‘WE WILL NEVER GO BACK TO THE CITY!'

The Josey sisters have found success, community spirit and love in the outback

- Brigid Auchettl.

When Mary and Laura Josey’s parents called to say they’d bought an outback truck stop and wanted their daughters to run it, the sisters jumped at the chance for a new outback life. “Mary and I love an adventure so were like, ‘Sure we’ll move out there’!” Laura tells Woman’s Day.

Three days later, after an eight-hour drive from Brisbane, Laura, 29, and Mary, 26, flipped the “Open” sign on the Morven Truck Shop on March 28, 2018. It was a moment the duo will never forget and nor will the locals – just 250 people live in the remote western Queensland town, which only has two other shops. “Suddenly, we were opening a company,” says Laura.

Mary adds, “We were organizing bank accounts and EFTPOS machines... everything went from zero to 100!”

Taking over the Morven Truck Stop was a full-circle moment for the sisters who were babies when their parents Janelle and Daryl ran their own service station in Harlin, Queensland.

“The industry has been in mum’s family for a while,” Mary explains. “Laura was born when mum and dad owned a service station. She’d be in the pram out the front while customers came in.”

“It’s like we’re following in their footsteps,” Laura chimes in.