Clockwise from top left: Grace Brown, Tara Savage, Meghan Shapcott, Daisy Brown and Ruby Whitewood.
Camera IconClockwise from top left: Grace Brown, Tara Savage, Meghan Shapcott, Daisy Brown and Ruby Whitewood. Credit: Supplied/Robin Kornet

Booragoon Primary students rewarded for artworks of Robin Miller

Headshot of Josh Zimmerman
Josh ZimmermanMelville Gazette

FIVE Booragoon Primary School students have received prizes for their entries to a Royal Australian Air Force Association (RAAFA) of WA art competition aimed at introducing a new generation of schoolchildren to trailblazing female pilot Robin Miller.

Nicknamed the ‘Sugar Bird Lady’, Ms Miller was far ahead of her time when she pursued her passions to qualify as both a nurse and a commercial pilot in the 1960s.

She combined those skills to the benefit of thousands of West Australians through her commitment to polio vaccination programs, creating an innovative distribution program, which led her to travel to the remote reaches of the State working with WA’s most remote communities.

PerthNow Digital Edition.
Your local paper, whenever you want it.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

The five Booragoon Primary award recipients were Daisy Brown, Grace Brown, Meghan Shapcott, Tara Savage and Ruby Whitewood.

Their prizes were presented during the school’s dedicated Naidoc celebrations, which was particularly pertinent given Ms Miller’s renowned work with indigenous children during her lifetime.

A highlight of the assembly was the presence of Marie Megaw, Robin Miller’s sister, who as well as helping to present the art competition awards gave a short presentation about the health-related work her sister carried out with the Indigenous children in the North-West.

RAAFA chief executive John Murray said the competition aimed to honour the memory of Robin Miller and the invaluable contribution she made to health in WA, while raising the profile of women in medical aviation.

“The Robin Miller Art Competition has been a great success and we have been genuinely impressed by the calibre of entries, particularly around the theme of the Sugar Bird Lady and women’s contribution to medical aviation,” he said.

“We are also delighted to attend Booragoon Primary School’s very special Naidoc celebrations, and congratulate five of the award recipients.”