An old saying goes like this: the first generation builds a business, the second generation grows it, and the third generation kills it. But they’re just sayings for a reason, and Russell Transport doesn’t particularly believe in this one.
The Queensland-based transport operator is celebrating 2025 with an extremely rare milestone: 100 years in business. Safe to say a fair bit has changed since Roy and Beryl Russell undertook what was then a tiny operation transporting motor spirit for the Commonwealth Oil Refinery in Brisbane.
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Between Roy jumping in his first truck, and speaking to now-director Ken Russell (Roy’s grandson), we’ve landed on the moon, fought another world war, invented colour TV and the smartphone, and even made some slightly better trucks. Though that one might depend who you ask — some of us still swear by the old stuff.
But there’s nothing outdated about Russell Transport though, with the third generation in Ken, Julie and Michael leading the business into bigger and better things every year.
PowerTorque sat down to speak to Ken and Julie alongside Phil Russell, part of the Russell Transport’s third and second generation respectively.
While the milestone is a massive one, they’re not making too much out of it.
“We really do live in it every day when you break down it down, we’re going through the same processes every single day,” Ken says.
“Is it different to 90 years or 80 years? Obviously, but everyone celebrates differently. I saw a business that’s 20 years old putting a big combination on the road. Everyone has different ways of celebrating.
“As you go along, each milestone means different things. It’s hard to put a finger on just what 100 means. It’s been asked heaps of times!
“Ultimately it’s been a lot of hard work from those before us to get here.”
From those early days of a husband, a wife and their truck, Russell Transport has grown to 270 employees, but with the same values and ethos that made them strong from the start.
“The business has made 100 years in three generations in the single bloodline,” Ken says.
“There’s been challenges along the way, but the transport business has maintained throughout that time. The equipment we put on the road is very modest. But there is a lot of pride there.
“It’s not an easy industry. Anything that involves people involves pressure. The feeling of making it happen for 100 years makes me acknowledge that every day has been worth it. One of my goals when I became a director was to make it to 100 years.”
Nearly the whole Russell clan has experience being around the business from a young age, as many do in family businesses.
While kids aren’t exactly jumping in the passenger seat anymore for delivery runs, the business has been a staple of the lives of everyone in the family.
Looking back, Julie recalls some of her earliest memories being around her dad’s work.
“In the back of my mind I remember the layout of our site and how it used to be,” she says.
“There was a dirt yard at the back. There were Christmas parties with hay bales at the back of the trailers and you’d go for a drive back there. Over time that’s changed to concrete and there’s not so many snakes!
“I can remember being amongst the celebrations at the end of the year every year. I remember coming in on weekends when dad would come in to do some work. I remember him building us a cubby house out the back, trying to put it together.
“He was welding, and I was standing in the middle of an A frame and it all fell down around me!”
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