During late 2000, fifty former Freightcorp (NSW) NGMF hopper bodies were allegedly purchased by Freight Australia from a scrap metal merchant in NSW. After workshops attention, re-painting into green livery and the fitting of broad gauge bogies at Bendigo North workshops, the VHBF class commenced running during January 2001 almost exclusively in Deniliquin - Echuca rice traffic. Class numbers at June 2001 were VHBF 1101 to VHBF 1150. VHBF 1120 appears to be the only one to retain any semblance of its former identity in the form of its NSW number tag of "29218". The class later had FREIGHT AUSTRALIA titles applied, and by 2005 at least one wagon has "pacific national" titles (though still retaining its green colour scheme).