Widely regarded as Australia’s first female truckie, Toots Holzheimer was quite a woman.
A mother of eight who delivered freight across Queensland from the 1960s until the 1990s, she was capable of the toughest tasks in the roughest industry.
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The bulk of her work was running Cairns to Weipa, servicing Cape York Peninsula settlements without bitumen roads, power steering, forklifts, phone communication, suspension, rattle-guns or many of the luxuries that drivers have today.
She knew the dangers of being a female on her own in some of the remotest parts of Queensland, so she rarely accepted help from anyone, digging herself out of bogs and changing her own tyres.
She battled corrugation, quicksand, mosquitos, crocodiles, snakes and the great dividing range, with exposed granite that ripped tyres to shreds — but never gave up, managing to keep her promise to be the first truck in and the last truck out before the annual monsoons hit the Cape.
She quickly became a legend, nicknamed ‘The Queen of Weipa’, but that didn’t stop her from suffering plenty of abuse.
Toots’ daughter Donna Vawdrey tells Deals on Wheels: “Mum knew when she began in the trucking industry that it would not be easy.
“I believe, however, she had no idea how cruel people could be.
“She expected the ridicule from men, but the abuse from females was a shock.”
Toots’ first employer gave her a job out of desperation for drivers — but refused to pay her.
“Men believed that women were weak, physically and mentally,” Donna says.
“Another concern was that women needed time out every month, and what if they fell pregnant?”
Despite being a woman in a man’s world, Toots managed to soldier on.
“Her motto was that if you take on a man’s job, or any job, in fact, just do it — without whinging and complaining.”
With eight children at home, Toots proved that women could have a successful career and be a wife and mother.
“Did it take its toll on mum? Absolutely.
“It was tough going against the status quo — the social norms of the day that dictated women should be stay-at-home mums who raised the children, did all the cooking and cleaning as well as tending to all the demands of their husbands.”
Donna says seeing a woman in such a stereotypically masculine job must have been hard for men too.
“They were used to being the sole provider for the family, which gave them a significant amount of power and feelings of male superiority.
“With women encroaching on their domain, they probably felt they had lost their identity, their purpose and definitely their power.”
Although she was known for her grit, Donna says her mum had a heart of gold.
“She was very compassionate,” she says. “She took in so many abandoned mums and their little ones until they could find their feet again.
“She would give rides to tourists who had overestimated their ability to handle the Cape roads.
“People came to love and respect her — even the men she worked beside.”
The women living on the stations Toots stopped at also had it tough, with no corner store, dress shop, or doctor’s surgery.
“Mum quickly became their confidant and their country shopper,” she says.
“They would give her their shopping list for items like material to make that special dress or shoes to wear to the local races or dances.”
Children would run out to greet Toots with special drawings whenever she dropped off supplies — partly because she would always bring a little treat for them, whether that be lollies or a show bag from the Cairns show.
“These children would later invite mum to their weddings,” Donna adds.
However, being one of Toots’ own children wasn’t always easy.
In fact, until she was nine years old, Donna thought her mother was dead.
“My mother had a child out of wedlock when she was 16, and then she met my dad and married him,” she explains.
“She had four surviving children from that marriage, including me.
“Then she left dad and met Ron Holzheimer, who got her into trucking — but my father told us all that our mother was dead.”
It was Donna’s oldest brother who revealed the shocking news that her mother was, in fact, alive.
“In those days, if you were under 21 and you wanted to get married, you had to get permission from your parents,” she says.
“My brother was planning to get married so he came to ask his step-father — my father — for permission. “He told me that mum was alive, and where she was.”
When Donna got a bit older, Johnny brought her to meet Toots at Kamerunga in the Cairns region, where she was living in a caravan with Ron and their three children.
“I used to sneak away to visit her there, and we used to swim in the creek and have great fun,” she says.
Donna’s father died when she was 16 — and she and her siblings turned up on her mum’s doorstep.
“It must have been pretty daunting to have me, my two older sisters, my younger brother and my older brother showing up!
“I was 12 and my sisters were teenagers going through puberty.
“It’s only when I’ve gotten older and had kids of my own that I’ve really appreciated how much of a challenge that must have been, especially as she really had no rapport with us.”
Eternally practical, Toots managed to make it work — sourcing a bunk bed, getting an annex out and somehow fitting eight children and two adults in the caravan.
Donna says she’s definitely inherited her mum’s practicality.
“I struggle buying presents, because I’m so practical,” she laughs. “I can’t buy something that’s just going to collect dust.”
She also learned a lot of lessons from her mother, including the logistics of driving.
“She taught me how to drive a truck, and I would go on trips with her — but I’m actually the only one out of my siblings who didn’t take up truck driving as a career!” she says.
“I remember all her lessons though — double de-clutch, obey the warning signs on the road as they are there for a reason, keep your eyes on the road a good semi length ahead…
“Oh, and how to have a three-minute shower!”
Toots suffered terribly with asthma, which Donna thinks might have been one of the reasons she didn’t talk much.
“A by-product of her silent language was to teach me the art of truly listening — with my eyes as well as my ears,” she says.
“Sometimes we get so busy doing our own thing that we don’t pay attention to what is happening around us and we miss out on learning valuable lessons that build lasting relationships.”
But probably the most profound lesson Donna learned from her mother was to always keep her word.
“If I say I am going to do something, then I do it, no matter the cost.
“A handshake from Toots was her guarantee that she would deliver. Like my mum, I say what I mean and mean what I say.”
Sadly, Toots passed away in 1992 at the age of 57.
“She was at home, contemplating retiring her Old Girl — a 20-year-old MAN Diesel — when she received a call from Ron that she was needed to load the last of pylons from the Weipa wharf.
“Chatting to Ron, mum made her usual beeline to the protection of the dual wheels as the very last half pylon was being loaded.
“The crane driver lost control of the load and it began to swing.
“Mum thought she was safe in her little hidey hole, but sadly there was a steel plate on the end of the pylon that struck her in her chest, breaking her ribs and tearing her aorta.
“Within minutes, she was dead from massive blood loss.”
Donna says Toots’ legacy lives on in the female truckies putting in the hard yards across Australia, as well as Women in Trucking Australia.
She was delighted when WiTA announced that they would be naming their annual awards after her iconic mum.
“That blew me away,” she says. Mum would have been 90 this year, and here she is inspiring a young generation of truck drivers.
“It’s amazing that organisations like WiTA are on the side of female truckies, supporting, encouraging, and mentoring them.
“Knowing someone ‘has your back’, combined with a positive, glass-half-full attitude will lead to you having an enjoyable, fulfilling, meaningful life in the transport industry.”
She adds that her mum would have been very happy to see so many women drivers doing a great job.
“Mum had all the time in the world for anyone that had a dream and pursued it, and never gave up.
“When life throws you a curveball — get out your shovel and start digging.”
You can order a copy of Donna Vawdrey’s popular book about her mother’s life, Toots, A Woman in a Man’s World, via the website toots-thebook.com.au.
Donna has also been announced as the guest speaker at this year’s Deniliquin and District Transport Wall of Fame induction dinner.
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