One of Central Otago’s passionate sons Bob Kilgour died on June 6, aged 82.

Loved husband of Esme, and father of John and Victoria, Bob was born in Cromwell on February 18, 1942 - the son of one of New Zealand’s most successful goldminers at the time - Bill Kilgour.

Bill was just 19 when he struck gold in the Kawarau Gorge, and used his wealth to support his widowed mother and siblings. But by the time he married at 29 he’d spent all of the money on fast cars and gambling.

Bob left school at 15 to work on an orchard and clean out water races, and even helped build the Cromwell Primary School.  

Photography also became a passion of his at high school, and he started sending in photos to the Otago Daily Times, eventually getting his first job there at 19.

His first assignment was in Princes St where a parcel bomb had blown up a solicitor’s office and killed someone. He also became friends with former ODT editor the late Robin Charteris when he was a cadet journalist in the Alexandra office.

A young Bob Kilgour on a photography assignment in the 1960s. PHOTO: Supplied

Bob went on to photograph the Royal Family when they arrived in New Zealand, and his photo of the Queen Mother fly fishing in Lake Hawea ended up all over the world.

Described by Esme as a passionate person who was extremely driven, he was also lighthearted and entertaining, and looked after those less fortunate than himself - particularly if they were miners.

Bob is buried in the Clyde cemetery near his brother Ian, as he loved the umbrella trees that stand like guardians of the burial grounds. Esme said they once saw some similar on a trip to Italy.

Gold mining was his true passion along with building the plant and machinery for all of his operations. He picked up where his father left off in the 1970s to mine back at Scotland Point in the Kawarau Gorge. 

His entrepreneurial streak also gave him the chance to get involved with developments, starting with townhouses in Bridge Hill and a 30 acre subdivision in Earnscleugh.

Molyneux Estate and Molyneux Industrial kicked off in the early 2000’s and then in recent years he won a local award from the Alexandra, Clyde & Districts Business Group for his work establishing the Countdown/Woolworths development.

“He was always a big thinker in that way,” Esme said.

Hitting the jackpot with some of his earlier gold mining successes. PHOTO: Supplied

Marrying Esme when she returned from Europe in 1970, Bob helped establish the Central Otago Aero Club and was the first person locally to get his pilot’s licence. 

Esme remembers being pregnant and landing on top of the Sugarloaf.  

He’d also fly his friends to go hunting and used his business skills to make deer antler bottle openers and chandeliers, exporting possum skins to Europe and trapping eels to sell in Scandinavia.

In the 1960s Bob and Rex Gourlay set up a photography business and went on to establish New Zealand’s biggest school photo scheme, building a team of staff all over the country. 

Also community minded, he was involved with Promote Alexandra, the Alexandra Flood Action Group, and was president of the Otago Miners and Prospectors Association.

Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery was a shared passion of both Bob and Esme, and they worked with a group of friends over many years to help establish the community facility. 

As a former New Zealand speed skater, Bob was also involved with the relocation of the Manorburn ice rink into Alexandra and the rebuild of the facility.

Bob and Esme loved entertaining and always threw great parties at their house in Tarbert St, particularly after the Alexandra Blossom Festival.

Bob packed three lifetimes into one and loved welcoming new people into the town.

“He went from ditch digger to developer and everything in between,” Esme said.