Lady Lorene

The Truckie Queen.
By Tom Dawkins.

The inspiring true story of an ordinary woman who became a living legend in one of the most male dominated and conformist environments imaginable.

Lady Lorene – The Truckie Queen is the story of Lorene Whittam, a wife and mother who has earned a reputation as an icon of the bush and a legend of the livestock transport industry.

While working at the local milk factory in Mount Compass, south of Adelaide, Lorene met a young truck driving entrepreneur, Mac Whittam, from nearby Ashbourne. Over almost five decades of marriage, Lorene and Mac built a successful transport company, raised three sons and travelled throughout Australia carting livestock and other goods. Soon Lorene became a well-known face around the stockyards and earned herself the title, Lady Lorene, The Truckie Queen.

While Mac has now retired, Lorene maintains a very active role in the family business, continuing to attend country sheep and cattle markets, as she has done since the late 1970s. This is the extraordinary story of an ordinary woman. Her relentless hard work has earned her respect in one of Australia’s toughest male-dominated industries. It is also a fascinating exploration of the Australian livestock transport industry during times of remarkable change.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Dawkins is an award-winning and experienced agricultural media professional, having worked as Editor of both Stock Journal and Stock & Land. He has a tremendous passion for rural Australia and draws on his considerable industry and community knowledge to promote Australian agriculture in all aspects of his work. He travels regularly throughout regional South Australia and Victoria for work, with a range of clients stretching from Adelaide through to Melbourne and beyond. He grew up on his family’s sheep and cereal farm at Gawler River, north of Adelaide, and now resides at Naracoorte in South Australia with his wife and daughter.

Lady Lorene is available now.

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