David Portley qualified in Brisbane in 1944 and came to England during the war to specialise in surgery. He was a registrar at the Royal Bristol Hospitals and the Central Middlesex Hospital before returning to be medical administrator of the Bundaberg Hospital. He then became a staff specialist at the Mater Misericordia Hospital, Brisbane and the Mount Olivet Hospital. In 1973 he gained a postgraduate scholarship to study Public Health and Tropical Medicine in Sydney. He retired to Surfers' Paradise in 1976. He died in January 2001.