11.08.2017

Robert Charles Wallis 1940 - 2017

We have received the sad news of the passing of Rob Wallis a founding director of Australia's National Hire Group and one of the pioneers of the HRIA.
A letter from the Hire & Rental Association highlights his life and carreer more eloquently than we ever could, so here it is:

“Some sad news for you from the Australian hire industry. Yesterday -the 10th August- in a beautiful ceremony at St Andrews Anglican Church in Cronulla, the friends, family and greater hire industry bid farewell to Rob Wallis, one of the stalwarts of the Australian Hire Industry.

An accomplished businessman, Rob took over his father’s business St George Plant Hire before selling this off. Rob was also one of the founding directors of National Hire Group, which eventually became a publicly listed company on the ASX and later would team with the Carlyle group to take control of Coates Hire. www.vertikal.net/en/news/story/4708/
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Rob Wallis

Rob was known as being both an honest and generous man with a keen sense of community. He was regularly involved in fundraising activities for Camp Quality and also made his farm in Robertson (in the Southern Highlands of NSW) available for Camp Quality events. He was also generous in providing his time and expertise in serving the Australian Hire Industry. Indeed, Rob was present at the initial meeting in 1968 where the concept of creating a national hire association was tabled.

He served as a HRIA state president and sat on the National Executive. In later years, Rob continued to be involved with the association through the HRIA WoRK (Wealth of Rental Knowledge) Group.

His work ethos and love of the hire industry was passed on to his three sons, Neil, Jay and Glenn, who have all gone on to have successful careers in the industry. Rob will be keenly missed.”