Doctor Doug Harbison was esteemed as one of the community's most respected doctors and passed away on December 28 at Tamara Private Hospital at the age of 86.

From the stories he told his children, he was lucky to be born at all his father was 68 and his mother 42 when she gave birth to him in 1928.

According to fellow medical colleagues, "he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and spent the rest of his life trying to spit it out".

Though he was born in Manly and spent his early life in Hornsby, he moved to Tamworth with his wife Iva in 1959, becoming the first specialist physician in the North West.

His passion for treating the whole person, rather than parts in isolation, led him to the country, where he could practise a range of medicine.

He had a historical family connection to the area his maternal grandfather was the architect of the original Tamworth Base Hospital, as well as the conservatorium and St Andrew's, now the Old Bell Tower.

Dr Harbison was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2005, but it was his humble and tenacious spirit that resonated with his family and locals, rather than the accolades.

Despite all his medical and community work, he always had time to read to his children before bed and tutor his grandchildren in their studies, instilling in them his own great love of Shakespeare, opera, and classical music.

His children recalled being dragged out of bed in the early hours of the morning on family holidays for fishing trips, loaded up with ham sandwiches.

They remember hearing stories of his determination on the golf course, once playing 23 shots from one bunker to the next, always with a smile.

He is fondly remembered by his colleagues as someone who would go above and beyond for the community regularly finishing a day's work in Tamworth, only to drive for hours to Moree, Inverell or Wee Waa to treat rural patients.

If he was presented with an obstacle or given a "no", he would stand his ground and come up with creative ways to serve the community.

When he was told he could not refuse payment for giving lectures to nursing staff, he joined with other doctors in sacrificing their fees to be put into the Tamworth and North West Medical Foundation Trust to build hospital facilities.

He had a heart for foundation work and a broad vision for country health, and he was an advocate for patient-centred care, believing patients were people with insight into their own illness. In 1962, Dr Harbison made a diagnosis of scurvy in Aboriginal infants in Moree and discovered that an intravenous vitamin C drip, rather than oral medicine, could heal them rapidly.

Local diabetics said they were grateful for the positive change Dr Harbison made in their lives he was behind a push to establish the first diabetes outpatient clinic at Tamworth Base Hospital in 1979, before he tirelessly lobbied to raise $370,000 for a purpose-built diabetes centre in 1996.

He was always willing to get up and perform a song and dance to raise money for hospital facilities.

He was also one of the first local doctors to recognise symptoms of depression and regularly prescribed tryptanol to treat it, which saw the drug being affectionately known as "Harbinol" at the local hospital.

Dr Harbison was a life member of the Tamworth Lions Club and had served as president, secretary, treasurer, and editor of the bulletin for 16 years, a post he fulfilled right up until the month before he died, and he gave historical tours one Sunday each month at Calala Cottage.

He is survived by his wife Iva, with whom he was fortunate to celebrate 60 years of marriage last November, as well as his children Vicki, Anne, Julie and Paul, his grandchildren Fiona, Alex, Ross, Emma, Beth, Nick, Chris, Rob, Kate, Andrew, Jemma, Toby and Will, and his only great- grandchild, Sophie.