For our final “Where I Hang My Hat…” of the year, we visit with Tin Can Bay resident Robert Horder.  Better known as Bob – or as “Have-A-Chat Horder” – his ties with Tin Can go back to 1961 when he was sent to Camp Kerr as part of his army training. 

Born in Goulburn, NSW during WWII, Bob is the second youngest of five sisters and a brother.  He spent the first nine years of his life travelling up and down the NSW coast with his family, until they finally settled in Sydney.  Aged 18 he left a carpentry apprenticeship to join the army.  While based in 3^rd Battalion (aka “Old Faithful”) in Enoggera Barracks in Brisbane, Bob spent six weeks in Camp Kerr doing range work.  “There were no buildings there then – it was all just tents,” he says.  His second trip to the area was for a forced march along the entire length of Fraser Island.  “I’ve no idea what the aim of it was,” Bob says of the three day trek through sand.  “But we played cards too!”

In 1969 he called back into Camp Kerr overnight on his way to Shoalwater Bay before heading to serve in Vietnam.  As a Utility Sergeant, Bob’s duties were varied, but a large part of his time was spent in charge of the Civil Aid Group, which helped the local people improve buildings such as schools by painting them, repairing the roof, and installing plumbing. 

His next Tin Can Bay experiences were also through the army, with two fortnight-long camps in 1979 and 1980.  As Regimental Quarter Master for the Army Reserve, Bob was sent along with the trainees as part of Field Hospital training.  “There still weren’t any buildings – we set up a fully functioning 10-bed Field Hospital, complete with x-ray unit, in a 20x20 tent,” says Bob. 

After leaving the army in 1981, Bob trained as a teacher and spent 10 years with TAFE, working with migrants, disadvantaged/at risk students and rehabilitated drug/alcohol addicts.  After retiring he then “went walkabout” for 5-6 years, travelling up and down the NSW/Queensland coast and using the time to catch up with long-lost family members spread all along the East Coast.

In 1998, Bob called in to Tin Can Bay to “just have a look” and reminisce about his army days spent here...then he continued on as far as Townsville before “I decided Tin Can was it for me,” he says.  “Two weeks later I bought a block of land.”   His devoted daughter Peta and her children moved to the area not long after and have firmly settled here, and the family has grown with the birth of Bob’s first great-grand-daughter Shamika-Leigh in 2008.

Since moving to the area, Bob has stopped to chat with pretty much every person in town, learnt to play golf at the Country Club, volunteered for the dolphins for three years, and taken up oil painting.  His artwork has been sold to private collections, exhibited in Gympie for the Disabled Association, his painting of budgerigars was recently first prize in a charity raffle at the Country Club, and each month a different piece is on display in the NAB.

“There aren’t too many places like Tin Can anymore.  I love it here,” says Bob. “I truly believe it is the back door to heaven.”