History

Commencing as a stock carrier between Melbourne, Ballarat, and Dandenong in 1948, founder G.H. “Don” Watson would service the markets with a few army surplus K Series Austins.  As business grew, “Old Don” registered Don Watson Pty. Ltd as a Company in 1966.  With the passing of its founder in 1973, his son, Donald Watson, was appointment Managing Director and took the small family enterprise on a journey of rapid technological expansion, seeing the launch of our refrigerated division in 1984. Over the ensuing years the structure shifted to providing high levels of customer service with a clear intention of developing long lasting client associations.

With the tragic death of Don Watson in 1994, the management of Don Watson Pty Ltd underwent a restructure with Don’s wife Noelene taking over as Managing Director. As a former Chair and Director of the Australian Trucking Association, Noelene oversaw a redevelopment of the company’s business strategy, operational structure and grew the business into new and emerging markets.

In early 2000, Watson’s Coldstore Pty Ltd developed a Coldstore facility in Wodonga, Victoria.  With a focus on high performance blast freezing, Watson’s Coldstores later expanded into Sydney and Melbourne.  With full AQIS accreditation and the latest technology, Watson’s Coldstores can provide our customers with a range of services to suit their business and contract requirements, as a total refrigerated logistics organisation. 

Don Watson transport operations covers more than 22 million kilometres per annum with the vast majority of our business in refrigerated line haul. Our fleet comprises over 130 Line haul Prime Movers, a fleet of rigid vehicles for dedicated local deliveries and more than 160 Refrigerated Pantechnicons, B Doubles, and A Doubles.  To ensure our customers are provided with the most efficient service available, our fleet is based over company operated depots in Melbourne, Wodonga, Sydney, and Brisbane.

With the fundamentals of a well-positioned family owned company, The Watson Group is a business proud of its tradition, innovation and customer satisfaction. The success of the company is reflected in the continual renewal of our logistics contracts with our valued clients. As a responsible corporate citizen, our company philosophy is focused towards safety, respect for the environment and our dedication to our employees, as well as being an active participant in the ongoing development of the Australian transport and warehousing industry.

“As one of Australia’s leading refrigerated logistics company’s, we develop strategic relationships with all of our clients from day one, ensuring that not only do we understand our customers needs, we provide them with the greatest asset of all… affordable on-time reliability”.

Lyndon Watson

Managing Director