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It was Bob’s responsibility to rehabilitate the water supply.
The pump stations were without electricity so he and his team
brought in generators and got the pumps going. The knowledge
he had gained on his Churchill Fellowship enabled him to be
of far more value to his community than would otherwise
have been possible and meant that he was able to meet the
enormous challenge of Cyclone Tracy with great expertise and
resilience, and to inspire others with his leadership.
He experimented with carving the marble, applying the engineering
techniques with which he was familiar to the grinding and polishing
of the marble. Rather than using a hammer and chisel, he used
angle grinders and evolved his own original methods, resulting in a
unique style. He watched goldfish and tried to emulate their graceful
movement, then went on to more ambitious work, exhibiting at
the Red Chair Gallery in Cairns, then selling his work further afield
nationally and internationally.
When Bob retired in 1985 he and June moved to Cairns. Bob felt
strongly that the time on his Churchill Fellowship had changed
him for the better both professionally and personally. He and
June had made some successful real estate investments and
Bob came to the conclusion that he wanted to give back to the
Trust as much as he could. He and June agreed to use some of
their good fortune from astute real estate deals to sponsor a
Churchill Fellowship for the study of an aspect of the health of
Australians.
Bob’s Churchill Fellows were also the delighted recipients of Bob’s
sculptures. However, after nearly 20 years of making his smooth,
tactile, graceful sculptures, Bob gave up this heavy, demanding
art and hung up his nick name with the tools, adopting the new
sobriquet ‘Tropical Bob’ and signing his letters as such.
After Bob’s wife June sadly passed away in 1992, Bob decided
to put even more of his and June’s capital into the Trust by
sponsoring a range of Fellowships relating to health.
The first Bob and June Prickett Churchill Fellowship was
awarded in 1993 to Megan Kentish of Queensland. Her trip to
the United Kingdom and the United States and Canada enabled
her to investigate physiotherapy methods in those countries
for children with congenital birth defects. Megan has gone on
to become Program Director for the Queensland Paediatric
Rehabilitation Service.
Bob Prickett is a great example of giving to the community, with
his application of the lessons learnt from his own Fellowship to the
stricken Darwin community after the devastating Cyclone Tracy,
and with his and his June’s sponsorship of over thirty-five Churchill
Fellows in varied aspects of health.
His generosity will continue to benefit the community by funding
Bob and June Prickett Churchill Fellows in health related fields in
perpetuity.
Vale Bob Prickett
Pictured below Bob in his sculpture studio
Bob Prickett was particularly passionate about improving
organ donation and transplantation in Australia. Several of the
Fellowships, such as Simone McMahon’s, had organ and tissue
donation as their focus. Simone started the Organ Donation
and Transplant Foundation of WA, after becoming the 3,000th
Churchill Fellow in 2006 when awarded this sponsored Churchill
Fellowship.
A new Bob and June Prickett sponsored Churchill Fellowship
began in 2011 for Prostate Cancer. Bob Prickett survived
prostate cancer himself and was concerned that not enough
research was being done on this cancer.
‘Dusty Bob’ – the nickname came about because
he was often covered in white marble dust from
making his sculptures – took an active interest in
the Fellows he sponsored, from the selection
process through to corresponding with them when
they were travelling, and continuing the rapport
afterwards. The copies of postcards and letters in
Bob’s file in Churchill House are a lively testament to the mutual
affection and respect – not to mention the sense of humour –
between Bob and his Fellows.
Pictured below
Lynda Farwell (nee Close),
Anita Inwood, Bob, Michelle Gibb, Sharon Gilchrist.
Other Bob and June Prickett sponsored Churchill Fellowships
have been made available in areas Bob felt passionate about,
including genetic and metabolic disease from 2012 to 2014,
and in establishing tropical food gardens in homes, schools or
communities in 2015.
‘Dusty Bob’ had retired to Cairns in 1985, planning to take up
woodcarving. But under his and June’s new house he discovered
something that intrigued him: a big white block of Chillagoe
marble.
Rewarding Australians Striving for Excellence
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