I asked them when they came to live in Murrumbateman and Bob said it was in 2005. He and Elizabeth and their dogs came here to leave behind the hustle and bustle of Canberra and to acquire some space. 

“The kids were independent and they had already left home,” Bob said. “And now I have a shed,” he added with delight.

In 2005, Bob started a Maritime Security consulting business, which he operated for about five years. Enjoying semi-retirement, Bob is the ‘grounds keeper’ of their property and Elizabeth is the designer-gardener.

“I do the mowing and digging holes for trees,” Bob said. Bob and Elizabeth have a spectacular garden hidden away from the road, something of an oasis in a rugged surrounding landscape.

Bob’s career started in the Merchant Navy where he fulfilled his apprenticeship and rose to Master. Bob’s love of the sea and all things nautical inevitably drew him back to model-making. He usually has three, or four, or five models under construction at any one time. 

“This ensures I never get bored,” he said.

Watching his brother from the age of five or six making models, Bob started off constructing aircraft and he then went on to building quite large models of ships. When he was about 12 years old the Courier Mail did an article on his model building prowess.

At this year’s Royal Canberra Show, Bob entered his model of the Swedish warship Vasa (or Wasa).

The warship Vasa was launched on August 10, 1628. On her maiden voyage she sailed less than two kilometres when she encountered a light breeze – she foundered and sank to the bottom of Stockholm harbour. She was discovered in the 1955s in a busy shipping lane. The ship was salvaged in 1961 with an almost intact hull, but had been stripped of her bronze cannons. The Vasa was designed to carry 145 sailors and 300 soldiers. The Vasa is a popular tourist attraction and is on display in the Vasa Museum where more than 29 million visitors go to see the richly decorated sailing ship. The Vasa was dangerously unstable due to having too much weight in the upper section of the hull.

Bob’s model measures one-metre long and 1.2-metres high. To his surprise, Bob was awarded Grand Champion at this year’s show.

Bob’s prize was a sewing machine, complete with an overlocker; Elizabeth is still smiling.

The Pacific Gas is Bob’s next project. Under the Australian flag, she carried LPG between 1972 and the mid 1980s from Australia to PNG. On October 15, 1986 the aging ship was towed from Port Moresby harbour and scuttled on the south-east side of Padana Passage and is now a popular diving site.

Each year the Canberra Model Shipwrights Society shows the models made by its members to around six events across the region. The Canberra Model Shipwrights Society Expo will be held at Mt Rogers Primary School September 17-18, 2017.