Obituaries Australia

Memories of the early pioneering days in Victoria and New South Wales are recalled by the death on Friday 3 of Mr. Robert Grover, of Hawthorn Park, Preston, at the age of 89 years. Mr. Grover was one of the first drivers for Cobb and Company, the famous coachmen of the last century. He was a member of Cobb and Company's Old Drivers Association, and his death was the 35th which has occured since the last reunion in May, 1930. The average age of members of the association is 76 years.

Mr. Grover spent his boyhood in Post-office Square, where his parents lived. From his earliest years he showed a love of horses, and he became intimately acquainted with the coaches with which his life afterwards was to be associated. He saw the first four American coaches that were used in Victoria landed in Melbourne, and he was a great friend of the famous American drivers of their day — Levi Rich, "Ike" Haigh, and "Big" Sampson, and also of "Cabbage-tree" Ned Devine, a Tasmanian. He saw two of these American drivers take their eight-horse teams with loaded coaches to the Melbourne Cup, and perform the figure-of-eight in front of the stand.

Mr. Grover, in company with Dick Harris, drove the first six-horse coaches from Albury to Wagga (N.S.W.), the first stage of the Sydney mail. He frequently appeared on the stage with a coach and four, one of his appearances being in "A Million of Money."