THE wheels on the bus have been turning for 50 years for Haidley’s Panoramic Coaches that was established as a Warwick coach and bus company back in 1966.
As the owner of numerous Queensland Transport School runs and Warwick’s only licensed city bus service, Haidley’s coaches have transported thousands of students daily to and from various schools and passengers to all parts of Australia.
On 10 May 1966, Don and Heather Haidley bought their first school run, ‘Silverwood/Connolly Dam’ P416, which runs south of Warwick and a 9-seater VW Micro bus.
As time went on, they decided to run small day tours around the Darling Downs, and over the next few years more tours were run further afield and larger vehicles were purchased and the name Panoramic Coaches became a reality.
Later, tour coaches were purchased and many groups of New Zealand passengers were arriving to travel to the Great Barrier Reef and other parts of Australia with long hours of driving by Don and Roy McKendrick.
Their son, Cameron joined the business as an apprentice mechanic in 1975, aged 15, and has worked for 41 years as an “A” grade motor mechanic, tour driver and is the manager of Haidley’s Panoramic Coaches.
In 1989, the partnership of Don and Heather dissolved. Don continued to purchase more school runs and charter coaches and today, the third generation has come on board. Cameron and his wife Lyndal’s boys, Hayden and Mitchell now have their coach licenses.
On Saturday 7 May, there will be free tours to drive on the original Connolly Dam school run as well as a short drive in a historic bus around the CBD of Warwick.
“It is a celebration to have been in business for 50 years, but also it is a time to reflect on the wonderful staff that has worked for the business, our passengers that have supported us and travelled on our vehicles and our suppliers for their great service,” Don said.
If there are any photographs that people have from tours they have been on with Haidley’s, bring them down as a collation of photographs is being undertaken to have a full history of all the buses.
