Book review: The Driver

A stunning new book detailing trucking in Australia and New Zealand has been launched after a gruelling 18-month journey

Photographer Alice Mabin has released her latest book, The Driver, Australia and New Zealand on the Back of a Truck, which documents the reality of the daily grind for 110 different drivers and trucking companies with stunning images featuring every state and territory in Australia and New Zealand.

To gather her stories and photos for the book, Mabin embarked on a journey of 18 months and an estimated 130,000 kilometres. During that time, she said she learned a great deal about the life of truckers and their families: "I absorbed so much on this legendary journey. I learned how to drive a road train, change tyres, fix fuel leaks, tie down freight, and to cook on the side of the road," she said. "It was important to me that the stalwart cooperation of the truckies, their families, and the trucking companies were respected and represented fully. This is why it was so vital to feature each state and territory across Australia and New Zealand," she added.

Mabin said the inspiration of the book came about by accident, literally. Alice’s car was involved in a crash with a truck on the Sunshine Coast in January of last year. Somehow, the experience brought her to a realisation of the importance of the trucking industry.

A total of 19,600 professional photographs have been condensed into 700 pictures that finally made the grade to enter the finished product, which is a 228-page high-quality hard-back book.

Alice is self-publishing the book as she did with her previous tome, The Drover.

"I am immensely proud of my book The Drover, a project that is a photographic record of the epic journey of 18,000 head of cattle that were walked 2000km across two states during a severe drought – an epic journey that has not been undertaken in Australia in over 100 years," she said.

"Although I am extremely proud of The Drover I am really excited to have finished my 18-month journey photographing, living the life and documenting the trucking industry for The Driver – Australia and New Zealand on the Back of a Truck. Not excited because it’s over, excited to say that I have produced the most accurate account of real-life trucking ever documented in Australia and I can’t wait to show the world. These amazing people really do need to be recognised."

Both books are available from select book stores, newsagents, saddleries or via the website www.thedriverausnz.com.

Book review: The Driver

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