Soaring with the Sugarbird Lady: The Robin Miller Story

by Dianne Wolfer

Imagine flying solo, crisscrossing the north-west of Australia in your own plane, and single-handedly delivering lifesaving vaccines to remote communities. Robin Miller did this, and at a time when most people didn' t think women should be pilots at all. Her arrival seemed like magic to the outback children who received her polio vaccine on sugar cubes. Before long, she became known as....the Sugarbird Lady. And this was just the start of Robin' s extraordinary real-life adventures!

132 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 4, 2025

About the author

Dianne lives on the south coast of Western Australia. She is author of 27 books with more titles on the way. Dianne's latest books are 'Soaring with the Sugarbird Lady - the Robin Miller story', 'Cattle Muster' (ill. Frane' Lessac), and 'The Colt from Old Regret' (ill. Erica Wagner).
Her earlier award-winning novel 'Scout and the Rescue Dogs' celebrates truckies and rescue dogs, and links to the catastrophic Black Summer bushfires. It won WA Premier's Award and was shortlisted for the Children's Book Council Awards and the WA Young Readers' Awards.
Other recent titles include: 'The Last Light Horse', a CBCA Notable Book now adapted for CineStage by Theatre 180; 'Mia' (Allen and Unwin's award-winning Through my Eyes series); and an Aussie STEM Stars title about Skye Blackburn-Lang, Australia's first farmer of edible insects.
Dianne's doctoral research into anthropomorphism and animal characters in children's literature was selected as a Board of the Graduate Research School Dean's List Winner in 2017, and led to two books, 'The Dog with Seven Names' (winner of the 2019 Speech Pathology Awards, CBCA Notable, shortlisted for the NSW Premiers Literary Awards and published in China) and 'The Shark Caller' (CBCA Notable and optioned for film). In addition to her general website, Dianne posts about animal characters at www.animalswhotalk.

'The Dog with Seven Names' is written anthropomorphically and explores Australian WW2 history from the perspective of a small dog in north-west WA. Another title with unusual animal perspectives, 'The Shark Caller' is set in Papua New Guinea. This underwater fantasy novel links to both the ancient practise of calling sharks as well as modern-day environmental concerns.
Dianne's picture book, 'Nanna's Button Tin' is published in the US by Candlewick. Other stories in the multi-adapted WW1 'Light' series are the award-winning 'Lighthouse Girl' and 'Light Horse Boy'.
Dianne's book, 'Light Horse Boy' won the WA Premier's Award as well as CBCA Honour book. Partner title, 'Lighthouse Girl' was inspiration for Royal de Luxe Theatre's spectacular Perth street performance, The Giants, won the children’s choice, West Australian Young Readers Book Awards and is a recommended reading text for the National History Curriculum. Lighthouse Girl has also being adapted for Black Swan Theatre by playwright Hellie Turner. The story was based is based on the true tale of Fay Howe, daughter of the Breaksea Island lighthouse keeper, who relayed messages for the departing ANZAC troops in 1914. Light Horse Boy follows the journey of a young soldier who waves to Fay before sailing with the 1st AIF. The book follows Jim’s journey to Egypt, Gallipoli and through iconic battles of WW1’s Desert Campaign. Dianne enjoys combining her love of history with writing fiction. Her picture book, 'Photographs in the Mud' (also a recommended History Curriculum text) was inspired by a research trip along the Kokoda Track. It was published in Japanese and is used as a reference for international workshops promoting peaceful ‘discourse analysis’. Dianne is an active member of writing groups, including the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and served for six years as their WA Advisor. Dianne loves travelling and has spent much of her life overseas.

Awards
2023 CBCA Notable Book, The Last Light Horse
Short listed, CBCA Book Awards for Light Horse Boy and also for Granny Grommet and Me, 2014
Winner, West Australian Young Readers’ Award, 2010
Short listed, NSW Premier’s History Awards, 2009
Short listed, West Australian Premier’s Awards, 2009
Short listed, West Australian Young Readers’ Award, 2007
Short listed, West Australian Young Readers’ Award, 2006
Short listed, West Australian Young Readers’ Award, 2002
Short listed, Family Therapists’ Award for Children’s Literature, 2001
Short listed, Wilderness Society’s Environment Award, 1999
Short listed, West Australian Young Readers’ Book Awar

Reviews

[Deb]

This book deserves far more than five stars, it is brilliant! Very readable and packed with West Australian history. Robin Miller was a remarkable woman, and Australian students should know what she did.
Dianne Wolfer - well done!

[Middle Grade Musings]

“Her toes and fingers tingle with excitement. Robin feels free, and completely alive.”

I’ve read a few of Dianne’s books before, and particularly enjoyed ‘The Dog with Seven Names’, so was curious to see how she crafted this biography novel about Robin Miller, someone I knew nothing about.

‘Soaring with the Sugarbird Lady’ follows the life of Robin Miller, a female pioneer in the aviation industry. It’s a story of a determined young woman, who was going to let nothing get in the way of her love of planes and flying. Whether that be the threat of contracting polio, the rampant sexism that existed in the industry, working and studying full time or just the general reluctance to the tireless vaccination work she did in regional communities. Sometimes it was even cattle using the wings of her plane as a back scratcher or wild goats chewing up her wheel spats that proved an obstacle.

Robin Miller faced it all, and Dianne has done an amazing job providing a fascinating insight into the life of this trailblazer. Although a biography about Robin MIller, Dianne perfectly blends in rich descriptions of the harsh outback environment, intricate details about flying and maintaining planes, first hand quotes from Miller’s own diaries, and riveting retells of dangerous and death defying flights through treacherous conditions. This is a book that will give you hope, make you smile and at times leave you breathless. Thank you Dianne for introducing me to the incredible life of Robin Miller, a true Australian icon!

[Michelle Hickey]

This is the story of Robin Miller - an Australian pioneer of aviation. Daughter of Mary Durack (renowned author and descendant of pastoralists in the Kimberley region of WA) and Horrie Miller (pilot and cofounder of MacRobertson Miller Airlines), Robin dreams of becoming a pilot too although her family are initially reluctant because she's a girl. Robin trains as a nurse initially before getting her pilots licence and buying her own plane. She is then able to combine her job and love of flying to deliver a vaccination program to the remote communities of Northern WA. She loves being in the outback and becomes renowned for her flying ability and earns the nickname the sugar bird lady as she flies in and gives children sugar cubes with the polio vaccine. As a well respected aviator she is approached by the RFDS to assist fly a new aircraft to Australia from the US. She ends up working for the RFDS and serves as nurse and pilot, often assisting with procedures whilst flying the plane!
Whilst this is written as a novel, it is actually more of a biography. Having said that it is written in an engaging manner and is well suited to middle schoolers.

Trigger warning - Robin dies as a result of cancer in 1975, aged 35

[Susan Barnes]

From a young age, Robin Miller dreams of piloting a plane, but her father, Horrie Miller, laughs at the idea because it’s unheard of for a woman to fly a plane. Horrie is an aviator and co-founder of MacRobertson—Miller Airlines. Robin's mother is the renowned author Mary Durack. Robin often falls asleep to the sound of her typewriter.

In 1945, Horrie buys a bungalow in Broome to reduce travel and build up his business following the war. The family stay in Perth and Horrie travels down from time to time. Robin spends the school holidays in Broome, flying with her father.

After Robin finishes school, she has the opportunity to help a sick patient on one of her father’s flights. She decides to become a nurse. During her training, she learns she can apply for a government subsidy to have flying lessons. In 1962, Robin successfully completes her nursing training, including midwifery, as well as gaining a private pilot’s licence. Robin commences work at the Royal Perth Hospital but still dreams of becoming a commercial pilot. She applies for a Commonwealth scholarship, which is granted. For the next four years, she studies while working full time as a surgery nurse. She qualifies in 1968, but no one wants to employ a female pilot.

Robin gets an opportunity when a more effective polio vaccine, Sabin, becomes available. The government health commissioner is looking for ways to deliver the vaccine to remote communities. Robin offers to deliver the vaccines by air. Over the next two years, Robin flies to many remote communities in the Western Australian outback. She becomes known as the Sugarbird Lady as the Sabin is delivered to children on sugar cubes.

Robin won many awards and is a role model for adventurous young women. She leaves behind an amazing legacy.

An engaging story about an ambitious young woman determined to help others, written for older primary school students.