Wild Western Australia

Delve into the rich and multi-faceted history, folk lore, and culture of Western Australia

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Welcome to Western Australia. From the earliest life on Earth to lights reaching into outer space, Western Australia is a rich melting pot of history and culture, folk lore and legends, adventure and survival. Delve into the stories of WA's wild history, unique nature, and most of all, the stories of the people that called this land home.

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The Sugarbird Lady - Robin Miller

Robin Elizabeth Miller was born in Subiaco, a historic western suburb of Perth, on September 8th, 1940. Her mother was the author, Dame Mary Durack and her father was aviator, Captain Horrie Miller.

Robin trained as a nurse at Royal Perth Hospital, while also earning a private pilots licence and later a commercial pilots licence.

Robin Miller with her father, Horrie Miller

In 1967, a polio outbreak hit Western Australia. While the polio vaccine had been available in Australia since 1956, many rural communities in the north of the state did not have access to the vaccines, due to their isolated locations. Seeing this, Robin went to the Western Australian Department of Health with a plan. She proposed to fly her own plane, solo, to isolated communities and begin a vaccination program. With permission granted, she set out in her Cessna 182 Skylane and began to administer 37,000 doses of polio vaccines.

Introduced in 1966, the Sabin polio vaccine was an oral medicine, administered on a lump of sugar to disguise the taste. With Robin flying in from the sky, handing out lumps of medicinal sugar, children in Aboriginal communities began calling her the “Sugar Bird Lady”

Robin distributing Polio vaccines in West Wodgina Hills, Pilbara, WA, in 1967.

Robins piloting experience, medical skills and close rapport with the residents of Outback WA, lead her to being offered a position with the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Robin’s skill set put her in a class by herself. She was a pilot, nurse, often flew solo and could service and repair her own aircraft.

Robin servicing her aircraft

One situation perfectly encapsulated Robin’s abilities. She was solo flying with a pregnant woman, when her patient went into labour mid-flight. Robin put her plane into autopilot, delivered the baby in the back of the plane, and returned to the cockpit to land, with the new mother and baby safe and well.

Outside of her medical work, Robin was also an accomplished long distance pilot. She flew solo from Paris to Perth and competed in the transcontinental women’s air race, the “Powder Puff Derby”, finishing in 6th place.

In 1973, Robin married Harold Dicks, the director of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Tragically, Robin’s life would be cut short, when she passed away from cancer in 1975, at the age of 35.

The Sugarbird Lady monument at Jandakot Airport

Her legacy has continued in both aviation and nursing. Her husband, Harold, set up a $50,000 memorial foundation to help nurses acquire pilots licences. In 2025, the Australian Airforce, RAAFA WA announced the recipient of the inaugural Sugarbird Lady award to nursing student Ellen Bermingham. A seminar room is named in Robin’s honour at Royal Perth hospital. A memorial stands at Jandakot Airport and a main road at Perth Airport carries the name Sugarbird Lady Road.

Pioneering Australian aviator, Nancy Bird said of her friend, “She was one of the outstanding women pilots of the 20th century and we should recognise her as such."

Publisher, Michael Page said of both her medical and piloting skill and her humble nature, “She was so used, for example, to doing things like flying in through a thunderstorm to an outback station where there was nothing you could really call a landing ground, and getting down there and then picking up someone who had perhaps been gored by a bullock, you know, with a great wound in the abdomen, getting them into the aircraft, and flying back to Perth or Broome or wherever it was where the nearest hospital was. But she was, 'Well, you know, what's so interesting about that?'"

Robin Miller lived a life that followed her heart and her calling. She was instrumental in stopping the spread of polio and became an icon and remodel for women in aviation.