Our History
Slingshot Haulage Pty Ltd was established by Leigh Dehne in 1996, however, the history of this company began many years earlier. As a young boy growing up in the Dehne family, life was all about trucks, with his father being heavily involved in transport and life on the farm, for Leigh and his siblings. So, when he bought his first truck at the age of 19 and began doing local work, transporting wood, hay, and livestock, it seemed a natural thing to do.
Leigh went on to do a Melbourne to Townsville run and also worked for North QLD Express. It was during his time at North QLD Express that he spotted some freight sitting in the corner destined for Darwin. Upon enquiry, he learnt the freight would go from Melbourne to Brisbane and then Brisbane to Darwin. Leigh asked the question, why not direct, and so began one of the first direct transport services from Melbourne to Darwin.
At 24 years of age, Leigh ordered a new R600R Model Mack road train rated truck and the transport got busier. He also established/bought Central Salt Supply Pty Ltd, a salt lake just outside of Kerang. This he owned and operated for 5 years. Whilst he sold the salt lake, he kept the business name with plans to continue in the salt industry down the track.
Back in the drivers’ seat again and a move to Alice Springs, Leigh was working for NTFS (Northern Territory Freight Service) towing fridge vans, etc. from off the rail at Alice Springs to Darwin. At this time there was no rail line from Alice Springs to Darwin. He also bought another new truck, this time a Series 2 Superliner which featured in Truckin Life in 1987, pictured towing the NTFS fridge vans. (Whilst he was the first to own this beauty it was sold to Neville Dobbs soon after).
Going further north saw Leigh and his family move to Darwin. Here he went back into the salt game starting up NT Salt Supply Pty Ltd in 1990. This involved transporting top-quality salt from Port Headland to Darwin and supplying local business and stations with their salt needs. It became clear with the majority of the salt being supplied to the Katherine area to relocate the business there. So, NT Salt Supply set up its operation in Katherine, the crossroads of Northern Australia and has remained there ever since.
As the transport of the salt got busier and interest for other transport needs grew, Leigh made the decision to establish Slingshot Haulage Pty Ltd. This company has grown from strength to strength throughout the years and completed some truly historic transport moves, including the specialised transport of rail for the Alice Springs to Darwin rail line in 2001-2003. 145,000 Tonne of rail was transported for this project—construction of the rail line between to the two major cities of the Northern Territory.
Recently Slingshot Haulage Pty Ltd transported the largest bridge beams produced in the Northern Territory, 35 metres long and 80 tonne in weight, from Darwin to just west of Kununurra WA (850kms) for the Keep River Project. Leigh Dehne has always been at the forefront of development in the transport industry, particularly in the NT and plans to continue to be the man first in line with his latest project of researching and developing specialised trailers designed to carry long lengths of rail at 27.5 metres long, with no pilots and twice the payload, Australia-wide. This will revolutionise road transport of rail for Australia. He is passionate about the transport industry and its’ importance in Australia.