Wayne McEwan was a true legend in rural transport, serving in the industry for over 47 years. He was renowned for his larger-than-life personality, extensive expertise and vision in the sector and unwavering loyalty to those he loved and respected.
Mr McEwan — known to all as "Ox" — died on October 17 after a short illness and was farewelled at Bill Richardson Transport World in Invercargill a week later.
Ox was born in 1958 in Invercargill, the first born of May and Ron McEwan. The McEwan family at that time lived in Rakahouka, then moved to Invercargill and Tisbury before buying land in Branxholme when Ox was 12. He would later buy part of this land and build a family home there.
Ox had his high school years at Southland Boys’ High School; however, he left school at the age of 15 and started work at the Makarewa freezing works in the casing room for one season. From there he went to Pyper’s Produce just up the road from home for about one year. Ox then took up a driving role at Ryal Bush Transport and this was where his trucking career began.
Through the 1980s and 1990s the transport sector grew with the innovation of live-capture deer, which were carted nationwide. Live-capture deer work was not for the faint-hearted. The deer were herded on the side of hills and caught in nets under helicopters, to then be loaded on to trucks. These trucks were then driven nationwide, usually by a two-man team running 24/7.
This was all to establish deer farming in New Zealand, which is now exporting more than $280million of product worldwide annually.
In the early ’80s the opportunity arose to buy a cancelled order of a 350 horsepower ERF, namely the "Deerhunter". This dual-bunked truck was perfect for the boys for interisland travel where one slept as the other drove.
This truck and Ox were a huge part of the live-capture deer initiative. He put many kilometres on to this truck doing this gruelling job, in some of the most remote parts of New Zealand.
Because of this, the Deerhunter was inducted into the Bill Richardson Transport World in 2007.
When Waianiwa Transport and Ryal Bush Transport merged, Ox was asked to come in as a shareholder with the McDougall brothers. His long driving hours switched to long dispatch hours to help build the merged transports.
The four shareholders of Ryal Bush Transport then looked ahead and saw the benefit of creating a contracting division, all to service the Southland dairy boom, bringing in a lot of dairy farm conversion work and being one of the first transports to diversify.
In the early 2000s Ox saw a new opportunity to join forces with H.W. Richardson Group Ltd (HWR). Ryal Bush Transport became a joint venture, with Ox and the late Bill Richardson, someone who he had a lot of time and respect for, even before forming a partnership.
This is where Ox’s next stage of life began. Unfortunately, Bill died in 2005, but the joint venture continued with Scott and Joc O’Donnell (Bill and Shona Richardson’s daughter).
In 2007, Ox recognised that it was time to give the next generation of Ryal Bush Transport leadership some space and an opportunity to expand. His son Shannon McEwan and business partner Brad Kincaid took over the reins of the business at this time.
With HWR also experiencing continuous growth, Ox stepped into the role of general manager rural transport, overseeing the rural transport division for all of HWR.
The rural transport division of HWR expanded under Ox’s leadership to include Upper Clutha Transport, Cromwell Bulk Distribution, ATL in Alexandra, Te Anau Bulk, Ranfurly Transport and Farmers Transport in the North Island.
He loved seeing the businesses he watched over flourish, but more importantly he took great pride seeing the people in the industry succeed.
Ox was always an action man, he knew the gear, the local farmers and agents. He was more than happy to call upon anyone and believed in old-school face-to-face business. He was happier in his shorts and singlet than he was in the boardroom, but he always strived to have good commercial relationships with all his suppliers and customers.
Throughout this time Ox’s passion for horses grew. His father, the late Ron McEwan, was a horse trainer at Branxholme. Ox had many syndicate horses and in the later years owned a team all on his own.
He had built himself a small stable at Branxholme, with a training track, but when he sold the rest of his shares in Ryal Bush Transport the horse training really ramped up. He built more stables and more sheds, allowing for more horses to be trained and bred.
This is when Ann and her two daughters came into his life, sharing the love of horse training and farm work. It was a life he loved, later moving to Te Anau with Ann to build beautiful motels, which opened just prior to Covid. He followed this by building a racing stable named Leah Lodge, where he trained horses from, then buying the 120ha farm next door for his retirement, both of which he never got to fully enjoy.
He loved his harness horses, mostly pacers, but he had a couple of thoroughbreds over the years and loved to attend cup week in Christchurch with friends.
Ox also served on the Rugby Southland board and many racing committees and was a life member of Central Pirates Rugby Club and chairman of the Venison Game Industry Board.
Ox is survived by his partner Ann, children Shannon, Bradley and Kylie and stepdaughters Sam and Emma. He is remembered fondly by his six grandchildren. — Supplied.
