Group Captain Geoff Robinson, NSC joined the Royal Australian Air Force in May 1981 as a Nursing Officer. He was educated in Ballarat, Victoria and undertook his Registered Nurse training at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne graduating in 1977. On return to Ballarat at the completion of his training, he was employed at the Ballarat Base Hospital becoming a Nurse Unit Manager prior his entering the RAAF.

During his career so far he has been posted to many of the Air Force Bases in Australia and spent three and one half years serving in Malaysia in the early 1980’s. During his posting to No 4 RAAF Hospital located at Butterworth, he was employed predominantly in the Operating Theatres, which is his specialty. On return to Australia, he again returned to RAAF Richmond to work at 3 RAAF Hospital in both the Operating Theatres and instruct Aero Medical Evacuation. Following this he was posted to East Sale (1986) and Laverton (1990) in Victoria. He was promoted to Squadron Leader just prior moving to Laverton and was awarded the Nursing Service Cross in the 1996 Queens Birthday Honours list.

Commencing in 1997, a four-year period in Canberra followed where he attended the RAAF Command and Staff course, became a staff officer to a Rear Admiral in both strategic operations and the Navy Collins submarine program, and was promoted to Wing Commander in January 1999. In January 2001, Geoff’s affinity with RAAF Richmond continued when in January 2001 he had the privilege of becoming the Commanding Officer of 3 Combat Support Hospital. This unit is the premier RAAF operational health unit and has a proud history of supporting all the major operational activities the ADF has contributed to over recent years. His tenure as the Commanding Officer lasted three years and was without doubt the highlight of his varied career so far.

Geoff has extensive operational experience having been deployed to the Persian Gulf for both conflicts, and in late December 2004 arrived in Banda Aceh, Sumatra as part of the ADF and International response to the Tsunami disaster that devastated parts of that country and many others in the region.

Geoff was promoted to Group Captain in January 2005, becoming the first male Nursing Officer in the ADF to achieve this rank and was appointed as Director Health Capability Development within the Defence Health Service Division in Canberra. Follwing a reorganisation of the Defence Health Services in Jan 2007, he was appointed as the Director Strategic Workforce Development and Defence Force Nursing. The later being an aspiration since he joined the ADF and he becomes the first male nurse to do so.

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