Comment: Celebrating a heroine of NZ transport
Anita Dynes of Dynes Transport is the first woman inductee to the New Zealand Road Transport Hall of Fame
I was really pleased to be in Invercargill last November to see Anita Dynes of Dynes Transport be the first woman inductee to the New Zealand Road Transport Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame awards night is a fabulous event and for a woman involved in the road transport industry, it was really special to be there for Anita’s induction. Needless to say, I hope it is the first of many for the many influential women of our industry.
Originally from Balclutha, Anita’s story in transport started in 1969 when she married Jim and they bought a small trucking company with Jim’s brother John. Over the next 10 years, not only did they expand through the purchase of two more transport businesses, but Anita and Jim also welcomed three children to their family. They must have been flat out!
With John moving north to run TD Haulage, Jim and Anita were left as sole owners of Dynes Transport (Tapanui) Limited. The business grew extensively through log and timber cartage with the management of cashflow a critical part of Anita’s role.
The write-up for the Hall of Fame describes Anita as a ‘superwoman’ who in the 1980s not only had to juggle bringing up three kids with helping to run both the transport and farming businesses, but also had to assist Jim in his battle with cancer, including driving him to Dunedin and back every day for treatment.
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Meryn (right) with inductee Anita Dynes at the NZ Road Transport Hall of Fame event
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The 1990s and 2000s saw Anita and Dynes purchase a new depot in Tapanui with a bigger yard and room for additional staff and acquire more businesses and contracts, including the Edendale dairy factory. Anita was also fundamental to Dynes becoming one of the first South Island transport companies to receive ISO accreditation, which is still critical to the business.
Through the trailblazing efforts of women like Anita, road transport is now somewhere where women are far more accepted and have the opportunity to carve out a career. Sure, there is plenty of work to do and some barriers and behaviours that still need to be broken down, but slowly change is happening.
Over the last year or so I have been using these pages to profile some amazing women who work on the front line of our industry. Recently, I was contacted by Fonterra driver Justine Archer. I hope, like the others, her story can help inspire other young women who may be thinking about whether driving trucks could be for them.
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