INDUSTRY PEOPLE
GREAT
SOUTHERN MAN
Southland Truck &
Tractor Spares
It’s true what they say about the
Southern Man.
They exist.
In the very Deep South, Invercargill itself, there’s a rugged
bunch of blokes that lurk in giant hangars and sheds.
In the case of Nigel Stewart, he’s been lurking and working
in such sheds for 31 years. Southland Truck & Tractor
Spares has provided the good people of Southland-and
beyond- with quality truck and tractor parts since Nigel
established the business as a part-time entity in 1981.
It really is a story of following your passion.
Southland Truck and Tractor Spares’ workshop is in pristine
“As a boy, I pottered around at home, fascinated with
condition, and houses some classic trucks and machinery.
pulling things to bits, and after I left school, the pulling
things to bits was mainly tractors. I decided to set up a
“School does now actually railroad you into those two
small business and we put out our first set of accounts in
paths: either go to university or go into a trade. It doesn’t
1981. At that point I was also driving trucks
leave your mind open, you almost come out
“As a boy, I pottered around quite closed-minded. There’s nothing out
for a living.
at home, fascinated with
“In 1987 I had a fallout with my boss and pulling things to bits, and there to say that it’s ok to go and get a job,
the rest is history. I went full time with the after I left school, the I think. In Nigel’s and my parents generation
dismantling and I’ve been doing that until pulling things to bits was it was acceptable to just go and get a job.”
now.”
“It might not suit some boys to just go to
mainly tractors.”
university when all they might want to do
Nigel is a bit of a guru. He’s widely-read and
is bang a few nails into some wood or drive a tractor. I
self-educated. He has many reckons. A good portion of
think there’s nothing wrong with that. We need to stress
our interview is spent musing on the state of the world,
that it’s ok to do manual labour and that you can make
from politics to the economy to the current government.
a good living from it. Tradies sometimes make the best
He comes from the Old School.
businessmen in the world, and the educated ones can
There was a time in New Zealand where a
give us all the trouble!” says Nigel.
boy wanted to hammer a nail into wood, or “There’s nothing out there
to say that it’s ok to go and Josh joined the business in in 2009.
play with trucks, and after their schooling
get a job, I think. In Nigel’s “I started here through a friend after school,
was complete, they would progress into
and my parents generation
the adult world of trucks or building. Nigel’s it was acceptable to just pushing a broom and they haven’t been able
to get rid of me. I didn’t really have any idea
business partner, and co-director Josh go and get a job.”
of what I wanted to do. I had done a pre-
Lankshear, says that the ‘two-pronged’
trade for a diesel apprenticeship, but Nigel offered me a
path for school leavers limits the choice to leave school
fulltime job.”
and just go and get a job.
This is a monthly series on businesses in our industry. We profile one business per month to find out how our hard-working
business owners, employees and contractors manage to run these specialist businesses and what makes them tick in the
New Zealand trade business environment. These are the stories of our CAM people.
w w w. c a m m a g a z i n e . c o . n z
CAM May 2019
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