Vale Bob Bond

Dayboro’s Bob Bond has been remembered as a loving family man and pioneering grandfather of the region.

Moreton Bay Regional Councillor Darren Grimwade (Div 11) paid tribute to Mr Bond at last week’s council meeting.

Here’s what he had to say:

On the Thursday 25th November 2021 our region lost one of the pioneering grandfathers of our region, Robert James Bond.

Robert Bond, known as Bob, Bobby or Bindy, was a true local, born in Dayboro Private Hospital on 13th March 1935, the sixth child of Percy and Amy Bond, and living in the district all his life.

They lived on the family farm known as “Myola” at King Scrub, which had been in the family since 1888.

Bob started school at Ocean View State School in 1941 and in 1945, at the age of 10, became a boarder at Nudgee Junior College at Indooroopilly, staying there until he was 14.

After leaving school Bob returned to work on the family farm.

In the early 1950s Bob, with brothers Jack and George, grew pineapples.

Their father Percy had bought a house in Dayboro in the early 1950s and decided to retire from dairying.

Family farming

The three brothers took over the farm from their father on a share farm basis.

After a while George went north and Bob and Jack went to live with their parents in McKenzie St and share-farmers went on the farm.

Bob worked for the Pine Shire Council for a short time.

Heb also worked at the Dayboro Butter Factory.

He delivered cord wood for the co-op and 44 gallon drums of petrol to the café.

Bob married Gloria Sellars in January 1958.

Bob and Gloria had four sons and there were nine grand-children, 14 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

A couple of years after they were married Bob and Gloria moved on to the family farm, dairying.

Bob later bought the property from his father and the family moved back on to the farm.

They ceased dairying in 1973.

Diverse working life

After the dairy had ceased operations Bob undertook a number of different jobs around the local area including driving milk tankers and building roads and fencing in the local area.

Bob and Gloria separated in the early 1980s.

After his separation, Bob grew pineapples on the hill behind the house.

He later grew lady finger bananas.

Saturdays were spent cleaning around the plants, cutting bananas and getting them ready for market, drinking beer, eating corned beef sandwiches, and drinking more beer.

Bob did like the odd drink. He often joked about buying the Crown Hotel in Dayboro.

From the late 1980s until his retirement in 2006 Bob worked for a local rural supplies business, driving semi-tippers doing river clearance and interestingly enough his last job was behind the Paper Mill at Petrie.

Bob married Carmel Seavers (nee Protheroe) on 5th May 1990.

Many in this room may know Carmel as Carmel Bond, a very hard-working community member who is highly respected in our local community.

Together they lived on the farm throughout their marriage.

Eloquent turn of phrase

Bob had his own funny way of describing some things.

He wore strides, vehicles had pong pipes, he lit fires with woof wood, toilet paper was bum fodder, his mouth was his cakehole and he hated standing around like a stale bottle of (you know what).

Bob had a number of major health hurdles to overcome in recent years and on 20th September Bob was admitted to the Residential Transition Care Unit at Zillmere with a view to him coming home. Sadly while at the unit, infections had taken their toll and his body was no longer able to keep up the struggle, but as everyone who knew Bob would know, he was a tough old bugger and didn’t give up without a hell of a fight, passing away peacefully at Transition Care on 25th November aged 86.

Bob was the last of his generation of the Bond family in Australia.

Bob’s final message to everyone was: “Don’t grieve for me. I am an old man. I have had a good life and I am not afraid of dying.”

I want to pass on our deepest condolences to Carmel and their extended family and friends for their loss and may Bob rest in peace.

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