When Garry Kennedy finished his apprenticeship as a boilermaker in 1979 he bought an old Falcon utility and did mainly repair work. He traveled to the bush to do most repair work on bulldozers and other timber working machinery. His parents garage was the home base for other repair work, but it soon became apparent that it was not practical to have trucks and trailers in his parents driveway and garage. This led to the founding of Kennedy trailers in Bairnsdale in 1980.

In 1982 Garry and his wife Debbie purchased a block of land in Holloway St Bairnsdale and erected their first workshop, As the workload grew they recruited their first employee. In 1986 they purchased drawings and plans from McKee Jinkers and built their first log trailer.

By 1992 the company had outgrown the original workshop, so Garry and Debbie bought a larger factory in Kyle Street. Soon after in 1994 another factory was erected on the same block adjacent to the existing factory and concrete was layed between the two. At this time Kennedys produced around 30 log trailers per year.

As the logging industry requirements changed so did the design of log trailers. Garry designed a unique folding skel trailer that hydraulically folded completely onto the prime mover allowing better access in to the bush and logging coups. The trailers became more custom built generated by customers needs to transport different log lengths.

By 2000 Kennedy Trailers were producing about 50 trailers a year and where employing 30 staff. Kennedy Trailers then expanded into building side tipper trailers for the gold mining industry in Western Australia. Servicing and repairs also grew leading to the establishment of a separate repair shop.

Kennedy Trailers expanded into additional premises culminating with the opening of a new state of the art factory in Forge Creek Road in 2008.