Eustace Robert Hayles, commonly known as Robert (Bob) Hayles Sr. was an Australian entrepreneur who formed a series of passenger and cargo ferry services in the north of Australia after 1889.

Born in London in 1843, Hayles moved to Australia aboard the sailing ship Nunda in 1861. Hayles worked in the mining and pastoral industries in Queensland before 1889 when he purchased a number of buildings and some land in Picnic Bay

Picnic Bay, Queensland

Picnic Bay refers to both a bay on the south-east corner of Magnetic Island and the island's main town. At the 2006 census, Picnic Bay had a population of 360....

, Magnetic Island

Magnetic Island

Magnetic Island is an island offshore from the city of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. This mountainous island in Cleveland Bay has effectively become a suburb of Townsville, with 2,107 permanent residents. The island is accessible from Townsville Breakwater to Nelly Bay Harbour by ferry...

, Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Hayles established a permanent tourist operation on Magnetic Island and in 1900 built a jetty in Picnic Bay, establishing a permanent passenger ferry service to Magnetic Island. Hayles's first ferry, the Bee, was wrecked during a storm in 1901 and Hayles commissioned the construction of a 22 passenger ferry, the Phoenix and later commissioned a similar ferry called the Magnet. In 1909, Hayles was granted creek-front land in Townsville to establish a permanent ferry terminal to assist in the operation of the Magnetic Island ferry service. In 1922 Hayles established Hayles Magnetic Island Pty. Ltd. and was appointed the Chairman of the company. In 1924, the company expanded to Cairns and established a regular mail and cargo service between Cairns and Cooktown

Cooktown, Queensland

Cooktown is a small town located at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland where James Cook beached his ship, the Endeavour, for repairs in 1770. At the 2006 census, Cooktown had a population of 1,336...

. The company also established a Darwin

Darwin, Northern Territory

Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...

 office the same year and provided services for mission stations, lighthouses and remote settlements along the Victoria and Daly rivers.

Hayles' business continued to expand, offering fortnightly Cairns to Green Island services from 1928 onwards and in 1936 the company introduced Brisbane River

Brisbane River

The Brisbane River is the longest river in south east Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay. John Oxley was the first European to explore the river who named it after the Governor of New South Wales, Thomas Brisbane in 1823...

 cruises in Brisbane, Queensland

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

. The Second World War had a serious impact on Hayles' business with the cargo vessels in his fleet requisitioned by the Australian military.