R.A. (Bob) Owens, Mayor of Tauranga 1968-71 and Mayor of both Tauranga and Mount Maunganui 1971-77 Image courtesy of Tauranga City Library, Ref. 99-710 |
Historic Village locomotive on Owens Transport vehicle c late-1990s Image courtesy of Tauranga City Library, Ref. 14-0118 |
He emigrated to New Zealand and in 1953 came to Tauranga with his wife and young family. They lived in Parkvale (Merivale, to the locals) and had the “flashest car in the area. In '58 or '59 they moved closer to town.”* He began a shipping and stevedoring business which eventually grew to become the Owens Group involving over 30 companies. These included not only shipping and stevedoring but also road transport, travel and insurance. Late in the 1990s this was taken over by Mainfreight.
Tauranga mayor Bob Owens and Auckland mayor "Robbie" (Dove-Myer Robinson) racing tricycles at the Tauranga Orange Festival, 27 August 1977 Image courtesy of Tauranga City Library, Ref. 03-061 |
Sources
Biographical Sketches of The Centennial Mural, editor Ernest E. Bush
Wikipedia
* Personal account by writer’s husband John Green
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