THE HISTORY OF KINGS OF NEWCASTLE
Grahame King commenced work in the bus industry with Georgetown Bus Service who operated several trailer buses and double deckers. In the early days, carpenters were employed as the body of the vehicles were timber and this is where Grahame’s craftsmanship skills were required. After discovering that he had an affinity with heavy vehicles he then trained as a diesel mechanic.
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Chapmans Bus Service combined with Georgetown Bus Service and Grahame became the manager. In 1974, the owner of Chapmans Bus Service, Ellen Chapman sold the business to Grahame and wife, Helen.
The couple operated the business for several years before rebranding the business, The Kings of Newcastle, after gaining permission to use a royal name within the title, which started with a combination of 12 bus and coach services.
The coaches were used as charter vehicles and the buses operated service runs to BHP to cover morning afternoon and night shift.
Over the years, as BHP declined, the business centered their operations in the area of tours and travel. In 1986 the business purchased a Tourist Vehicle plate and became a Licensed Travel Agency.
Helen saw an opening in the market for coach tours to Theatre Shows and began to operate tours of this nature. The first of these was Annie. Kings became the largest provider of coach and theatre show package operators in the Hunter Region, an achievement that they have continued to maintain.
Dreamworld on the Gold Coast opened in 1981 and Kings operated many weekend tours to this unique attraction. In 1984, Rodney King , the eldest son of Helen and Grahame, began driving coaches casually whilst still working elsewhere.
The 1988 World Expo in Brisbane saw weekly departures north and the increase in interstate travel to this and other domestic destinations, lead to the acquisition of newer vehicles to the fleet.
On 8 December 1990, Helen and Grahame were invited to the opening night of Phantom of the Opera in Melbourne. The show played in Melbourne for two and a half years and The Kings of Newcastle transported many clients to the show which was seen by over 1.5million people.
Rodney, moved to working full time in the business in the early 90s becoming involved in all aspects of the operation.
In 2000, the entire fleet was redeployed to Sydney to aid in transportation as part of the Sydney Olympics.
Tour destinations both domestically and internationally, have seen the Kings go from strength to strength and the King family have continued to work hard to maintain a high quality service for the people of Newcastle and the Hunter Region. Their philosophy of providing great customer service and developing a tour program tailored to the needs of clients are central to their success.
In 2015, Grahame and Helen retired and now Rodney owns and operates The Kings of Newcastle, a brand associated with Newcastle and the Hunter for over 40years.