Mount Gambier trucking legend Raymond Scott awarded Queens Birthday Honour

Known for his golden advice, generosity and refusal to wear a suit and tie, a Mount Gambier trucking icon has been awarded an Order of Australia honour a year after his passing.

Raymond Scott never walked down the main street of Mount Gambier without a chinwag with a fellow truckie or the mayor – and there’s not a truck stop in Australia where he wasn’t greeted with a hello.

Almost a year after his death, aged 70, the trucking magnate has been named a member in the General Division of the Order of Australia for his significant service to the road transport industry and the community.

Mount Gambier trucking legend Ray Scott has been named a member in the General Division of the Order of Australia for his significant service to the road transport industry and the community. Picture: The Scott family

Describing him as the type of bloke who hated putting on a suit and tie, wife Jill Scott and children Libby Marcus, Prue Xanthopoulos and Ashley Scott were thrilled his legacy had been honoured yet sad they couldn’t celebrate together.

“He would have been really proud but very humble, he wasn’t a big head about things like this,” Mrs Scott said.

The son of Allan Scott, trucking was in Ray’s blood and he was at his happiest hitting the road to Queensland in his Western Star with his dog Effie.

Starting out as a driver he went on to launch Ray Scott Groups of Companies and even during his seven-year cancer battle he kept driving, only stopping in his final six months when could no longer physically climb into the cab.

If he could have found a way, Mrs Scott says there would have been no stopping him.

“When he was a five years old, he could remember being under the stock crate and doing up bolts for his father while he was putting the boards in the bottom of the truck,” Mrs Scott said.

Ray Scott and fellow trucker Ted Bushby reuniting after thirty years at the Road Transport Hall of Fame. Picture Justin Brierty

“He’d have his chemo, then come home, hop in a truck and drive to the Queensland stations, he never let it get him down.

“I don’t think there’s many roads in Australia he hasn’t driven on.”

The convoy of trucks that drove through Mount Gambier to mark his funeral showed the impact he had on the trucking industry.

But for Mrs Scott it was the cards thanking him for his advice that showed his true camaraderie.

“I was blown away by that because I didn’t work in depot and I really didn’t know that side of him,” she said.

“He really embraced the community and would help anybody.

“He treated everybody the same.

Old truckers Ted Bushby, who has been driving for 45 years, and Ray Scott have not seen each other for 40 years and were reunited at the Road Transport Hall of Fame before Mr Scott’s death. Picture: Justin Brierty

“We’d stop at a truck stop and didn’t matter where we were, someone would say ‘Hey Ray!’.”

Almost a year on from losing their leader, Mrs Scott said he would be proud to see their children step up to continue the family business.

From Stand Like Stone Foundation, Generations in Jazz, the James Morrison Academy, Mount Gambier Pioneers, Royal Flying Doctor Service, Craniofacial Foundation, East Gambier Sportsman’s Club and the Mount Gambier Borderline Speedway, there wasn’t much in the town Mr Scott wasn’t involved in.

“He didn’t do things for recognition, he just did them because he liked being involved in the community,” Mrs Xanthopoulos.

“He loved problem solving and helping people and that’s just who he was.”

For him the pinnacle was watching on as his team win a sprint car race while being inducted as the first Icon of the Truckers Hall of Fame in Alice Spring nearly brought him to tears.

“When he got that award he was just beside himself, put his head on the table and couldn't even get up,” Mrs Xanthopoulos said.