Characters of the North: Vic Bayer reflects on life supporting tennis, Rotary, the community

After outstanding contributions to the Rotary markets, tennis, and the broader community, a beloved Townsville volunteer has bid the city a sad farewell. Read about his wonderful life.

Volunteering superstar Vic Bayer is leaving Townsville after making a tremendous impact on the community over the decades. Picture: Evan Morgan

There’s been not a dry eye in the house as legendary volunteer Vic Bayer bid sad goodbyes to his Townsville friends, colleagues, and community organisations who he’s supported over the past three decades, before embarking on his next chapter.

Well known in the city for his work at Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), and volunteering roles with Tennis Townsville and Rotary, Vic is not one to seek recognition for his tireless work, yet it has found him.

It was with a heavy heart that he attended numerous farewell parties over the past week before relocating to a Sunshine Coast retirement village, where he will be closer to family and better support his wife of 57 years, Robyn, through her health challenges.

Unsure when exactly he was born in 1946, “somewhere on the way from Belarus and Austria”, Vic grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney.

Arriving home with “bruised legs and bleeding” from playing football, his mum steered towards picking up a tennis racquet, which he has clung tightly to ever since.

Vic Bayer was given life membership to the Townsville Tennis Club. Since arriving in Townsville more than 20 years ago, Bayer has been on the local management committee, with two stints as club president, as well as serving on the Tennis Queensland board.

With his knack for numbers, and subsequent bachelor of Commerce specialising in accountancy, he was able to secure numerous financial and accounting jobs over the years.

His financial skills came in handy as he became more involved in volunteering on the organisational side of the tennis court.

“(In the 1960s) I became a CEO for the Southern District tennis club … now I think it’s known as Campbelltown tennis club. We built up a licensed club and it was sort of unheard of for a tennis club to be licensed … and we had something like 40-50 poker machines,” Vic recounted.

Champion Australian tennis player Evonne Goolagong with Vic Bayer. Picture: Supplied.

After relocating to Brisbane to run a Ford dealership, which “didn’t work out too well”, he landed a job with Coutts Industries, and relocated with his wife and three boys to Townsville in 1989.

Harsh economic conditions drove Coutts into receivership, and Vic took up the chief financial officer role with AIMS, which he held from 1991 and his retirement in 2017.

Col Irvine, a golfing buddy who referred him to the AIMS job, also steered Vic towards volunteering with the Port of Townsville Rotary Club, which he took to like a duck to water, rising to the top.

Vic Bayer during a Townsville Rotary event. Picture: Supplied.

In 2016, the Rotary Clubs of Townsville Markets (RCTM) was formed for the purpose of running Rotary markets around the Townsville region, with Vic appointed as president.

“(Since then) markets have been conducted at Cotters in Flinders Street, Townsville, Mega Market in Reid Park, night markets at Riverway Park, Sunday mornings markets at Willows shopping centre and on the first Friday of each month, night market at Strand Park,” he said.

Renee Thistleton shopping at the Strand Markets in 2012.

Jacinta Sariman, 7, celebrates her birthday at the Strand Markets.

“The most successful market has been in the Strand Park, usually attracting a capacity number of stallholders of 190 and an estimated over 5000 visitors each time. The Willows market attracts close to 100 stallholders each Sunday morning.”

Vic was proud to play his part in raising $1.5 million through the markets over the past nine years, with that money sustaining the region’s Rotary Clubs, which in turn benefited the community.

He was approached by Townsville City Council in 2019 with the idea of RCTM staging NQ Field Days in alternate years to FNQ Field days being held in Mareeba, which have proven to be successful over the years.

Tennis Townsville members are celebrating the Davis Cup coming to Townsville. Victor Bayer and Michael Kern.

A great source of pride has been his 60 years work volunteering in support of Tennis organisations, particularly his 13 years as president of Tennis Townsville, where he also kept a close eye on their finances.

He was instrumental in developing the Tennis Townsville centre in North Ward – “probably one of the finest centre in North Queensland” – expanding the organisation’s court footprint, improving its surfaces, boosting safety, upgrading to LED lighting, and securing a grant to improve their toilet facilities for women and disabled athletes.

The Queens Park tennis courts were renamed in Vic’s honour and the Board of Tennis Queensland “unanimously agreed to confer Life Membership on this wonderful ambassador and passionate supporter of tennis”.

“They named the tennis centre after me, but I was not involved and never looked for that sort of recognition, because I think the other people contributed to that as well,” he said.

Vic Bayer and his wife Robyn have been happily married since 1968. Picture: Supplied.

A dedicated family man and grandfather, Vic is most proud of bringing up his three boys, Mitchell, Cameron and Ashley, “who have excellent jobs, they all work hard in their profession”.

While sad to say goodbye to Townsville, and unsure what the future holds, Vic looked forward to spending more time on the golf course.

Originally published as Characters of the North: Vic Bayer reflects on life supporting tennis, Rotary, the community