23/06/2026
Sadly we have lost another local Trucker and Friend.
Thanks to Peter Mitchell with his tribute to Nookie, which we would like to share with his permission.
We have lost another member from a well known trucking family, with the unexpected passing of Steven ( Nookie ) Robinson last Saturday 20th June at his home in Puriri aged 71.
Nookie was the oldest son of John & Doreen from Hikutaia, who started their trucking company in 1955 when John brought a Commer to cart stock.
According to his life long friend, John Corbett, his name was made up by his younger brothers, the late Luke, and Peter ( who is still driving road trains in Aussie after 42 years there ), when they both had trouble saying his name Steven at a young age, so some how came up with Nookie - as most of us only knew him as.
He attended Hikutaia Primary school and when John Corbett got a new push bike for his 13th birthday, he proudly went down to show Nookie, but Doreen said he was out in the truck with his Dad, but would be home soon.
Well the truck, a T K Bedford with a 2 axle trailer in tow, arrived back at the yard, but not with J A driving, but a young Nookie behind the steering wheel.
So the scene was set from an early age as to where Nookies career was heading - a lifetime in trucking.
When he was 13 / 14 y o, he would go with his Dad to the freezing works in Auckland on night loads and after unloading, he would drive back to Hikutaia while J A stacked a few 😴 💤 ready for another big day on the road.
He aquired his H.T. License at about 16 / 17 years old to officially start his trucking career with J.A. Robinson Carriers Ltd at Hikutaia.
In his teenage years he kept up the lifetime friendships with local boys John Corbett, Chris Goonan & Tony Clark, who were all Catholics and instead of been 'Roman Catholics', they became the '4 Roaming Catholics' - the mind boggles 🤔🤣.
It didn't take long for Nookies natural driving ability to shine through as he later on became well known at the wheel of his single drive E R F 'A train' in which I could remember seeing him backing it into the ramps at the various freezing works in South Auckland - no sweat to Nookie.
He then went onto create an amazing record in the Thames Valley truck driving competitions, where he won it for the first 4 years - 1979 - 1982, then was runner up in 1983 & 1984, then won it again in 1985 - WOW !!!
In 1980 the Robinson brothers made it a family affair when they took out 1st place ( Nookie ) & 2nd place ( Peter ).
In 1983 one of Nookies drivers, Phil Batchelor, upset the Boss, when Batch won it - imagine the banter at work on Monday morning - Ehoa - I'm better than you, so I get all the good jobs now 🤔🤣🤣.
But the real classic was that Graeme Wright ( Gunner ), always reminded Nookie of why he won all those comps - simple he said - it was because i was out there working my arse off & couldn't make it to the competition's, so no contest 🤔🤣🤣🤣🤣.
But in all reality, Nookie was up against some real tough opposition , with some incredibly talented drivers around the T.V. in those days.
Nookie also attended the N.Z. driving champs as a T.V. representative, but I'm not sure of his placings there sorry ??
Upon his Dad's passing, Nookie took over running the family business and ended up with a well maintained & organized fleet of 6 Mitsubishi 's.
In the late 1980's till the early 1990's, he was involved with the Thames Valley Road Transport Association.
He then sold most of his fleet off to Garry Edward's in Waihi, but kept a spreader & a 4 wheeler for local work, while he also owned & ran the Puriri Hotel for a number of years.
He then sold up completely in 2008 and went & worked for Gunner Wright where he eventually got a brand new Volvo tipper which he enjoyed very much.
Up until his passing, he was working part time for a local contractor, Richard Harden, doing local tip work.
So another well known, liked & loved driver from the Thames Valley history books & family, has hung up his keys 🔑 & traveled safely on the highway upstairs sadly ❤️❤️.
From all the members of T.V.T. , we send our love & condolences to Nookies family, the late Maxine & Luke, & Peter Robinson, plus Nookies sons, Zane, Mark, Andrew & the wider whanau's for their sad loss 🌷🌷🌷💔.
A service to share stories & memories of Nookie will be held on Saturday 4th July 2026 at the Hikutaia Bowling Club - Alley Memorial Park - at 1.00pm.
Cheers Deep Reduction
