Douglas Ivor Roberts (*Robbie*) was the first Tasmanian urological surgeon. He was born on 12 October 1924 in Shornecliffe, Kent. He was the eldest child of Douglas William Richard Roberts, a schoolteacher, and his wife Olive Minnie née Howes. The family had an army background and he initially attended the Duke of York’s Royal Military School in Dover before going to Dover County School and Harrow County School. In 1944 he enrolled at University College London to study medicine and trained at University College Hospital (UCH). The following year he volunteered to assist at Belsen Concentration Camp after its liberation by British forces. He and his colleagues buried 23,000 people and assisted in the evacuation of some 78,900. They treated the survivors for disorders such as malnutrition, typhus and tuberculosis and, in the course of their work, Robbie caught typhus and had to be evacuated to the Northeast Fever Hospital near London. Due to the war his course was abbreviated and he graduated MB, BS in 1946 having won the Trotter medal in clinical surgery. He worked as a registrar at UCH and then moved to Bristol Royal Infirmary as a senior registrar. His work was influenced by his mentors, the famous urologists Sir Terence Millin and Horace Winsbury-White. Passing the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1950, he joined the RAMC to do his national service and served as a captain in charge of a field surgical team in Malaya for two years. While there he treated many soldiers for short-range shotgun wounds to the abdomen. These were managed by a colostomy, a suprapubic catheter and a piece of cardboard over which the abdomen was loosely closed before they were evacuated back to the main hospitals. Apparently most survived. In 1954 he passed the fellowship of the college and worked in the urology centre at the Westminster Hospital. After also working at the Mansfield and Royal Sussex County Hospitals, he and his wife moved to Australia as *Ten-pound Poms* in 1957. He settled in Tasmania where he was appointed urologist at the Launceston General Hospital (LGH). Also in 1957 he gained his fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) and membership of the Urological Society of Australasia. He stayed at the urology unit for 61 years and it is estimated that he cared for approximately 60,000 Northern Tasmanians in that time. Although he ceased to practice in 2004 at the age of 80, he continued to take an active interest in LGH workings and continued to teach occasionally. A pioneer of continuing medical education, he kept up his contacts with urologists in the USA and visited every year. He was on the Tasmanian State committee of the RACS. A keen sportsman he enjoyed horse riding, sailing and skiing and loved to travel especially in South East Asia. He married Pat Smart in 1950 and they had a daughter and a son. He died on 27 November 2019 aged 95. His wife predeceased him and he was survived by their children Barb and Tim, children’s partners Greg and Claire, and grandchildren Daniel, Caitlin and Matthew.