Bob moved to Sydney where his first experience of crane driving was on a truck-mounted Cranvel. He says that his first ‘real’ crane experience was with a Northwest crawler crane.
Bob worked as a rigger as well as crane driver in the days when there was no demarcation, one had to be a jack-of-all-trades, and a lot of work was still done with hand winches, stiff leg derricks and the like. One of Bob’s first jobs was building the Channel 2 tower with Johns & Waygood – he later built the Channel 7 tower.
Bob later commenced a long association with Frank Maros and moved to Brisbane in the late 1950’s with Wally Attard and Frank Maros jnr to set up Maros Constructions. By this time he had added estimating to his crane driving and rigging skills. Maros completed major jobs all over Queensland – one of the first was Sundale, but others included Weipa, Gladstone, and the western freeway.
Bob continued at Maros, becoming involved in setting up the crane hirers association in Queensland, and later working on the organising committee for the first national conference at Broadbeach in 1979. Bob left Maros for a brief time with International Rigging before moving to Brambles where he worked, in various management roles.
He gave a lot of time to the crane industry, serving as the Queensland president and national president at various times, as well as being involved in various industry committees where his experience and views were highly valued.
Bob was involved in industrial matters, and was well regarded in the Industrial Court as a person who could see both the worker and the management's perspective, having worked in both areas himself.
Bob was responsible for safety and quality issues for the whole of Brambles Queensland. While cranes were one of Bob's passions, his family always came first. Sadly, Bob passed away in 2020.
