Robert Hadley was born in Hobart, Tasmania on 29 July 1904, the son of Howard Henry Hadley, a hotelier, and his wife Agnes Edith, née Hall. After schooling locally he went to Wesley College, Melbourne, and then on to Melbourne University, where he excelled as an oarsman. He was awarded the MB BS Melbourne in 1927. He came to London working at St James's Hospital, Balham, and obtained both the MRCS and the FRCS in 1926. He married Irene Stella Cookes on 2 June 1932 in London. Returning to Melbourne he was appointed surgeon to St Vincent's Hospital where, apart from the war years when he was a major in the Australian Army Medical Corps, he spent the rest of his working career. At the age of 60 he retired from medical life and together with his wife and three daughters occupied himself as a grazier in Nagambie, Victoria. The life there clearly suited him and he died at the age of 89 on 8 November 1993. His wife had predeceased him in 1977 but he was survived by his daughters, Thelma, Helen and Elizabeth.