Bob Mainwaring joined the RAAF in 1944. Following his discharge, he took up farming and later moved with his wife to a soldier settlement property on Flinders Island where he spent the next twenty-five years. Elected MHA for the Tasmanian seat of Lyons in 1986, Mainwaring served as Liberal whip before leaving politics in 1998. His interest in local history inspired him to begin writing The Gold Coast Settlers: The Story of Post World War II Soldier Settlement on Flinders Island, published in 2006.
