RAIN or hail, in sunshine or in darkness, Gary Monk is up at 5am every weekday
for the school bus run.
His fleet of five buses delivers children from
across the region to local schools and extends as far as Finley in New South
Wales.
A side venture from his work as Tooleybuc’s resident mechanic, Mr
Monk describes the small business as one of the highlights of his life.
“The
kids are fantastic, I never have to raise my voice at them,” he says.
“I
know every backyard and door around the place, it’s a pretty good sort of way to
be.”
Originally from a farm in Koraleigh, the father of two completed his
mechanical apprenticeship at the Ford dealership in Kerang after graduating from
Swan Hill Technical School.
He moved back to the Nyah district in 1973 to
work for local company Dick Wilson Motors, and five years later saw an
opportunity to branch out on his own.
The Tooleybuc Garage has now been up
and running for 37 years, and it is safe to say the mechanic has spent the
majority of his life under the bonnet of a car.
For more of this story, see Wednesday’s Guardian (May 15).
