Dorothy Herbert: high flying doctor

Dr Dorothy Helena Herbert was a real high flyer! 

At 17 years old the Brisbane-born young woman started her science degree at the University of Queensland. Sadly, her studies were interrupted when World War Two broke out and she joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force )WAAF) where she was a wireless operator in General Douglas MacArthur's headquarters in Brisbane. She returned to her studies at the end of the war.

From biochemistry to medicine, Dr Herbert worked for two years as an intern in what is known today as the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. She also got her private pilot's licence and was a foundation member of the Australian Women's Pilots' Association. Not only was she a rarity in the medical world, she was one of only a handful of women pilots.

One of the founding members of the Women's Pilots' Association. Courtesy Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre.

Then in 1961 she moved to Charleville in outback Queensland as a locum with the Royal Flying Doctor Service. She was only going to be there for three months but ended up running a private medical practice for twenty years. It was here that her flying and medical skills became an asset to those who lived remotely in the Sunshine state.

With her single-engine Cessna aeroplane, Dr Herbert would visit patients on their large stations, attend medical conferences and help in emergencies. It was rare to see her without her beloved corgis.

Dr Dorothy Herbert in the cockpit of her plane with one of her corgis.

Dr Herbert performed ground breaking work, including in 1977, when she cared for a premature baby transferred from Charleville to the Mater Mother's Hospital in Brisbane on a pressurised Jet. It was one of the first time a premature baby had survived a trip from the outback to a Brisbane hospital.

In 1978 the doctor became the patient when she was involved in a plane accident where she fractured her spine and received chest injuries. She was five months off work as she recovered from being three weeks in a coma and five weeks in intensive care.

By 1981 she had semi-retired and moved to the Sunshine Coast. Here she worked in general practice and specialised in acupuncture and aviation medicine. By 1996 she had fully retired and passed away in 2014 at the grand age of 92.

Dr Dorothy Herbert's memorial at Mount Thompson Memorial Gardens and Crematorium. Courtesy Findagrave

Her ashes' final resting place is at Mount Thompson Memorial Gardens and Crematorium and her legacy lives loud. She received many awards in her career including the Nancy Bird Walton Trophy, Member of the Order of Australia and the Centenary Medal. She was an honorary life member of the Aviation Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand.

References

• 'Pioneering doctor and aviator - Dr Dorothy Herbert AM (1939)' Old Girls Association, referenced 28th July, 2025, Pioneering doctor and aviator - Dr Dorothy Herbert AM (1939) | Somerville House Old Girls' Association

• 'Dr Dorothy Helena Herbert', Findagrave, accessed 23rd August, 2025, Dr Dorothy Helena Herbert (1922-2014) - Find a Grave Memorial

• Anthony Herbert, Paul J. Mercer and Ronald W. Herbert, 'Herbert, Dorothy Helena (1922–2014)', Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/herbert-dorothy-helena-22439/text32168, accessed 23 August 2025.