Robyn’ s farmhouse at Narara was a place of pilgrimage at which students and graduates of Southern Cross Herbal School, as well as the public, enjoyed her hospitality, her display herb garden and her enthusiasm for using herbs straight out of the garden. One never to be forgotten event was when students and others attending the Annual Southern Cross Herbal School Manufacturing Seminar retreated to her farmhouse and“ at a distance” observed Robyn’ s husband, at that time, and myself, open up one of the bee hives which were located at the back of the property, extricate a sufficient amount of live bees from the hive and proceed to make a Tincture of Apis from them( the bees never felt a thing- they were processed in alcohol and went very quietly.)
Goodbye dear friend – a tribute to Robyn Kirby
It is with great sadness that I have recently learned of the passing of Robyn Kirby on 29 January, 2025. Robyn was an early student of Southern Cross Herbal School when I first taught a Diploma of Medical Herbalism course at my practice and lecture venue in Gosford as well as at Glebe Town Hall in the early 1980’ s. Apart from the Basic and Medical Sciences component of that course the bulk of the program was entirely taught by myself, so in a real sense Robyn became an avid disciple of my style and interpretation of Herbal Medicine, from which she never veered. After completing the 3-year program, Robyn necessarily and enthusiastically became a member of the National Herbalists Association of Australia. She rapidly rose to prominence in the Association by her vivacious and affable personality, combined with her sound, unwavering commitment to traditional herbal medicine. I suspect that her earlier teaching career fitted her well for some of the negotiating, organising and leadership she demonstrated when she was elected as President for the National Herbalists Association of Australia, the first woman President of the Association, a position she held for 6 years, during which she steered the herbal profession in Australia to unparalleled heights of recognition. This was evidenced by her convening of the first ever Australian International Conference of Herbal Medicine, at which I was honoured to be the leading and opening speaker in the company of such luminaries as Hein Zeylstra of the British NMIH and Steven Foster, well known herbal writer from the USA.
Robyn established her practice of Herbal Medicine at her farmhouse in Narara on the Central Coast of NSW. It rapidly grew and she attracted patients and clients from a wide spectrum of the population. She specialised in children’ s conditions and from this interest she developed her famous chickweed ointments. The ointments were so successful that she and I began to manufacture them on a commercial basis, which eventually required us to negotiate the sale of the product formulations and business to a well-known Toowoomba-based herbal company.
Robyn happily shared her enthusiasm and manufacturing skills when she was a key lecturer at the manufacturing seminars conducted by Southern Cross Herbal School. The students were fascinated by her personal“ folksy” presentations and they genuinely loved her. She caused me a little concern when her measurements and proportions for various ointments and lotions were frequently“ a bit of this and a bit of that”, particularly after I had just previously laboured in presenting perhaps a tedious lecture on the regard for a disciplined approach to formulation proportions and measures! Perhaps my engineering background was more the issue and I am frequently corrected when I remember that“ herbalism is not a pure science, it is as much an art form”.
It is perhaps a great pity that her book“ Robyn Kirby’ s Herbs for Healing”, published by ABC Books for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1998, is now not as well known or recognised as it should be. All aspiring herbalists and those practising herbalists( perhaps bored with, and disappointed and uninterested in, the more technical biomedical, pharmacological emphasis of much current herbal education and practice) should seek out Robyn’ s book and eagerly devour the more easily understood herbal treatments that she used so competently and successfully.
From a personal perspective, Robyn and my family were very close, not only because we lived not far from each other, but also we were in regular contact. Robyn would visit our home in Gosford to enjoy the company of my wife Ruth and particularly our daughters Rachel and Melanie- she could have been seen as almost a member of our family. Similarly, I would visit Robyn’ s farmhouse regularly to assist in the ointment manufacture and to attend my beehives and of course to share a few beers with Robyn’ s husband – good days they were.
A beautiful photograph of Robyn has hung in my consulting rooms at New Lambton for many years as a constant testimony for my patients, clients and visitors, and a perpetual reminder to myself of this unique and remarkable“ wise woman”, never to be forgotten as one of the greats of Australian Herbalism and an original active participant of the herbal renaissance in Australia, of which there are few of us left.
GOODBYE, DEAR FRIEND
Denis Stewart ATMS Life Member number 12, Hall of Fame Recipient
102 | vol31 | no2 | JATMS