It’s not uncommon for drivers to work in road transport for 50 years. What is unusual – and remarkable – is for a driver to have been with one company for five decades.

Ken McLean has been employed by DT King Transport since 1973 – a remarkable achievement. But even more extraordinary are the loyalty and ties the McLean family have with the Southland company. When Ken was three months old, his father, Hec, moved to Pukemaori from Niagara. Hec drove a K model International for King’s and was one of the original five shareholders of the company.

Ken grew up alongside the transport yard and took personal ownership of the gear, knowing every truck and machine and their peculiarities – as well as those of the drivers. He would drive the Ford Traders around hay paddocks after school and soon became adept at handling trailers by practising backing them into the narrow bays of the truck sheds. These skills were to stay with him for life.

On leaving school, Ken worked for a builder for six years in nearby Otautau, then started with DT King in 1973, firstly on a Ford D800 tipper. This was followed by another D800 flatdeck on stock work but also with manual tasks like bagged coal from Ohai to both Tuatapere and Otautau on Thursdays and Fridays. Another hard manual undertaking was the loading and cartage of mine props, which had been cut from the surrounding native bush.

A very impressive International Loadstar, powered by a 180hp Perkins engine, was next in Ken’s lineup of trucks. It was the first stock unit carrying a combination stock crate. This was followed by an International 1950A, also set up as a stock truck.

In 1979, Ken was put in charge of an International 3072 on stock work but also carting logs with bolt-on bolsters. This truck became a full-time logger in 1981 when a 350hp T-Line replaced it as the premier stock truck in the fleet. It provided a variety of work in the typical rural environment and with trips away, often piggybacking other units to cart timber and general freight.

A Nissan Shogun, No.48, replaced the T-Line with new Nationwide stock crates and eventually a new four-deck/two-deck Sutton crate set.

Downtime during the winter months saw Ken helping with painting and general maintenance on the fleet in preparation for another busy season.

Ken went off No.48 and took up a position within the administration side of the business, dispatching the livestock trucks for four and a half years before going back behind the steering wheel, driving a gravel truck and then a couple of different tractor units, mostly moving machinery and logs. At this point, he damaged a disc in his back but bounced back to hauling logs throughout Otago and Southland and was involved with a huge job in Canterbury, carting windfall logs to the Timaru Port after a massive windstorm.

A Nissan Quon followed as another log truck. Then Ken was to operate a Western Star from January 2016, also on logging work all over the southern region. He was struck with eight months of downtime due to a shoulder injury but returned to work at the wheel of another UD, this time a CG420 carting mostly Eucalypt logs to a local chip mill.

Over the years, Ken has participated in local truck shows and is a successful competitor in the regional driving competitions, going on to represent the region at the national finals.

A function was held in Invercargill in August to celebrate Ken’s service to DT King. General manager Paul Balneaves praised his loyalty and steadfast devotion. His sons echoed these sentiments with their tributes to their father and the presentation of a decorated sawblade.

When reflecting on his career, Ken notes that he has worked through times when manual labour was the norm. Now, mechanisation or computerisation has changed most facets of the industry.

DT King is well known for several strong generational names recurring on its staff list. The McLean family has been a part of the DT King business for four generations, with Hec and his brother Dave, sons Alan and Ken, grandsons Cory, Bronson and Sheldon, and now great-grandson Daniel working there at some point.

Cory drives for Wareings in Canterbury, Sheldon is a mechanic at Fonterra at Edendale and Bronson and Daniel form a three-generational team with Ken logging at DT King.