Robert John BISHOP
Born :
15 Jun 1921 Clifton, Queensland, Australia
Died :
8 Aug 2006 Clifton Hospital, Clifton, Queensland, Australia
Buried :
11 Aug 2006 Clifton Lawn Cemetery, Queensland, Australia
Cause of Death :
Unknown
Biography
Bob's Obituary published in The Clifton Courier, Wednesday, August 23, 2006 gave an in depth look into his life.
Bob was Everyone's Friend
ROBERT JOHN (BOB) BISHOP was born in Clifton on June 15, 1921. He was the youngest of six children born to James and Marianne Bishop. Bob's father's family were pioneers of the King's Creek district, while his mother's family (the Larsens) were among the early settlers of the Nobby district.
Bob's mother died soon after he was born, due to complications from childbirth and his father was left with six young children under the age of 10 to care for. Bob was raised by his paternal grandmother, Mary Ann Bishop, until he was about 10; after which time he went to live with his father and siblings on the farm, "Burnside", Kings Creek. Whenever Bob spoke of his grandmother, he always referred to her as "a wonderful lady".
Bob attended school at Kings Creek until it closed in 1931. He then finished his schooling at the Clifton State School.
Like most young men of the district, Bob worked on the family farm and also helped out on farms of his uncles and others. Farming those days was much more labour intensive than it is today and it was all hands on deck come harvest time.
Bob volunteered and served in the Army in World War II, and saw active service in New Guinea. After the War, Bob returned to work on his father's farm and also share-farmed with his uncle, Fred Bishop of "Lochinbar", Nobby.
Bob married Olive Bott on October 22, 1949. There were three children of the marriage - Avis, Lois and John. Bob and Ollie lived at his father's farm, "Burnside", and later moved to the adjoining farm, "Garescube" where he was to spend the rest of his life.
Bob had a chequered sporting career, spanning many years. He played his very first game of competition cricket in the senior fixtures at the age of 15, playing for Kings Creek. This team included no fewer than six Bishops, all from the Kings Creek area.
After the war, Bob started playing cricket for Kings Creek again and later when they dropped out of the fixtures, Bob joined the Clifton Club and continued playing regularly until the 1962-163 season, playing with many of the district's up and coming players.
He was a top class bowler who put the fear of God into many of the batsmen as he was able to get the ball to rise off the matted concrete wickets on the district's fields. He was not renowned as a top batsman, batting well down the order, but he was one of the best bowlers in the competition for many years, taking several hundred wickets, with on of his best bowling figures in a match being 11 for 20.
Bob had one season playing rugby league prior to enlisting in the Army and after the War he started playing again for Clifton into the early 1950s, playing with the Ryans, Logans and McCaffreys. He was a member of the premiership winning Clifton rugby league side in 1946, winning the O'Shea Cup in the South-East Downs Rugby Football League competition. He became a rugby league referee, controlling the inter-town games in the Warwick competition as well as local school games. He was known to address the players before the start of play with: "I want a good clean game and no fighting and no bloody swearing!"
In one well-remembered incident, Bob sent off an entire team. This occurred when Bob sent off the captain of a Warwick Collegians side for a head-high tackle. The captain said to Bob, "If I go, they all go." So Bob said OK, off you all go! He made a belated "comeback" in 1967 when he played in the "Battle of Clifton" match when a Veterans team played the High School students; and he was rewarded with a try, playing as a flying winger. Some of the team mates in this game were Tony McCaffrey, Laurie Bowe, Alwyn Moore and Ally McOscar.
Bob became associated with the Clifton Basketball Association when he brought his daughters Avis and Lois to games in 1967 and in 1970 he was elected President of the association, a position he held until 1981, being honoured as the association's first life member. He was a driving force behind the push to get an indoor stadium built in Clifton, which came to fruition in 1982. After his own children gave up playing basketball, Bob was a tremendous guiding force to the Association with his attitude to help the youngsters, and very rarely missed a wek when games were played.
He put some of his skills and experience back into the district when in the early 1970's he spent many hours down at the Clifton State School teaching students on the cricket field, and he was a keen spectator at their inter-chhool matches for many years.
Bob grew up in an era where there was no radio or television. Cards was one diversion that families indulged in to pass the time, and the Bishop family was no exception. There was nothing Bob liked better than a game of cards, particularly 500. In his later years he was a regular at the Senior Citizens weekly euchre tournaments. To get a game of cards, Bob would even teach his grandchildren to play when they were staying with him and Ollie on holidays and quite a few of his relatives owe their knowledge of euchre, 500, poker and crib to Bob.
Bob also had an active interest in the Sport of Kings, he had a particularly handy horse named 'Aviojo' (named by taking the first two letters of the names of his children). This horse was leased by Marty Byrne and proved a good money spinner. 'Aviojo' was later the dam of another goodhorse, 'Avson', which won in Brisbane. While not a big punter by any means, Bob always liked to have a flutter on the odd big race like the Newmarket, Stradbroke, Caulfield and Melbourne Cups. Bob wlso was a committee member of the Clifton Jockey Club and was a life member of that association.
Bob was a well known identity of the Clifton district. Everybody knew Bob. In his later years he could be seen most days of the week on the "Seat of Knowledge" situated outside what is now the Clifton Pharmacy in Clifton's main street.
Unfortunately, Bob was afflicted with dementia and spent the final years of his life in the Clifton Hospital. All Bob's brothers and sisters predeceased him.
He is survived by his wife Ollie, son John, daughters Avis and Lois; six grand-children and six great-grandchildren.
Spouse
Wife : Living Person (Married : Unknown Date - Unknown Place)
Children
Parents
Mother : Marianne Christina LARSEN (ABT 1889 - 27 Jun 1921)Father : James BISHOP (23 Jul 1886 - 19 Jul 1956)
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