Anthony Madden founded Madden’s Refrigerated Transport in 1976, as a general freight company operating out of Goulburn. Early into the business, he landed an account with Tancred’s meat company and began delivering meat into Canberra and the surrounding regions. When Tancred’s bought an abattoir in Harden in the South West Slopes region of NSW, they asked Anthony to move to the area too.

Although Tancred’s later sold the abattoir, Anthony and his family decided to stay in Harden. He diversified the business to include carting frozen fruit, fruits and vegetables, groceries, and other chilled and frozen goods – delivering across the Riverina and along the entire East Coast of Australia.

Anthony says that his employees all live in Harden or surrounding towns, and the business actively invests in local young drivers, training them to progress from a standard driver’s licence to handling bigger trucks on interstate runs.

He believes that the Canberra region is becoming a very exciting place to be associated with, due to the new international flights leaving Canberra airport, which open up markets in Asia and the Middle East.

Despite originally moving to Harden for business, Anthony says that he’s very happy to have settled in the area. “It’s been a good lifestyle for us. Both my boys went to school here. We have everything that we need.” He says that with the lower cost of land, clean atmosphere and absence of traffic lights, Harden is a very pleasant place to live.

For more information, call Madden’s Refrigerated Transport on (02) 6386 2040. You can learn more about living and working in Hilltops at www.hilltops.nsw.gov.au and visiting the region at www.visithilltopsregion.com.au.