A single piece of sage advice from Dr Phil Reid’s country doctor father forever changed Dr Mike Eaton’s trajectory when he was considering his next step as a junior doctor.
The quote, from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, stated: “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” “For me, those words were a turning point,” Mike reflects. “They reminded me to have the courage to make a change and not to get bogged down in the status quo; to stay open to opportunity and to ride the tide when it came.”
Another quote that’s become something of a personal motto for Mike comes from Hildegard of Bingen: a feather on the breath of God. “I often say that my career hasn’t been carefully mapped out – more shaped by circumstance and the winds of chance. That quote really resonates with me.”
The advertisement that set the course
One such wind of fate came in the form of a three-line advertisement in The West Australian’s professional appointments: “Doctor with pilot’s licence wanted for Aboriginal communities in the Pilbara. Nomads Charitable Foundation.”
“I read that and thought – well, I’ve got a pilot’s licence and I’m looking for something meaningful. It just felt right.” Mike soon found himself flying solo between the Ngungamarta Mandilyjarra and associated communities in the remote East Pilbara, sharing the community’s light aircraft with the station manager and negotiating who needed it more each day.
One fateful flight saw Mike forced to make an emergency landing near Tabba Tabba Creek, using the northbound highway as an impromptu airstrip. As Mike wrestled the plane to land, he asked his passenger, a Swedish school teacher, to remove her glasses in case of impact. He then called for her help to assess his clearance from the scrub as he began a slow turn towards the main road, to which she cried in reply, “I can’t see.”
“I still remember the road train driver who helped us get the plane off the road just in time before a car came hurtling under the wing. The whole community came looking for us because they’d heard the plane fly overhead but not land.”
Eventually, Mike was able to take off from the main road with the community, CASA, Main Roads and Police in attendance and fly to Port Hedland. “I hugged the highway all the way in – just in case I had to put the plane down again. I finished the role not long after, and the plane was retired from the air not too long after that!”
Building a practice from scratch
After several stints in the city and remote WA, Mike and his wife Chris returned to Bunbury. Spurred on by encouragement from patients and community members, he opened a clinic in a former fish and chip shop in Australind. “I signed the lease, and then we scrubbed years of grease off the walls and from the ceiling cavity. Mates and former patients came in to help with the fit-out – even the local bank manager gave us support.”
Six months in, Mike took on his first GP registrar, Dr Myra Brown – the first of about 45 registrars he would mentor. “Sometimes I had two at a time, and a few husband-and-wife teams – which often coincided with ‘evolutionary’ times in their relationship – so it was often interesting!”
When the opportunity came to build a new clinic, he jumped at it – and was then given just one month’s notice to vacate his existing premises. “Within a month, we had two transportables set up with power, water, the works. It only happened because everyone pitched in. That’s what community does.”
Changing winds and new horizons
In 2006, another gust of fate led Mike to regretfully depart the practice he had founded. “It was time for a change of scenery and pace. I went back into ED, did some education work, and teamed up with my mate Clyde Jumeaux for general practice.”
He was later approached by a friend at the Royal Flying Doctor Service to provide care in Meekatharra. “That became a FIFO model with five other GPs. We’d rotate through and support the community together. That model’s now been used in other remote places – it worked well.”
Leading from the helm
Today, Mike works as a roving locum and has served as the general practice clinical lead of WACHS for the past four years – an opportunity that brought him to his first formal job interview in 35 years. “In this role, I’m more the coach or captain of the team, rather than the full forward kicking the goals – and that’s a good place to be at this point in my career.”
His WACHS work has taken him to leadership roles across Carnarvon, Geraldton, Port Hedland, Karratha and Kununurra. “Each place has its own flavour and its own challenges – but they all remind me why this work matters.”
A life defined by winds and waves
Mike’s story is one of adaptability, resilience, and a willingness to embrace the unknown. Whether delivering babies, caring for palliative patients, or making emergency landings, he has consistently found himself at the confluence of fate and opportunity. “I’ve had the good fortune of working in places most people never get to see. It hasn’t always been easy, but it’s always been worth it.”
Throughout it all, his wife Chris has been his constant support. They first met on a turbulent flight over Rottnest Island, and on 12 January 2025, they celebrated 40 years of marriage.
“Chris has been my rock through it all – she’s been on this ride with me the whole way.”
Mike’s remarkable path through medicine is proof that fortune truly favours those who dare to ride the waves.