lit a candle 3h ago79 is no age at all. Never knew his work until I read this today, but a man who turns an injury into decades of giving back is a story worth telling. Praying for Lynnette and the boys tonight.
Their story
Howard William Steer was a Broken Hill painter known across outback Australia as the "Flying Doctor Artist". Over more than five decades he built a body of whimsical, narrative paintings he called "Story Art", and he used that work to raise money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service and many…
Howard William Steer was a Broken Hill painter known across outback Australia as the "Flying Doctor Artist". Over more than five decades he built a body of whimsical, narrative paintings he called "Story Art", and he used that work to raise money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service and many other causes. He died on 20 October 2026 at the age of 79.
Steer was born in Broken Hill, in Far West New South Wales, in 1947 and spent his whole life in the city, drawing on its landscape, its people and its humour. His path into art came through an accident: while working at the Broken Hill Civic Centre he lost the tops of the fingers on his left hand. The response and care he received from the Royal Flying Doctor Service left a lasting mark, and he turned to painting full time, beginning a lifelong campaign of support for the service.
He began painting around 1970 and exhibited from 1985, including many solo shows. He counted the Brushmen of the Bush artists Pro Hart and Hugh Schultz among his friends and mentors, and a Broken Hill councillor later called him "the next generation of Brushmen of the Bush". His pictures told stories of outback life, from backyard weddings to pub crawls and games of bush cricket, often with a cheeky or downright rude streak. He used that humour to tackle subjects outback men preferred to avoid, including men's health. His signature figure was a winged, black-suited doctor with a top hat and bag, a tribute to the flying doctors.
Steer's work hung in private collections and galleries across Australia and overseas, in regional and state galleries, in the Stockman's Hall of Fame in Longreach and in Parliament House, where his painting The Flying Doctor was displayed in Sussan Ley's office after he gave it to her when she was health minister. His Bush Opera is held by the Broken Hill City Art Gallery. He donated paintings to Royal Flying Doctor Service fundraisers, and his painted aircraft propellers sold for many thousands of dollars at auction. Each year he gave 15 to 20 paintings to charities such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Kidney Health Australia and the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.
He was married to Lynnette Steer, and they ran an art gallery in Broken Hill. The couple had two sons, Andy and Jay, and he had four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. The cause of his death was not made public. A private family funeral was held in Adelaide, and his wife said she planned to bring his ashes home to their Broken Hill gallery. The Royal Flying Doctor Service called him a valued friend who "told the story of the flying doctor in a way that was uniquely his own", and his family hope he will be remembered for his generosity.
Biography adapted from ABC News (Kristina Rosengren, Patrick Reincke and Sarah McConnell, 1 November 2026), UA.NEWS, West Darling Arts artist profile, Howard Steer Art.
Photos
1by People Forever
Amen to that.