Rob Walker knows people. He worked in the music industry for 35 years. He was an exec at EMI; he worked for Capitol Records in LA in the 1980s; he was Tina Turner’s road manager for eight years.
So yeah, he knows a few famous faces. When he tells stories about “Mick”, he’s talking about Jagger. When he brings up that yarn about “Elton”, he means John. When he says “Tina”, he could be talking about Turner, or Arena.
Rob’s house is littered with photos of him with various music-industry celebrities, the likes of John Farnham, MC Hammer, Keith Urban, and so many more. It’s a game of “Guess Who” as you rove around the property checking out the photos and trying to figure out whether you should know the people in it.
Thirty-five years in the music industry, a world of celebrity, glitz and glamour. And now, Rob Walker lives in Bucketty, NSW.
Bucketty. Population: 186 (assuming no one has ducked out to the shops). This place in the hills just north of Sydney is the antithesis of Hollywood thrills. It’s just a tiny settlement where Rob has found his own little slice of paradise, built a home, filled it with memorabilia, and settled in.
If you like Texan ranch culture, you’re going to love the property now known as Walker’s Run. “Some friends say I’m all hat and no cattle,” Rob laughs, admitting a cowboy obsession that’s obvious from the wide hat clamped on his head at all times, even if there’s no livestock around.
Walker’s Run is filled with fascinating bits and pieces. It’s not just the photos, either. There’s a lifetime of work here, a lifetime of passionate collection, with everything from bottle openers to the rusted front end of an old Buick car; from baseball caps to toy cap guns; from old farming equipment to a set of steer horns. You could be in Texas, if it wasn’t for the king parrots and the cockatoos playing in the birdbath out the front.
Every piece of memorabilia here – and there are literally thousands – has a story. Every photograph has a story. Every piece of the house itself has a story. And Rob Walker is the guy to tell them.
He knows people. And he’s happy to share.
