How would you survive a major medical emergency if you were isolated — hours from care, separated by distance, terrain, or sea?
Before helicopter retrieval was possible, that question often determined outcome.
The concept of a helipad at the Royal Adelaide Hospital dates back to the 1990’s. When the then Minister for Health, Dr Michael Armitage, approved the construction of a helipad on top of the Outpatients Building in 1996.
Around the same time, the Royal Flying Doctor Service was providing aeromedical transport, and so the idea of integrating aviation directly into hospital infrastructure began to take shape.
But infrastructure alone doesn’t drive change — people do
Dr John Eugene “Fred” Gilligan
Dr Gilligan commenced his career at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1961. He completed his specialist training in Anaesthesia in Adelaide and qualified as a specialist in 1967. His early leadership was evident when he was appointed Assistant Director of Intensive Care in 1972. He subsequently became Director of Intensive Care Services, a role he held until 1991.
In 1973, Dr Gilligan established the Royal Adelaide Hospital retrieval service — a pioneering model that was later adopted by other Australian states. He was appointed the Foundation Director of Retrieval and Resuscitation Services within the Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, formalising what would become a cornerstone of critical care transport in South Australia.
Affectionately known as “Fearless Fred,” he was not only a clinician and leader, but also an innovator in education. He developed one of the early structured courses in Retrieval Medicine, contributing to the professionalisation of the discipline.
After completing hundreds of thousands of kilometres in rescue flights over several decades, Dr Gilligan retired in April 2002. He passed away in 2024.
Dr William “Bill” Griggs
Dr Griggs began his medical career as a volunteer paramedic in 1976 while still a medical student. Notably, he had attended his 100th fatal road crash before graduating in 1981.
He became a major trauma specialist and frequently assisted the Australian Defence Force in disaster relief and aeromedical evacuation.
He held the position of director of trauma services from 1995 as well as Senior consultant for intensive care, retrieval services and anaesthetics from 1989 until his retirement in 2018. Griggs also acted as director for retrieval coordination for MedSTAR. He also worked for the South Australian Ambulance Service from the early 1980s with his current role being a volunteer Rural and Remote Emergency Network medical responder. He has been a volunteer with St John Ambulance since the mid-1970s.
On top of his hand on field experience, Griggs was also part of the states Controller of health medicine for the Department of Premier and Cabinet from 2007 to 2017.
From 2010, Griggs was a non-executive director of the Motor Accident Commission of South Australia. He was appointed as the chair of MAC from 2015 and continued in this role until 2019.
Both Gilligan and Griggs recognised — through direct clinical experience — that South Australia needed an integrated helicopter retrieval capability linked to a major trauma centre. This would lend them to becoming the central advocates for a helipad at the RAH.
Why was a Helipad Needed?
As part of its mandate, NTAC undertook comprehensive reviews of trauma services across the country. These evaluations revealed significant variability in trauma care delivery and highlighted the scale of preventable morbidity and mortality. The intention was to create a more integrated and systematic approach to trauma management nationwide.
The NTAC Working Party subsequently developed guidelines for the establishment and evaluation of trauma systems in Australia. These included recommendations for hospital designation, minimum facility requirements, and outcome measurement within trauma networks — laying the groundwork for a formalised trauma system model.
In South Australia, these national recommendations prompted a detailed local review. In February 1995, on behalf of the South Australian Health Commission, the Trauma Systems Committee published its report titled Review of Trauma Services in Metropolitan Adelaide Hospitals.
The findings were significant. The report identified several critical weaknesses, including:
- A shortage of emergency medicine specialists within metropolitan emergency departments
- The absence of a purpose-built, suitable helipad for tertiary trauma retrieval
- A lack of formally designated trauma services
The review recommended urgent restructuring of emergency department organisation and a substantial increase in emergency medicine specialist staffing. Importantly, it reinforced the necessity of appropriate aeromedical access — a factor that would directly influence the future development of the RAH helipad.
“The problem with the aircraft and the terrible time delays, was tackled, because I was a junior staff specialist and didn’t have a lot of clinical pull” said Bernard Nicholson to the St Johns. To which they responded ‘Well, look Easter is coming, why don’t we put one of your aircraft in Adelaide, just in case we get some urgent calls’. So, they did and of course it was the start of a progressive move to place the air ambulance in Adelaide.
To help, a fixed-wing aircraft which had been used since the early 1970s, initially run by St Johns Ambulance came out of Whyalla for service.
In the lead up to the 1979 election, Don Dunstan stated that he would offer an emergency helicopter service mostly for regions in the Fleurieu Peninsula. Dunstan would lose the election but his successor David Tonkin, an eye surgeon by trade, was also a supporter of helicopter retrieval. He and Gilligan knew each other and would often discuss the benefits of helicopter retrieval.
The decision was then made to have a State helicopter service. One helicopter was allocated to be shared between the police, the public hospitals, the country fire service and the surf life saving team.
A trial was conducted using a small aircraft, without no dramatic success, until a rescue occurred that got everyone’s attention.
Key Rescue
An early trial of helicopter response utilised the aircraft of a local civilian pilot. On one particular evening, as the aircraft was being secured for the night, a call came through from police headquarters: a person had gone overboard from a yacht in the Gulf St Vincent.
The pilot, Guy Lloyd, and crewman David Edwards immediately took off. There were no medical personnel on board.
They conducted a systematic search pattern over the water, but visibility was deteriorating and the light was fading. With conditions worsening and no sighting, they prepared to make one final sweep. During that pass, David Edwards spotted a face in the water.
Given the limitations of the small helicopter and the low light, the aircraft could not land. Instead, the pilot manoeuvred into position and David was lowered on a hook beneath the aircraft. He reached the patient, secured a loop around him, and both were lifted to safety.
As it transpired, one of the individuals involved was a highly prominent South Australian. That single rescue became a pivotal moment. It demonstrated both the feasibility and the life-saving potential of helicopter response and, importantly, generated the support necessary to establish a formal helicopter retrieval service in Adelaide.
Formula One Grand Prix 1995
During the 1995 Formula One Grand Prix Grand Finale held in Adelaide, Mikka Hakkinen suffered a tyre failure during the first qualifying session which resulted in his car becoming airborne and crashing sideways into the crash barrier, at an estimated speed of 120 mph.
Häkkinen was critically injured sustaining a skull fracture, internal bleeding and a blockage of his airway. Trackside medical staff, including RAH doctors, performed an emergency cricothyroidotomy. He was immediately transported to the RAH which was lucky only 500 metres away.
He remained in critical care for two months under the Trauma, Neurosurgical and Intensive Care teams before making a remarkable recovery.
His survival became representative of Adelaide’s trauma capability. Take a look at a previous blog about how the RAH saved Hakkinen’s life https://healthmuseumsa.org.au/2025/03/rah-saves-life-of-f1-driver/
Ministers Announcement and Construction
Construction of the helipad was managed by the Engineering and Building Services Department and was completed ahead of schedule and within budget — a notable achievement for a project of this complexity and clinical importance.
While it is difficult to single out any one individual in a development of this scale, special acknowledgement must be given to Dr John Eugene “Fred” Gilligan for his longstanding commitment to building a retrieval service of the highest standard. His vision and persistence were instrumental in ensuring that aeromedical retrieval in South Australia developed into a system capable of delivering world-class critical care transport.
The helipad stands not only as infrastructure, but as a tangible reflection of decades of advocacy, innovation, and clinical leadership in retrieval and resuscitation medicine.
Official Opening
Among them was Mika Häkkinen, who had become the “adopted” face of the helipad project following his survival of a catastrophic racing crash in Adelaide in 1995. His recovery and subsequent return to Formula One brought significant public attention to the importance of rapid trauma response and specialist retrieval services.
Also in attendance was then South Australian Premier John Olsen, along with Royal Adelaide Hospital CEO Brendon Kearney.
The presence of these guests underscored both the clinical importance and the broader public significance of the helipad — a facility designed to ensure that critically injured patients could be transported directly and without delay to definitive tertiary care.
Features of the Original RAH Helipad
When the helipad opened at the Royal Adelaide Hospital it was considered state of the art and ahead of its time. Some of the key features included:
- Safety netting
- Control Room
Move to New Royal Adelaide Hospital
When the Royal Adelaide Hospital relocated to the new site in 2017, the New Royal Adelaide Hospital (NRAH) was widely regarded as Australia’s most technologically advanced hospital.
The facility incorporated a fleet of automated robotic guided vehicles to transport supplies, meals, and equipment throughout the hospital, as well as a purpose-built electronic medical record system designed to integrate patient care across departments. The redevelopment represented not simply a change in location, but a transformation in clinical infrastructure and digital capability.
Central to this redevelopment was the new Enhanced Safety Helipad.
Features include:
- Measures 54 metres by 27 metres
- Largest Helipad in South Australia
- Designed to accommodate 2 helicopters simultaneously (each weighing 11 metric tonnes)
- Engineered to withstand earthquake loading
- Purpose-designed expansion joint between the helipad platform and link bridge to allow for seismic movement.
- Design accounted for rotor wash turbulence and structural vibration during landing and take-off
- Vibration dampers to prevent wind induced oscillation
Take a look at the testing of the helipad at the new RAH in 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0FYL3dmAHk
Written by Kellie Branson, CALHN Health Museum
