O’Connors Carrying was established in 1948 by Bill O’Connor Snr. Bill established the business out of the rear of his family home. Bill and his wife Joyce had 10 children (4 boys and 6 girls). 

Bill started O’Connors Carrying by transporting freight from the Murwillumbah Good Rail to businesses in the Tweed Shire. Bill was also the local Tristrams soft drink agent which was bottled at Shammies Soft Drinks in Kirra. Bill would distribute this to local corner stores and sporting events. 

Bill also kept himself busy by:

• Doing Home grocery deliveries from local supermarkets
• Bulk rubbish removal from local Murwillumbah retailers
• Comet overnight transport depot in the late 1960s

In 1971 Bill became ill for a short while and his eldest son Don returned to Murwillumbah to help the Family Business. With Don’s help they took on the mail delivery to the Tweed coast. 

O’Connors purchased another vehicle so Don could subcontract for Hensleys transport in Murwillumbah. They then started Tooth & Co deliveries for Hensleys as the Tweed Coast started the grow. 

By now the business was getting busy. O’Connors took on the Toohey’s contract with Pottsville trucking and had to relocate to the Charles Street Depot in the old Budds building and another family member, Peter finished his Mechanical trade and joined the Family business in 1982.

Bill Jnr then came across to the business and the family purchased Heans Transport at Uki which operated 1 body truck ex Brisbane 3 days a week. This quickly grew to 2 trucks 5 days a week. Don moved to Brisbane to run the QLD Depot and 2 years later the youngest son Paul joined the family business. 

In 1989 the business expanded again and moved to their current location at Quarry Road, Murwillumbah. They then went on to buy their first semi-trailer in 1991. 

The business didn’t just stop there – they decided to purchase Pottsville Trucking in 1995 and then Byron Bay Transport in 2015. 

In 2017 Murwillumbah was hit with a once-in-a-lifetime flood that devastated the town and some obstacles in the companies way. Paul his wife Sue in 2021 purchased the Family Business and continued to make it grow. 2022 Murwillumbah was hit with another disastrous flood and this one peaked 200mm higher than the 2017 flood. So much stock was damaged and a mammoth clean up was undertaken by the entire community proving that the Murwillumbah spirit is unstoppable. 

O’Connors Carrying now have over 30 trucks and 30 staff under their belt and growing. Celebrating a wonderful 75 years of growth in 2023!