Weston said he cherished working for Wynns and the way the winery had looked after him through the years, along with providing services for other clients.
Alongside his working life, Mr Weston also found time to combine his love for camels and the Australian desert into a large fundraising effort.
“It all started when my grandson needed the Royal Flying Doctor Service when falling ill,” Mr Weston said.
“I decided to raise funds for the service to help others in similar situations.”
Mr Weston has crisscrossed Australia on camel, raising around $30,000 to $40,000 each trek.
He has travelled from Uluru to the Gold Coast and around 15 years ago he went on a trip to Darwin – arriving in Port MacDonnell three months later.
“I get on really well with camels, they are pretty intelligent animals and I have loved trekking through the desert with them,” Mr Weston said.
“I have been lucky to see so much of the outback.”
Funds raised have also been put back into the local community, with a trip on his camel from Port MacDonnell to Penola funding a new bed at the Penola War Memorial Hospital.
More recently, in 2015, Mr Weston and his brother Arthur rode in a horse drawn gypsy wagon from Comaum to Coonawarra in an effort to raise funds for the homeless in the South East.
With Mr Weston’s heavy vehicle work coming to an end and his son continuing the business, he has looked back at this time fondly and said in the future he would like to spend his time travelling to visit family members and friends across Australia.
