MS Acc08.114
National Library of Australia
View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Creator
-
Robin Miller Dicks
- Title
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Papers of Robin Miller Dicks
- Date Range
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1943-1978
- Collection Number
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MS Acc08.114
- Extent
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2.4 metres (4 boxes + 3 folio boxes)
- Language of Materials
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English
- Repository
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Special Collections (Manuscripts)
Introduction
Scope and Contents
Cultural Sensitivity Advisory Notice
Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and other First Nations people are advised that this collection contains content that may be distressing and/or culturally sensitive, including names of people who have passed away, as well as language, terms and descriptions that could cause offence and may not be considered appropriate.
Content Advisory Notice
This collection contains content that may be considered distressing, including graphic descriptions of health conditions and medical procedures.
Content Summary
This collection comprises diaries and diary transcripts, photographs, correspondence, a nurse's uniform, awards and diplomas, flight plans and sheets, speeches, published and manuscript biographies, press cuttings, a paediatric handbook (annotated), and a video tribute
Conditions Governing Access
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn4456021).
Conditions Governing Use
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Preferred Citation
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Robin Miller Dicks, National Library of Australia, MS Acc08.114, [box number and series and/or file number]'.
Finding Aid Source(s)
Please note that this finding aid contains biographical and descriptive information provided by Patsy Millet.
Biographical Note
Born in September 1940, Robin was the second daughter of Mary Durack and Horrie Miller. Educated at Loreto Convent, (where she became head girl), after leaving school she began a nursing course at Royal Perth Hospital, graduating in 1958 with the highest aggregate marks and the State Nurse's Medical Prize.
While completing her triple certificate with a midwifery course, she spent her off-duty hours acquiring her private and commercial pilot's licence and a first class instrument rating.
As a result of a polio epidemic, an immunisation program was then being carried out from Perth to the south west of WA. Seeing an opportunity to combine both her nursing and flying training, in 1966 she approached the State Department of Health with a proposal to deliver the Sabin oral vaccine to northwest and Kimberley districts. To ensure her application was taken seriously, she volunteered to provide her own aircraft for the purpose. Her offer accepted, with her father's assistance she purchased a Cessna 182, later replaced by a Mooney, co-incidentally registered in her initials REM. From May 1967 to October 1969, Robin administered 37,000 doses of vaccine to 450 northern towns and remote communities. In the process she dispensed general medical treatment and assisted the ophthalmologist Professor Ida Mann with a trachoma clinic. Covering over the period a total of 68,000 kilometres, her flight plans record her daily round and distances flown, while her letters convey the more personal details. Because the vaccine was administered via a sugar cube, she became known to Aboriginal children as 'the Sugar Bird Lady,' a name adopted by the wider public and the press.
The program completed, she became a pilot/nurse for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, operating across the state. She undertook numerous mercy flights and consequently saved many lives. Taking temporary leave from her regular work, she acted as co-pilot to ferry new aircraft for the RFDS from the USA to WA, including a flight from Paris to Perth to deliver a single engine Horizon aircraft for a private charter company.
She married Dr H Dicks, Executive Director of the RFDS in 1973 and her companion on her eight overseas ferry trips. She continued in the capacity of a 'Flying Nurse' until her death from cancer in 1975. Shortly before her death she wrote an address for the Royal Aeronautical Society in Canberra - a bright informative talk - given for her as she was not able to attend.
She was during her life and posthumously the recipient of a number of awards, including the Nancy Bird Award as Women pilot of the year. (Robin was an executive officer and WA President of ZONTA, the Women Pilots' Association. In 1970 she was the recipient of an award from WAPA for the most notable Contribution to Aviation by a Woman of Australia.) A plaque to her memory is located at Royal Perth Hospital and a memorial at Jandakot Airport where a replica of her Mooney aircraft is on display.
Robin worked for much of her life in what was then a man's world. She was one of the few women to hold a commercial licence and probably the only one who was prepared to do running repairs and aircraft maintenance. She received considerable publicity during her lifetime - press, magazine and television - attention she accepted reluctantly in order to promote the work of the RFDS.
Hers was an extraordinary life of service to the state. Her untimely death came as a great blow to her family, associates and many admirers. From her diaries, two books gave been extracted - 'Flying Nurse' and a posthumous work - 'Sugar Bird Lady'. The eight original journals retained (and a typed transcript of the years 1971 - 1975 ) cover medical emergencies and her general activities. There are also letters in diary form to the Warrnambool aviator Digger Smith and to her father, HC Miller. Entries in the months October to November 1975 bravely and clinically charts the progress of her illness and death. After her death she received the posthumous awards, Paul Tissandier Diploma by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (The oldest aviation organisation in the world) and the Brabazon Cup for outstanding services to Aviation from the British Women Pilots' Assoc. These two awards are included in this collection.
Item Descriptions
Biogs: Biog. RMD by Julie Lewis - published in 1986 book Reflections (File) - Box 1
Biogs: Norman Brearley Oration, 1999 - on Robin Miller Dicks 'The Sugarbird Lady' (File) - Box 1
Biogs: by Shirley Adkins (File) - Box 1
Flight Sheets: Royal Flying Doctor Service Flight Sheets for 1967 and 1968. Includes schedules while administering Sabin polio immunisation throughout NW and Kimberley districts; flying times and purpose of flight with general remarks (File) - Box 1
Flight Plans: Complete record of 1967/8 flight plans (made during Polio Immunisation years); full list of towns and stations to be visited (approx. 450); Polio Immunisation sheets for posting up prior to clinics; sheets for radio broadcast to areas prior to clinics (File) - Box 2
Diaries: (a) 1961 (Notes only) (File) - Box 2
Diaries: (b) 1962 (occasional notes; flying; interesting cases; overland trip with HC Miller; start midwifery course) (File) - Box 2
Diaries: (c) 1964 (Jan - June) Includes a typed account of a flight to transport Kitty, an Indigenous Australian, from the region of Wiluna (Little Sandy Desert WA SG51-09) for medical treatment and her funeral (File) - Box 2
Cultural Sensitivity Advisory Notice
Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and other First Nations people are advised that this collection contains content that may be distressing and/or culturally sensitive, including names of people who have passed away, as well as language, terms and descriptions that could cause offence and may not be considered appropriate.
Content Advisory Notice
This file contains content that may be considered distressing, including graphic descriptions of health conditions and medical procedures.
Diaries: (d) 1968- Jan 69. Includes activities as Flying Nurse and USA ferry flights (File) - Box 2
Diaries: (e) 1972 - Diary of activities as a flying nurse for the RFDS - accounts accidents - disasters, emergency treatment. NB entry 6/4/72 - Robin's own emergency after a long and stressful day. This was the year the book Flying Nurse was published) (File) - Box 2
Diaries: (f) Additional to 1972 diary - the - Jan/Feb ferry flight to USA (File) - Box 2
Diaries: (g) 1974. This diary includes original letters and cuttings pertaining to her flying career (File) - Box 2
Diaries: (h) 1975 (complete to few days before her death. Robin flew last flight for RFDS on November the 1st. Until two weeks of her death on Dec 7 she continued answering emergency RFDS calls and organising medical flights) (File) - Box 2
Handbook: Box includes the Brabazon Cup and copies of her books, Flying Nurse and Sugarbird Lady (File) - Box 3
Handbook: Pediatric Handbook with original handwritten notes by RMD (File) - Box 3
Handbook: Booklet 1966 containing article by Dr H. Dicks 'Wings over the Outback' on the RFDS (File) - Box 3
Badges: Powder Puff Derby Badge and Zonta Badge (File) - Box 3
Letters: Three letters from Robin 1967 with details of her polio round and one describing to Health Dept. official repairs to her aircraft wing after hitting a tree on landing in a storm; 'I mended it with Scotch tape and stuffed up the dent with 2 polio huckerbuck towels and covered the lot with some polio schedules and more Scotch tape. Staggered back into the air and she seemed to fly alright.' Written on Dept. of Health letterhead. Robin did much of the standard maintenance and emergency repairs on her aircraft (File) - Box 4
Letters: Sample of letters from Robin to her father HC Miller 1970 - 1971: flying experiences and medical emergencies (some graphic detail). Several letters include brief accounts of visiting or transporting patients including Indigenous Australians, with references to the regions of Wiluna (Little Sandy Desert WA SG51-09), Meekatharra (WA Gascoyne / Murchison SG50-12), Wodgina (WA East Pilbara SF50-08), Dampier (WA West Pilbara SF50-02) and Shaw River (WA East Pilbara SF50-08, SF50-04). One letter 1975 with account of her last ferry flight. Most letters written on RFDS letterhead or Flight Information sheets. (File) - Box 4
Cultural Sensitivity Advisory Notice
Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and other First Nations people are advised that this file contains content that may be distressing and/or culturally sensitive, including language, terms and descriptions that could cause offence and may not be considered appropriate.
Content Advisory Notice
This file contains content that may be considered distressing, including graphic descriptions of health conditions and medical procedures.
Press cuttings : Press cuttings 1962 - 1970. Includes early flying days, Polio vaccine distribution ('Sugarbird' Lady period); with HCM; ferry flights (File) - Box 4
Press cuttings : Press cuttings 1970 - 1975 re Robin Miller's career as Flying Nurse for RFDS and overseas ferry flights with RFDS aircraft (File) - Box 4
Press cuttings : Press cuttings re Robin's participation in US 'Powder Puff Derby.' (File) - Box 4
Press cuttings : Press cuttings re Robin's mercy flights and aerial dramas (File) - Box 4
Press cuttings: Reviews of Robin's book Flying Nurse (Rigby 1972) (File) - Box 4
Press cuttings : Reviews of Robin's book Flying Nurse and sequel, Sugarbird Lady (File) - Box 4
Press cuttings : See also HCM/BUS (lever arch file) (File) - Box 4
Press cuttings : Newspaper cuttings, articles and broadcast transcripts following Robin's death in 1975 (File) - Box 4
Press cuttings : Re posthumous awards, trophy, memorials and Foundation. (File) - Box 4
Typed document : Account of Robin's funeral in Perth and in Broome, by her sister Patsy (File) - Box 4
Letters, brochures : Letters re the Brabazon Cup, seminar room memorial at RPH and the Memorial Foundation (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Small sample of some of the public and private letters of condolence after Robin's death (from over a thousand such) giving an idea of her wide-ranging career. Many letters and cards were received from members of the public (a few typical included) who knew Robin only vicariously, or from patients she had attended on RFDS mercy flights; (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Aust. Federation of Air Pilots (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Women pilots' Assoc. WA (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Aust. Women pilots' Assoc (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Director and staff of Office of NW (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Beech Aircraft Co (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Trans West Airlines (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : United Air Services (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Australian 99s Inc. (International organisation Women pilots) (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : MMA (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Hawker De Havilland (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Westralian Aviation (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Lyceum Club (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : St. John of God (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : The Bread and Cheese Club (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : WA Ballet Co (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Patch Theatre Guild (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : TV Channel 7 (with transcript of TV news of her death) (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Gordon and Gotch Aust. Ltd (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Rigby Publishers (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Zonta International (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Air Force Assoc (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Royal Aero Club, WA (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Aust. Women Pilots' Assoc (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Royal Fed. Aero Clubs of Aust (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Red Cross (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : West Australian Newspapers (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Lang Hancock (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Florence James (author) (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Nancy Bird Walton (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Justice and Mrs Richard Blackburn (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Prof. Geoffrey Bolton (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Dr John Colebatch (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Sir R and Lady Casey (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Premier Charles Court (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : JK Ewers (author) (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Prof. Alan Edwards (UWA) (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Tom and Olive Quilty of Springvale Station, WA (among many from NW and Qld stations (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Beatrice Darbyshire (artist) (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Vincent and Carol Sereventy (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Kylie Tennant (author) (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Leslie Rees (author) (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Catherine Arndt (anthropologist) (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Sean O'Luiing (Irish author) (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Olaf Ruhen (author) (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Dymphna Cusack and husband Norman Freehill (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Mrs Hudson Fysh (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Justice Furnell (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Dept. of Aboriginal Affairs (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Dept of Public Health (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : WA Historical Soc (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Fellowship Aust. Writers (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Nancy Keesing (author) (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Alix Hasluck (wife of Sir Paul) (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Tom Hungerford (author) (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Rev PS Schere (File) - Box 4
Letter/cards : Sir Norman Brearley (File) - Box 4
Letter: Letter from HC Miller requesting from current owner return of Robin's Mooney Aircraft for a memorial (File) - Box 4
Sketch: Original sketch of Robin by Frank Pash (File) - Box 4
Honours and Awards: Envelope containing: (File) - Box 4
Honours and Awards: Tissandier Diploma (File) - Box 4
Honours and Awards: Certificate of Training - Beechraft Duke (File) - Box 4
Honours and Awards: Award of Merit - Powder Puff Derby (File) - Box 4
Honours and Awards: Certificate of Training - Cessna (File) - Box 4
Honours and Awards: Certificate of Membership - The National Geographic Society (File) - Box 4
Honours and Awards: Certificate of Marriage (File) - Box 4
Honours and Awards: The Brabazon Cup Award (File) - Box 4
Honours and Awards: The Brabazon Cup (File) - Box 4
Letters: P/copies letters from Robin to fellow aviator Digger Smith of Warrnambool- in form of diary (File) - Box 4
Documents: Nominee for Roll of Honour - Outstanding Women (File) - Box 4
Documents: Profiles of RMD's career (File) - Box 4
Documents: From Dept. of Civil Aviation re proposed trip to PNG. Members Flying Club issued to Robin Royal Aero Club (File) - Box 4
Documents: Royal Aero Club and BWPA booklets announcing awards including Brabazon Cup (File) - Box 4
Documents: Address written by Robin Miller for Royal Aero Club speech, Canberra 1975 'Women in Aviation.' - (given for her owing to her illness.) Copy of booklet Educational book - 'People at Work', including Robin Miller (File) - Box 4
Booklets: Robins Membership Directories for Ninety- Nines Inca, International Organisation of Women Pilots 1968- 1969 and 1969 - 1970 (File) - Box 4
Drafts: 4 notebooks handwritten Manuscript ( Mary Durack) of transcript Robin's diaries for 'Sugar Bird Lady' (File) - Box 4
Draft: Typed Manuscript - 'Sugar Bird Lady' - hand corrected by Mary Durack Miller -few corrections from H. Dicks. With copy of cover pic (File) - Box 5
Draft: Carbon Copy - Manuscript "Flying Nurse" (File) - Box 5
Article : 1991'Destinies' Article, 'The Sugar Bird Lady', re RMD, by Otto PRAUSE, with photos of memorial plane for Robin at Jandakot airport (File) - Box 4
Photos: 1. Robin in 1943 (File) - Box 5
Photos: 2. Portrait of Robin in 1955. (John Dent photo) (File) - Box 5
Photos: 3. Robin in 1958. (Robin was head girl at Loreto Convent, Nedlands) (File) - Box 5
Photos: 4. Robin and Julie with DC3 and HCM in Broome in 1950. (Good enlarged b/w. The early experience of her father's airline instilled a desire in Robin to become a pilot) (File) - Box 5
Photos: 5. Robin prior to her first solo flight with a passenger - her father HCM 1962 (File) - Box 5
Photos: 6. Robin and her father in 1964 (File) - Box 5
Photos: 7. Robin with Marie Rose and John Miller - taking her grandmother for flight over Perth 23/04/67 (File) - Box 5
Photos: 8. Portrait of Robin in about 1964 (File) - Box 5
Photos: 9. Robin with her father helping her to refuel the Mooney VH REM, in Broome during her vaccine program (File) - Box 5
Photos: 10. Robin in an aircraft, 1962. (Enlarged b/w) (File) - Box 5
Photos: 11. Robin loading an aircraft in 1967. (Enlarged colour) (File) - Box 5
Photos: 12. Robin repairing her Mooney aircraft 1968 (File) - Box 5
Photos: 13. Robin on a training flight in 1962. (Enlarged b/w) (File) - Box 5
Photos: 14. Robin tending an air ambulance patient 1968 (File) - Box 5
Photos: 15. Robin and HC Miller in Adelaide, Sept. 1969. (Enlarged b/w) (File) - Box 5
Photos: 16. Robin and her father prior to her leaving on the USA 'Powder Puff Derby' for women pilots, 1973. (Enlarged b/w) (File) - Box 5
Photos: 17-19. Robin and her Powder Puff Derby partner, Rosemary de Pierres 1973 (File) - Box 5
Photos: 20. Robin and her father in Broome, Feb. 1971 (File) - Box 5
Photos: 21-22. Dr HG Dicks of the RFDS at the time he met Robin Miller - 1960s (File) - Box 5
Photos: 23. Harold Dicks and Robin Miller on a ferry flight, about 1970 (File) - Box 5
Photos: 24-26. Bellevue Ave. occasion to celebrate the marriage of Robin and H. Dicks (married in Canberra - private ceremony) including Robin and Harold, MDM, her Aunt Elizabeth Durack. Durack, sisters Patsy and Marie Rose and niece and nephew, Naomi and Yagan Millett. 1973 (File) - Box 5
Photos: 27. Robin and H. Dicks on their last ferry flight to the USA together, Sept. 1975. (Enlarged b/w) (File) - Box 5
Photos: 28. Robin and Harold Dicks beside RFDS aircraft in 1973. (Enlarged b/w) (File) - Box 5
Photos: 29. Robin and Harold Dicks with a group of their faithful fans from the farming community of Warrnambool, including Digger Smith - met on a ferry flight, 1974. (Enlarged b/w) (File) - Box 5
Photos: 30-31. Robin's grave in Broome 1975 (File) - Box 5
Photos: 32. Memorial at Robin's gravesite in Broome with her Warrnambool friends who flew over to lay a wreath, May 1976. MDM and family also visible (File) - Box 5
Photos: 33-34. Harold Dicks speaking at the unveiling of memorial to Robin in the Royal Perth Hospital Seminar Room. MDM and HCM in background 14/03/77 (File) - Box 5
Photos: 35. Dr H. Dicks and his sister Norah Shepherd, Audrey Jordan, HCM, Elizabeth Durack, Bess Durack and Merle Glass at Bellevue Avenue after the unveiling of the plaque to Robin at RPH, 1977. Enlarged colour. (Audrey Jordan was a nurse who often accompanied Robin on air ambulance flights. She was killed when hit by the propeller of an air ambulance aircraft in 1977) (File) - Box 5
Photos: 36. Governor Sir Wallace Kyle at the opening of the Mooney aircraft memorial to Robin Miller, 21/5/78. MDM and HCM on the dais. (Enlarged b/w) (File) - Box 5
Photos: 37. HC Miller and MDM with Sir Wallace Kyle at the Jandakot memorial aircraft ceremony 1978 (File) - Box 5
Photos: 38. The Jandakot memorial Mooney aircraft (File) - Box 5
Photos: 39. Grave of HC Miller (File) - Box 5
Photos: 40. Graves of HCM, Robin and Julie (File) - Box 5
Video: Tribute to life and career of Robin Miller Dicks. Interview with Nancy Bird Walton who describes her as one of the leading women aviators of the 20th Century. Also Mike Page (author) Rosemary De Pierres and pilot Dave Munns speak of Robin's role and her character. Good live footage of Robin and still photos - moving narration. (File) - Box 5
Robin Miller tribute to campaigners, 26/07/2007 (Item NLA.MS-VID000176) - Shelf-Tall OH1-18-003
1 item, ABC 30, Consumer formats - VHS, S-VHS etc.
Diary transcripts: Typed transcripts of Robin's diaries 1972 through to 1975 giving details of emergency flights; Activities including Powder Puff Derby; Duke Ferry Flight across Atlantic, Pacific Ferry Flight in Beechcraft Baron and Robin's Geophysics charter to Dili; Pacific Ferry Flight of Cessna 421B and account of test flights.; 10/5/74 Pacific Ferry Flight in Baron; 30/9/74 Charter to Dili) (File) - Folio 6
Uniform: Royal Perth Hospital Nurses Uniform worn by Robin including a Red Cape. Nurses uniforms re-housed 14/1/2014 into folio boxes 7 8 (File) - Box 7-8