Orienteering Australia is saddened to learn of the passing of one of our former Presidents in Bob. Bob was a true icon of our sport. He was a leader, promoter, communicator, manager, organiser, planner, controller, competitor, and mentor. Bob gave so much to our sport as a passionate member of Orienteering ACT and with Orienteering Australia.
Bob started orienteering in 1977 and was elected to the ACT Orienteering Association Board in 1986. He remained on the Board or Council for the next 11 years, holding the positions of Publicity Officer, Event Officer club representative. In 1997 he was appointed Executive Director for ACTOA/OACT, and held that position until 2004.
In February 1997 he was appointed by the Orienteering Federation of Australia as National Development Officer, then was elected Director (Development) in 2001 and President from 2006 to 2008. He continued as a voluntary media person for Orienteering Australia until 2011.
At both the national and ACT levels, Bob’s particular interests were in media and promotion, and in the strategic development of the sport. He was a passionate advocate for a more progressive and businesslike approach in the management of orienteering. He promoted this approach through numerous articles in The Australian Orienteer and ACT Orienteering News. He was involved in the rebranding of the Orienteering Federation of Australia to Orienteering Australia in 2001.
Bob’s combined interests in media, sponsorship, event technology and general event organisation saw him take on key roles in several national and international events conducted by Orienteering ACT, including the 2000 World Cup races, the Australian Three-Days Carnivals in 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2016, and the 2007 and 2011 Oceania Championships.
Bob’s personal efforts led to the receipt by Orienteering ACT of the ACT Chief Minister’s Award for Excellence in the Sport and Recreation Industry in 1997 and 1998 and the Sport and Recreation Award for Marketing and Promotion in 2001. Bob’s service to orienteering was recognised through his award of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2010 Australia Day Honours list and through induction as an Associate Member into the ACT Sport Hall of Fame in 2013. Bob was inducted into the Orienteering Australia Hall of Fame – General Division in 2018.
There were few other people as passionate as Bob as to what orienteering could be within the sporting landscape of Australia. He had a vision that orienteering could be one of the top 30 sports in Australia. It is a vision that the Board shares in the way it works to develop and grow our sport and to honour the legacy of one of the great contributors to our sport, Bob Mouatt.
