In 1979, Ray and Jen­nie sat on the banks of the Bloom­field Riv­er in Far North Queens­land with the Kuku Yalan­ji, Kuku Nyun­gul and Jalun­ji people. 

These moments were a rev­e­la­tion to Ray, who had just com­plet­ed his final nurs­ing exams and made the bumpy jour­ney to vis­it his part­ner near her work­place at the Wujal Wujal Abo­rig­i­nal Community.

“When we get mar­ried,” Ray said, ​“This is the nurs­ing I want to do. I want to work with these folks.”

Com­mit­ments such as rais­ing their son, Tim, took prece­dence, but Ray nev­er lost sight of his goal, tak­ing every oppor­tu­ni­ty to equip him­self for service.

In the ear­ly 1980s, Ray could be seen in scrubs, train­ing as a mid­wife at Roy­al Bris­bane Women’s Hos­pi­tal, and lat­er, walk­ing down St Paul’s Ter­race, text­books under his arm, dur­ing his Mater­nal and Child Health studies.

He sub­se­quent­ly worked at Mary­bor­ough Hos­pi­tal, St Stephens Pri­vate Hos­pi­tal, and Her­vey Bay Hos­pi­tal, until 33 years after that influ­en­tial after­noon on the Bloomfield.

“In 2012 we resigned our jobs and ven­tured into this world of Indige­nous health,” Jen­nie says.

Ray’s remote career began in Cher­bourg, work­ing for Baram­bah Region­al Med­ical Ser­vices (now known as CRAICCHS).

The Roy­al Fly­ing Doc­tor Service

In 2013, Ray became a flight nurse with Roy­al Fly­ing Doc­tor Ser­vice and oper­at­ed out of Kal­go­or­lie, Der­by and Port Hed­land until 2016.

“Ray was a love­ly bloke, very much a bushie,” Senior Flight Nurse, Shane Miller, says. ​“He was down to earth, no airs or graces.

“He loved remote and rur­al areas of Aus­tralia… One of the pilots used to go out with him occa­sion­al­ly. They used to go camp­ing, sit­ting by a camp­fire, hav­ing a yarn.

“He was just very relaxed. To be so relaxed, chilled, adapt­able… In our work as flight nurs­es, you have to be extreme­ly flex­i­ble because things can change in a mat­ter of minutes.”

Ray’s pass­ing was felt across the entire flight nurs­ing sec­tor, which is small enough for every­one to know everyone.

“There’s only a small group of us – prob­a­bly 100, 120 in the coun­try,” Shane says.

“From Kal­go­or­lie base to Ray’s fam­i­ly, his wife Jen­nie, and his son Tim, we send our con­do­lences, and we thank Ray for the time he spent with us.”

When there were no patients onboard, Ray some­times gazed out of the win­dow at the desert below, Jen­nie says.

“Ray did what he called ​‘recon­nais­sance’ flights over the state to decide where to work next,” she says.

Ngaany­at­jar­ra Health Service

In 2016, Ray found his next loca­tion – Wingel­li­na, remote WA. As an RN, Jen­nie had worked near Ray pre­vi­ous­ly; but in Wingel­li­na, they worked togeth­er as RANs.

“Before sun­set we would some­times dri­ve the few min­utes to the tri-bor­der of WA, NT and SA, where it was fun hav­ing dip and crack­ers in three states at the same time,” Jen­nie remembers.

“Ray’s main desire was to learn from the peo­ple, rather than teach them. He was keen to learn their tra­di­tion­al ways, their cul­tur­al lore, to lis­ten, to talk, to befriend, and to assist in their health care needs.

“Ray con­sis­tent­ly per­formed a ser­vice to oth­ers in need, whether this was a per­son, fam­i­ly, a com­mu­ni­ty or a loved dog, and regard­less of the time and effort.

“One time Ray was hon­oured to lead a funer­al pro­ces­sion by dri­ving the ambu­lance con­tain­ing the cof­fin. On week­ends he would take the chil­dren on adven­tures, or to a near­by com­mu­ni­ty swim­ming pool.

“He had com­pas­sion, empa­thy, and con­vic­tion. He often deliv­ered help, which was not with­out risks and cost to him­self, and always with­out exter­nal gain.

“He was a car­ing father fig­ure who encour­aged the kids to come to the clin­ic after school and learn first aid. As a mid­wife he gained trust with mums-to-be, deliv­er­ing pos­i­tive outcomes.”

When Jen­nie returned to Queens­land, Ray con­tin­ued at Wingel­li­na on a FIFO con­tract for two more years. Bev­er­ly Tysoe, Spe­cial­ist Coor­di­na­tor at Ngaany­at­jar­ra Health Ser­vice, fills us in on the peri­od until Ray’s depar­ture in 2019.

“Ray was a pro­fes­sion­al and car­ing per­son who will be fond­ly remem­bered by the peo­ple in Wingel­li­na and by his co-work­ers at Ngaany­at­jar­ra Health Ser­vice,” Bev­er­ley says.

“At work Ray was a ded­i­cat­ed health pro­fes­sion­al who advo­cat­ed for his patients and sup­port­ed them in their health journey. 

“In his spare time, he would often dri­ve locals and vis­i­tors to water holes and landmarks. 

“It was a plea­sure and a priv­i­lege to have known and worked with Ray.”

Ray’s return to midwifery

Ray had joined nurs­ing agency CQ Nurse in 2016. CQ Nurse tells CRANAplus that ​“Ray was a much-loved mem­ber of the CQ Nurse team, and he rep­re­sent­ed our organ­i­sa­tion impec­ca­bly for five years… He con­tin­ues to inspire us”.

Through CQ Nurse, Ray obtained a con­tract at Biloela Hos­pi­tal, where he crossed paths with for­mer col­league Ker­ri Green, a mid­wife who knew Ray from Her­vey Bay Hospital.

“If you under­stand that the term ​‘mid­wife’ comes from the Old Eng­lish: ​‘mid’ mean­ing ​‘with’ and ​‘wif’ mean­ing ​‘woman’, you will under­stand that Ray wore the title ​‘mid­wife’ with­out a prob­lem,” Ker­ri says.

“The women he deliv­ered care to, [quick­ly] loved and trust­ed him. The stu­dents he sup­port­ed and his col­leagues respect­ed him and enjoyed his sense of humour. They can­not help but smile when remem­ber­ing him.

“Most will be able to tell you an amus­ing ​‘Ray sto­ry’ – some involv­ing ​‘knit­ting’ while super­vis­ing a stu­dent man­ag­ing a labour.

“On a more seri­ous note… Ray had the abil­i­ty to deesca­late the ris­ing emo­tions of all involved while coor­di­nat­ing a calm approach to resolve [high stress situations].

“He did briefly con­sid­er giv­ing up his Mid­wifery in 2018 but he made the mis­take of accept­ing a con­tract in Biloela where a pre­vi­ous Mid­wifery Man­ag­er was already work­ing. He was dobbed in as a ​‘mid­wife’ and giv­en a rapid re-entry… I was priv­i­leged to be that ​‘Mid­wifery Man­ag­er’, col­league and friend.

“My life is rich­er for hav­ing known this incred­i­ble human being.”

New acquain­tances also await­ed Ray in Biloela, such as Direc­tor of Nurs­ing at Biloela Hos­pi­tal, Tracey Hansen.

“What real­ly stood out for me was the way in which Ray treat­ed all the peo­ple he came in con­tact with,” Tracey says. ​“He cared for his clients as if they were his family.”

Ray was val­ued not only as a col­league but as a house-sit­ter, who enabled oth­ers to take much-need­ed leave while look­ing after their plants, cows and dogs. 

“When Ray house-sat, he would open all the win­dows and let the fresh air in,” Tracey says, before shar­ing an anec­dote passed onto her by col­league Maria RN/RM:

“One day he was snug­gled on the lounge when he felt a ​‘pres­ence’, only to find one of the chooks had come inside and nes­tled beside him. Even the chooks felt relaxed with him!

“Ray has enthused many of us to stretch our­selves and do things we real­ly want to do but were nev­er game.”

Ray’s younger col­leagues, who encoun­tered him dur­ing for­ma­tive peri­ods, echo this sentiment.

Ray was NUM on the post­na­tal ward at St Stephens Pri­vate Hos­pi­tal when Lor­raine Woods com­menced as a mid­wife. She lat­er worked with him at Her­vey Bay.

​“He was a car­ing, sen­si­tive, and gen­tle man who had a pas­sion­ate com­po­sure for women-cen­tred care,” Lor­raine recalls. ​“After a cou­ple of years, he decid­ed to work rur­al and remote which was a pas­sion of mine but was nev­er the right time.

“His sto­ries of his work were amazing.”

Those sto­ries inspired Lor­raine and in 2021, she obtained a posi­tion as clin­i­cal mid­wife in Weipa.

“Once I made my deci­sion [to head] rur­al and remote we were to have lunch with friends and work­mates from St Stephens Pri­vate Hos­pi­tal… Ray was trag­i­cal­ly tak­en from us two days pri­or, which was devastating.

“I was so excit­ed to tell him of my plans. [Then I felt], I will con­tin­ue his amaz­ing work with as much pas­sion as he had.”

Burn­ing the candle

RFDS Doc­tor Nick Enzor; Steven Williamson, then-CEO of the Cen­tral Queens­land Hos­pi­tal and Health Ser­vice; Ray’s for­mer work­mate and cel­e­brant Fred Hamp­son; close friend Andrew Butkus; and Dr Tom Dunn, Mary­bor­ough RSL, all spoke at Ray’s funeral.

Deputy Nation­al Rur­al Health Com­mis­sion­er and Chief Nurs­ing and Mid­wifery Offi­cer, Queens­land Health, Adjunct Prof. Shel­ley Nowl­an, pre­sent­ed a Flo­rence Nightin­gale Trib­ute, dur­ing which she asked all nurs­es and mid­wives to stand.

“40 to 50 per cent of the group that were present stood, not to men­tion the large num­ber that joined online,” Shel­ley tells CRANAplus.

“Ray walked the tracks that not many nurs­es and mid­wives do… Often, we get stuck in metro areas because there, life has ease of access, but Ray saw a dif­fer­ent world with­in rur­al and remote – not just for nurs­ing, but for his own growth and devel­op­ment, and con­tri­bu­tion to communities.

“He was real, he was Ray… He brought his own per­son­al­i­ty, val­ues, and beliefs to share them with com­mu­ni­ty, valu­ing the community’s cul­ture and beliefs [in turn].

“He came with­out judg­ment, he came with­out con­di­tion, and he cared for their needs, what­ev­er they might be – whether they were men­tal health, whether they were mater­ni­ty – and some­times just to be an ear, to be a friend that was hav­ing a yarn at the local pub or local park.

“He is joined by a pro­fes­sion who mir­ror his val­ues, his con­cerns for com­mu­ni­ty, and the invest­ment to con­tin­ue to be bet­ter, to con­tin­ue on with his study… [as] evi­denced by his mem­ber­ship with CRANAplus.

“What we saw in Ray is a mir­ror image of what we all aspire to have as attrib­ut­es and traits with­in his pro­fes­sion. Our admi­ra­tion is one col­le­gial­i­ty, one of: ​‘Thank you for burn­ing our candle’.”

Ray’s lega­cy

Jen­nie believes her husband’s lega­cy can be one of inspiration.

“I hope in Ray’s death, his life of car­ing and ser­vice is inspi­ra­tional to any nurse will­ing to com­bat adver­si­ty in a remote set­ting, to devel­op courage and deter­mi­na­tion, and to over­come any obsta­cles in order to achieve bet­ter health out­comes for all Australians.”