She admits her journey hasn’t always been smooth, but with experiencing extreme highs and lows it has given Kerby great maturity and understanding. 

Kerby grew up in Weethalle and after attending the local public school and then high school at West Wyalong, she began studying at Yanco Agricultural High School in Year 8.

Kerby said the routine of the school allowed her to thrive.

“I loved boarding school… it was my jam, essentially,” she said.

Sadly Kerby’s mother was killed in a car accident near Young when she was commencing Year 10.

Kerby’s whole world changed after losing her mother.

“I felt like I was trying to do well at school for her and then she was gone so I didn’t really have the love for school anymore,” she said.

After dropping out of High School in Year 11, Kerby began working in the shearing sheds around the region.

Her father and uncles are shearers so the industry was nothing new for the then 16-year-old.

Kerby worked for a shearing contractor out of Nyngan and another out of Broken Hill, Hilston and Condobolin.

She also completed her Wool Classing certificate in Western Australia at age 17, and even worked there for a time.

“I just had a go at anything,” she said.

The most recent shearing contractor Kerby worked for was world-record holder and Gilgandra based shearing contractor Steven ‘Muddy’ Mudford in 2016.

“Last time I was there I was his presser for a couple of months,” she said.

Kerby’s journey into medicine started after shearing work started dwindling over winter.

“I was sick of being broke and not doing anything, I thought I needed to get out of the job and thought University would give me a degree, a full-time job that I don’t have to worry about if I’m working next week or not,” she said.

Kerby completed a TAFE tertiary preparation course before she could consider tertiary education.

Originally Kerby thought she would study dentistry and began a Clinical Science degree at Orange.

But the course wasn’t for her, so Kerby pursued medicine at the University of New England (UNE).

After five-and-a-half-years of study, Kerby graduated in October and became the first female Aboriginal student and only the second Aboriginal medical student to graduate from UNE’s School of Rural Medicine since the introduction of the Joint Medical Program in 2008.

Kerby, who is currently living in Inverell and working at the Warialda Medical Centre, will move to Wagga Wagga in January 2019 to complete her two-year internship.

Working as a GP in a metropolitan area isn’t for Kerby, who is happy to keep to her country roots.

“I couldn't ever be in the city. I’d only go there if I had to,” she said.

“I very much want to stay as rural as possible.”

She has a Defence Force sponsorship and will start her return of service in 2021. Kerby also hopes to finish her GP training before leaving the Army.

There was a multitude of people who helped Kerby along the way, including her Nan and Pop, her father, plus friends, the Aboriginal Student Centre at UNE and doctors.