Out of shear need, the once prominent mining company, D.F.D. Rhodes Pty. Ltd., was renowned for its ability to overcome the many design deficiencies that were inherent in the trucks that were available to them at the height of their mining activities.
This well respected business was founded by the late Donovan Francis Duncan Rhodes who was born in Yorkshire in England in 1910, but who had emigrated to Western Australia with his family in 1913.
During his early working life, Don joined with his father in a number of businesses that were unrelated to road haulage or mining, the latter to which he was later to become well
