John Flynn | A tribute to Influential Australian Christians A tribute to Influential Australian Christians Posted on 22 October 2010 by A tribute to Influential Australian Christians John Flynn (1880 – 1951) Presbyterian minister The Reverend John Flynn was an Australian Presbyterian minister who founded the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the world’s first air ambulance. Flynn received an Order of the British Empire in 1933. He is featured on one side of the current Australian 20 dollar polymer note. “He brought gladness and rejoicing to the wilderness and solitary places”. The Reverend John Flynn (25 November 1880 – 5 May 1951) was an Australian Presbyterian minister who founded the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the world’s first air ambulance. Born in the gold rush town of Moliagul, about 202 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, Victoria. His mother died in childbirth when Flynn was three, and he spent part of his childhood growing up with relatives.

Flynn moved to Sunshine, now an outer western suburb of Melbourne [Note: Background to the suburb ‘ Sunshine and H V McKay ‘] as a child, where he completed secondary school in 1898, and began working as a schoolteacher. By 1903 he decided he wished to become a Presbyterian minister, and entered Ormond College, a college of the University of Melbourne to study divinity in 1907. He graduated in 1910 and was ordained in 1911. Throughout his training, Flynn had worked in various then-remote areas through Victoria and South Australia, and his first posting after ordination was to the Smith of Dunesk Mission at Beltana, a tiny settlement 500 kilometres north of Adelaide. Beltana is a relatively isolated place even today and in those days was extremely remote. By 1912, after writing a report for his church superiors on the difficulties of ministering to such a widely scattered population, Flynn was made the first superintendent of the Australian Inland Mission . As well as tending to matters spiritual, Flynn quickly established the need for medical care for residents of the vast Australian outback, and established a number of bush hospitals.

By 1917, Flynn was already considering the possibility of new technology, such as radio and the aeroplane, to assist in providing a more useful acute medical service, and then received a letter from an Australian pilot serving in World War I, Clifford Peel , who had read of Flynn’s speculations in The inlander : (a quarterly magazine dealing with national interests from the outbacker’s point of view, and edited by John Flynn), who had outlined the capabilities and costs of then-available planes. This material was published in the church’s magazine, the start of Flynn turning his considerable fund-raising talents to the task of establishing a flying medical service. The first flight of the Aerial Medical Service was in 1928 from Cloncurry. Miraculously surviving the Great Depression, Flynn guided the organisation, lobbying both politicians and his church, to take the service nationwide. In 1934 the Australian Aerial Medical Service was formed, and gradually established a network of bases nationwide. Flynn remained the public face of the organisation (through name changes to its present form) and helped raise the funds that kept the service operating.

While undoubtedly most famous for the organisation that became the RFDS, Flynn’s work with the Mission extended well beyond it. As well as the nursing homes, Flynn instituted travelling ministries – ministers travelling vast distances on horseback through the inland. In 1939 Presbyterian Church of Australia elected Flynn to the primus inter pares role of Moderator-General. Flynn married the secretary of the AIM, Jean Baird, in 1931 at the relatively advanced age of 51. He finally retired and died in Sydney, and was cremated and his remains placed under a large boulder from the Devil’s Marbles. In an unfortunate postscript to Flynn’s life, the Northern Territory Department of Public Works had taken the rock from a site sacred to its traditional owners. After many years of negotiations the rock was returned to its original location in 1998 and replaced with one acceptable to the Aboriginal people, both of the original rock’s home and the people on whose land his grave lies. Flynn received an Order of the British Empire in 1933. He is featured on one side of the current Australian 20 dollar polymer note.

Sourced from: Biography - John Flynn - Australian Dictionary of Biography Australian Dictionary of Biography Tip: searches only the name field Tip: Use double quotes to search for a phrase This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography , Volume 8, (MUP), 1981 John Flynn (1880-1951), by unknown photographer, c1929 National Library of Australia, nla.pic-an24680767 John Flynn (1880-1951), Presbyterian minister, founder and superintendent of the Australian Inland Mission of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, was born on 25 November 1880 at Moliagul, Victoria, second son of Thomas Eugene Flynn, schoolteacher, and his wife Rosetta Forsyth, née Lester. Educated at Snake Valley, Sunshine and Braybrook primary schools, he matriculated from University High School, Carlton, aged 18. Unable to finance a university course, he became a pupil-teacher with the Victorian Education Department and developed interests in photography and first aid.

In 1903 he began training for the ministry through an extra-mural course for 'student lay pastors', serving meanwhile in pioneering districts of Beech Forest and Buchan. His next four years in theological college were interspersed with two periods on a shearers' mission and the publication of his Bushman's Companion (1910). On completion of his studies for ordination Flynn volunteered for appointment in 1911 to the Smith of Dunesk Mission in the northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia. This parish extended to the rail head at Oodnadatta where the mission had placed a nursing sister and planned a nursing hostel; under Flynn's practical assistance, it was open on 11 December. Next year Flynn surveyed the Northern Territory and on receiving his two long and detailed reports, one on the needs of Aboriginals and one on the needs of white settlers, the Presbyterian General Assembly that year appointed him superintendent of its Australian Inland Mission, which, in principle, it established at the same meeting. The South Australian, Western Australian and Queensland assemblies transferred their remote areas adjoining the Northern Territory to Flynn's care, and his new charter was initiated at Oodnadatta Nursing Hostel.

The mission he was to direct for another thirty-nine years commenced operation with one nursing sister, one padre, a nursing hostel and five camels. It began as it continued 'without preference for nationality or creed', to become a great mantle of safety composed of a network of nursing hostels and hospitals each in close association with a patrol padre. It took another seventeen years before Flynn's caring service to remote homesteads and communities was completed with the establishment of the A.I.M. Aerial Medical Service at Cloncurry in 1928 and Alfred Traeger 's invention of the pedal radio in 1929. Flynn's writings in the Inlander indicate that this fourfold concept was his goal almost from the beginning. In his understanding of community development, he was ahead of his time, for the service he envisaged was to be a framework within which outback communities might 'structure and co-ordinate' their own 'canopy' of safety.

By 1918, although World War I impeded development, in addition to the first nursing hostel and patrol based on Oodnadatta Flynn had established patrols based on Port Hedland and Broome in Western Australia, Pine Creek in the Northern Territory and Cloncurry in Queensland. He had also appointed nursing sisters to Port Hedland and Halls Creek in Western Australia and Maranboy and Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, though the latter appointment soon lapsed because of lack of a suitable building. Five years later, Flynn had twenty-three nursing sisters in the field. The nursing hostel designs were usually prepared by Flynn himself after consultation with architects, engineers and local people to ensure that the design was suitable to climatic conditions and available building material. His design for the Alice Springs hostel, published in 1920 in the Inlander, illustrates his research, having ducted aircooling via a tunnel under the ground floor where wet bags filtered the dust and cooled the air drawn by convection through the wards to the lantern roof. This massive stone building with wide verandahs was completed in 1926.

Between 1913 and 1927 Flynn's magazine, the Inlander, led his battle for a 'brighter bush'. His photographs, documents, statistics, maps and articles publicized the needs of the people and northern Australia's potential for development, which he argued could only be effected by providing security for women and children. He did not overlook Aboriginals, and devoted the first issue of the 1915 Inlander to photographs and stories of the plight of the fringe-dwellers in particular: 'A blot on Australia is shown on our frontispiece … There is no call for sensation. Sensation is too cheap. We need action'. He confessed that everyone was ignorant of how to help but that 'it is up to us to educate ourselves and mend our ways'. He claimed that Aboriginals were neither incompetent nor 'beneath the practice of self-help' and noted also the care that they gave their old men.

He continued: 'We who so cheerfully sent a cheque for £100,000 to Belgium to help a people pushed out of their own inheritance by foreigners—surely we must just as cheerfully do something for those whom we clean-handed people have dispossessed in the interests of superior culture'. There were few in that time who were as outspoken or perceptive as Flynn on this subject—a fact rarely recognized by either Church or public. Within his own Church, another department was responsible for the care of Aboriginals, but Flynn's A.I.M. hospitals were then, as now, open to Aboriginals who were encouraged to seek the medical care offered. Long after Flynn's death, however, allegations mainly by Dr Charles Duguid in his book Doctor and the Aborigines (1972), that A.I.M. hostels had refused to treat Aboriginals and that Flynn had become indifferent to their plight, roused heated controversy.

Flynn's strategy for the location of his nursing hostels and associated patrols was to choose what he called the 'port', whether inland or on the sea front, serving the surrounding outback, and then ensure that the need was confirmed and the hostel supported by the local people who were encouraged to 'take over the entire management wherever they desired and when they were able to bear the burden'. This was not only true of the nursing hostels or homes, for in 1933 when the A.I.M. Aerial Medical Service was transferred to the national Australian Aerial Medical Service, all radios and other equipment went as a gift to the people and communities concerned. The second phase of Flynn's strategy was marked by his concentration on radio and the 'flying doctor'. As early as 2 May 1925, he declared that 'the practicability of the Flying Doctor proposal depends almost entirely on the widespread adoption of wireless by bush residents' to provide the link between doctor and patient. The press responded to Flynn's ready use of publicity. Later that month he was in Adelaide with George Towns, a returned soldier radio technician, to take delivery of his specially designed Dodge Buckboard for their first inland experiment in radio transmission.

They drove to Alice Springs via Beltana, Innamincka, Birdsville, Marree and Oodnadatta conducting test transmissions as they travelled, using a pulley drive from the jacked-up back wheel to generate electricity for radio transmission. The following year Flynn persuaded Alfred Traeger, whom he had met in Adelaide, to come to Alice Springs for further experiments, this time using a Lister engine to generate power at their nursing home base and heavy copper-oxide batteries at Hermannsburg and Arltunga. Their success, including the transmission of the first radio telegram, was only partial, for the type of battery used was unsuitable for remote homesteads. Meanwhile Flynn had been working on his other project, the aerial medical service. This vision had been inspired in 1917 through a letter to Flynn from Lieutenant Clifford Peel of the Australian Flying Corps, Australian Imperial Force. Later, Flynn's friendship with (Sir) W. Hudson Fysh , a founder of Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd (QANTAS), brought him further technical information and encouragement, as did Hugh Victor McKay .

When McKay died in 1926 he left £2000 to finance Flynn's experiment on the proviso that the Presbyterian Church doubled that. The Church assembly approved the experimental Aerial Medical Service on condition that Flynn raised £5000, which he obtained with modest help from the civil aviation branch of the Department of Defence and the Wool Brokers' Association. QANTAS leased on very favourable terms a De Havilland 50 aircraft, the first machine available and suitable for aerial medical work. History was made and Flynn's vision became a reality on 17 May 1928 when Dr St Vincent Welch, pilot Affleck at the controls of Victory, answered the first call received by the A.I.M. Aerial Medical Service. Next year Flynn was a delegate to the first world conference on aviation medicine in Paris. Fysh later wrote, 'Flynn the Dreamer … who saw a vision of a Flying Doctor well before the days of practical flying, but kept it firmly fixed in his mind', was a 'practical man when the time came for action'.

This second period also marked Flynn's recognition of the role the two-way radio was to play in the socialization of people in remote areas as they developed a community that is 'heard' but rarely seen. Later he gained Adelaide Miethke 's support for the establishment of the Alice Springs Aerial Medical Service: on a visit, she recognized the potential the 'flying doctor' network offered for a 'school of the air' which she later inaugurated. In Sydney on 7 May 1932 Flynn, aged 51, married his devoted secretary, Jean Blanch Baird. 'Thus for the last nineteen years of his life' wrote Scott McPheat, 'the man who championed homelife in two-thirds of Australia himself enjoyed the “glow of a fireside”'. The final phase of his work began with his merging his A.I.M. Aerial Medical Service into a national community service having resources far greater than any Church could provide. Flynn's dealings with members of State and Commonwealth parliaments now made him a representative for the scattered settlers in two-thirds of Australia for whom he had become the advocate for an adequate aerial medical service.

He had made his first move in 1931 but the Depression not only kept the matter from the agenda of the premiers' conference that year, but, without Flynn's indefatigable publicity, it would have put his flying doctor out of the air. By 1933 he judged the time opportune and made his major overtures through W. Forgan Smith , Queensland's premier. At the same time he maintained a flow of correspondence with key State and Federal parliamentarians. In 1933 the premiers resolved that 'this Conference approves a general co-operation of the Governments of the Commonwealth and States with a view to furthering the Australian Aerial Medical Service'. Flynn still needed the approval of his Church whose General Assembly was meeting later that year. In a letter to his friend and confidant J. Andrew Barber , he revealed something of what this move was costing him personally, yet knowing that he and the Church could act in no other way to be true to the A.I.M.'s vision, 'For Christ and the Continent'. If we do not become a national body the A.I.M.

will be in danger of losing revenue … I mean we must either shrink back into a mere preaching agency, or, as a dynamic partner in a national enterprise to help the frontier people, we establish ourselves as a power greater than when we had the isolated areas to ourselves … If the Assembly baulks at the hurdle and refuses to invite everybody interested to join the A.M.S. adventure, I believe the A.I.M. will shrivel into a selfish little runt … I repeat my fears, that our colleagues do not realise that our conditions are being completely changed. Flynn's arguments inspired his Church assembly and he won the day on his terms. That year he was appointed O.B.E. Much of his time was now spent in setting up the State sections of the National Aerial Medical Service of Australia. (The name was changed in 1942 to the Flying Doctor Service of Australia and the designation of 'Royal' was added in 1954). Flynn's concept of the structure of the N.A.M.S. demonstrated his concern for community partnership through a series of State sections and local committees 'unified by their common Articles of Association' which he described as 'Multiple Heads—one Heart'.

Throughout Australia he addressed public meetings, and held press interviews and consultations until the N.A.M.S. became a reality with the constitution that he envisaged. In 1939 Flynn was elected to the three-year term as moderator-general of the Presbyterian Church of Australia. In 1940 and 1941 the degrees of D.D. were conferred on him by the University of Toronto and the Presbyterian College at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. The war and post-war period inhibited any new work until his closing years when the Old Timers' homes in Alice Springs, and Warrawee, the Far North children's holiday and health scheme in Adelaide, were established. Survived by his wife, Flynn died of cancer in Sydney on 5 May 1951 and his ashes, at his request, expressed through his widow, were interred at the foot of Mt Gillen, Alice Springs. At this service his senior padre, Kingsley Partridge, said, 'Across the lonely places of the land he planted kindness, and from the hearts of those who call those places home, he gathered love'. In 1956 the John Flynn Memorial Church was opened in Alice Springs.

Flynn enjoyed a remarkable range of friendships and from them his fertile imagination drew concepts that enriched people and places. His letters reveal his dry sense of humour and irony, but above all his compassion. He was an inveterate talker, holding listeners far into the night, but he was also a good listener. His ecumenicity was shown by his being one of the founders of the United Church in North Australia. He accepted a specific charter and refused to be side-tracked into other areas of his concern, believing that a given task must recieve total commitment. The same standard was expected from those who served in the A.I.M. with him. When he said 'A man is his friends', he expressed something akin to Martin Buber's philosophy that 'All real living is in meeting'. His meeting with other people often revealed a compulsive humanism which gave meaning to his own life as an ordained minister of his Church and to the faith by which he lived and served. Select Bibliography W. S. McPheat, John Flynn, Apostle to the Inland (Lond, 1963) M. F.

Page, The Flying Doctor Story, 1928-78 (Adel, 1977) Australian Inland Mission, Inlander, 1913-14, 1915, 10 Dec 1972 Presbyterian Church of South Australia, Minutes of Proceedings, Mar 1942 Medical Journal of Australia, 14 July 1951 Sydney Morning Herald, 21 May 1940, 2 Sept, 2 Oct 1972 Canberra Times 1 Sept 1972 Herald (Melbourne), 1 Sept 1972 Age (Melbourne), 2, 6 Sept 1972 Advertiser (Adelaide), 2, 6, 12, 13 Sept 1972, 10 Jan 1973 National Times, 16-22 Nov 1980 J. G. Bucknall and R. V. Guthrie, Conquest of Distance (manuscript, privately held) MS 3288, Flynn papers, and MS 812, G.

Simpson papers, and MS 5574, Commission on National Mission, Uniting Church (National Library of Australia). Related Entries in NCB Sites Reverend John Flynn and the Australian Inland Mission - Fact sheet 159 – National Archives of Australia, Australian Government Reverend John Flynn and the Australian Inland Mission – Fact sheet 159 John Flynn: 'Flynn of the Inland' John Flynn was born in 1880 and educated in Melbourne. Ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1911 he was commissioned by his church to visit the Northern Territory in 1912 and report on its missionary needs. His report, Northern Territory and Central Australia – A Call to the Church, was considered by the Presbyterian General Assembly and as a result he was appointed field superintendent of the Australian Inland Mission (AIM), a position he held for the next 39 years. The vast distances of the Territory and the lack of adequate medical facilities concerned Flynn and from 1917 onwards he founded a series of nursing services in remote locations.

Taking advantage of the rapid development of aviation in the 1920s, Flynn was instrumental in the formation of the AIM Aerial Medical Service in 1928. The effectiveness of the service was ensured by the invention of the Traeger pedal radio in 1929. With several name changes, the AIM Aerial Medical Service became the Royal Flying Doctor Service in 1954. Flynn was also concerned with providing shelter for the older population of Central Australia and in 1949 he designed the first cottage to be built at the Old Timers' Settlement in Alice Springs. John Flynn was awarded an OBE in 1933, and served as Moderator-General of the Presbyterian Church from 1939 until 1942. He died in July 1951 and his ashes were placed in a commemorative grave on Larapinta Drive, a few kilometres west of Alice Springs. A church dedicated to Flynn's memory was completed in Alice Springs in 1956. A novel by author Ion Idriess, loosely based on Flynn's life, was published in 1932 under the title Flynn of the Inland.

Records held by the National Archives relating to John Flynn A number of records relating to John Flynn, the Australian Inland Mission and the Royal Flying Doctor Service are held by National Archives' offices in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Darwin. A selection of items held is listed below. Records relating to John Flynn and the Australian Inland Mission John Flynn and Flynn memorials Canberra The My Hero Project - John Flynn JOHN FLYNN by Amelia Telford from Lismore "Wherever you are, help is on its way!" John Flynn During his study to become a minister, John Flynn remembered the tough life of the outback where he was raised. This lead him to becoming the founder of the Australian Royal Flying Doctor Service. His kind personality and determination saved many people's lives and he should be recognized as one of Australia's greatest heroes. John Flynn was born on November 25, 1880 in Moliagul, Central Victoria. His mother died when he was two years old, leaving his father to raise his family in the bush. His first ambition was to become a church minister. He pursued his goal and studied at Melbourne University for minister qualifications.

Whilst he was working as a minister, an opportunity popped up concerning the bush people and how the church could help. Flynn happily accepted this opportunity to get involved. His outstanding report convinced the church leaders to allow him to proceed with his ideas and suggestions. John Flynn on Australian twenty dollar note John and his fellow ministers, "Flynn's Mob," set out to assist people in the bush. John was determined to provide people living in outback areas access to medical support and care. Flynn told his fellow ministers to go out there and listen to the people. He established fifteen hospitals throughout the Australian countryside. Even though the hospitals were accessible there was still the problem of transporting sick and dying people there. The idea of taking medical help to where it was needed was introduced and pursued. Not many people consider the disadvantages of life in the outback and actually do something about it. John Flynn took action and didn't just talk about his deeds; he saved lives and his legacy lives on. His thoughtfulness for others and determination for greater good show he is a real hero. The first year was a great success, 255 patients' lives were saved by Dr. St. Vincent Welch. That is 255 lives saved because of John Flynn's consideration.

"He had a deep practical concern about the needs of bush people, and the graves in the inland of people who should never have died worried him." (McKay) The medical flight service was very successful except for the one problem of people not being able to communicate. This problem was soon solved by the introduction of pedal powered radio communications and the establishment of an aerial medical service. In 1934 the flying doctor service of Australia was officially established (the "Royal" was added at the beginning in 1955). John Flynn married Jean Blanch Baird at the age of 51 in 1932. She was appointed secretary of the flying doctor service and helped her husband pursue his goal of helping disadvantaged people in the Australian outback. On the 5th of May, 1951, John Flynn died of cancer. For such a fine man, he didn't deserve to die of cancer. John Flynn is a true hero in my eyes and not just a stereotypical celebrity. "Hero definition: 'A man of distinguished courage or performance, admired for his noble qualities'." John Flynn fits this definition with no doubts. He definitely showed courage and is admired by myself, fellow citizens and others for his amazing, noble qualities.

Establishing 15 hospitals in rural areas of Australia, only a hero would do that. Writing a book, The Bushman's Companion, to benefit and assist the lives of people in the outback, only a hero would do that. Not giving up when hardships occur, only a hero would do that. Establishing the Australian Royal Doctor Flying Service, only a hero would do that! John Flynn will forever be a hero for Australians and many others around the world. John Flynn Memorial | Monument Australia John Flynn Memorial Print Page John Flynn Memorial Photographs supplied by Diane Watson Monument commemorates Pioneer churchmen and founder of the Flying Doctor Service, Reverend John Flynn. The monument was completed in 1952 and officially unveiled in 1953. John Flynn OBE (25 November 1880 – 5 May 1951) was an Australian Presbyterian minister who founded the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the world's first air ambulance. Flynn was made the first superintendent of the Australian Inland Mission. As well as tending to matters spiritual, Flynn quickly established the need for medical care for residents of the vast Australian outback, and established a number of bush hospitals.

While undoubtedly most famous for the organisation that became the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Flynn's work with the Mission extended well beyond it. As well as the nursing homes, Flynn instituted travelling ministries - ministers travelling vast distances on horseback through the inland. In 1939 Presbyterian Church of Australia elected Flynn to the role of Moderator-General. The John Flynn memorial cairn in the form of a 20ft. stone obelisk has been erected at the junction of the north-south, east-west roads, 16 miles from Tennant's Creek, in honour of "Flynn of the Inland." The fitting site, in the heart of Flynn's beloved Inland, is destined to be come an historical landmark in the annals of outback Australia's development. Just completed by a local contractor, the cairn is an imposing structure of dark Territory stone with a white cement cross, on each of the triangular faces. Near the base, a bronze plaque gives a brief outline of Flynn's work. The Rev. John Flynn, O.B.E., D.D., died on May 5 last year, after almost 40 years' spiritual and medical service to Inlanders.

He founded the A.I.M., pioneered the Flying Doctor Service and popularised inland radio communication. A £500 fund, subscribed to by people all over Australia, erected the memorial cairn to perpetuate his memory. Queensland Country Life (Qld), 11 December 1952. SYDNEY.— The Governor-General (Sir William Slim) will unveil the John Flynn Commemorative Cairn at Tennant Creek, Northern Territory, on Thursday, August 27. The cairn is at the intersection of the north-south and east-west roads, 13 miles from Tennant Creek, and will bear a plaque commemorating the Very Rev. John Flynn of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, known as "Flynn of the Inland." Newcastle Sun (NSW), 20 August 1953.

John Flynn’s associates | A tribute to Influential Australian Christians A tribute to Influential Australian Christians Posted on 31 October 2010 by A tribute to Influential Australian Christians Associates of the Rev John Flynn The Canberra Suburb of Flynn was named after the Rev John Flynn OBE; Presbyterian Minister and Missionary; mainly responsible for the formation of the Australian Inland Mission Aerial Medical Service in 1928, the forerunner of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. For more information on John Flynn, refer : The streets in the Canberra Suburb of Flynn were named after associates of the Rev John Flynn.

The following descriptive-information was obtained from the website : The Canberra suburb, Flynn : (search Flynn) Barber Crescent John Andrew Barber Born: 1873 Died: 1958 Patrol organiser, Australian Inland Mission; superintendent during Flynn’s absence, 1929-30; Associate Council Member, Flying Doctor Service, Victorian Section; Chairman, Aerial Medical Advisory Committee Agnes Elizabeth Lloyd Bennett Born: 1872 Died: 1960 OBE; First woman doctor to take up hospital work in New Zealand, 1910; served in the Royal Flying Doctor Service, North Queensland, 1938-39. Herbert John Bird Born: 1895 Died: 1966 Acting Secretary, Joint Meeting for Co-operation between Australian Aerial Medical Services, South Australia Section, and South Australian Centenary Women’s Council, 1936. Thomas Blackwell Born: N/A Died: 1968 Patrol Minister, Federal Methodist Inland Mission, Port Hedland, Western Australia, 1956-63. Additional information provided by Rev.

Deacon Joe Blackwell : Born Full Name: Thomas Blackwell was born 30 July 1928 Stanley, Durham Shire in England. Emigrated to Western Australia at 3 months (Late 1928) settling in Bruce Rock WA. Early Church Training Moved to Perth and sort ministry training with Methodist Church (WA Conference) at 14 years (1943 approx). Sent for training as Home Missionary at Otera College, Melbourne returning to WA when 16 years where he operated as a Home Missionary until 1949. 1949-1950 attended Leigh Theological College, Strathfield, Sydney as a Ministry Student returning to WA, city and country appointments, as a Probationary Minister within the Methodist Church. Ordained Reverend Thomas Blackwell was ordained a Methodist Minister in Wesley Methodist Church Perth WA on 29 February 1956 and appointed Patrol Minister with the Federal Methodist Inland Mission stationed at Port Hedland WA. Married Married in Hornsby, Sydney NSW on 12 April 1956 returning to Port Hedland WA appointment.

Ordained Ministry 1956 – 1963 Patrol Minister, Federal Methodist Inland Mission at Port Hedland WA 1963 – 1967 Methodist Minister, Methodist Church (WA Conference) at Bayswater, Perth WA 1968 – 1968 Methodist Minister, Methodist Church (NSW Conference) at Coolamon NSW Died Died 22 November 1968 at Wagga Wagga NSW and is buried at Coolamon NSW. (Aged 40 years) Coledge Harland Born: 1884 Died: 1963 Patrol Padre, travelling by camel, Australian Inland Mission, Oodnadatta, South Australia; from 1919-c1923 worked at Australian Aerial Ambulance Service (later Royal Flying Doctor Service) base. Hedland Circuit Australian Aerial Ambulance Service (later Royal Flying Doctor Service) base opened in 1935; operated by Army personnel, 1941-44.

Heriot Place Frederick Llewellyn Heriot Born: 1884 Died: 1956 First Minister to be appointed by Reverend John Flynn to Cloncurry area, 1915; first Member of Australian Inland Mission to use car for patrol work; set foundations for Australian Inland Mission work in Gulf in far western areas of Queensland where later the original experiment of flying doctor work and pedal radio communication were carried out. Lewy Miall Pattinson Born: 1853 Died: 1944 Donor to Flying Doctor Service; founder of the firm Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company, chemists. History of Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company, chemists. Pither Close Alfred George Pither Born: 1908 Died: 1971 CBE; Council Member, Victorian Section, Royal Flying Doctor Service, 1964-71; Chairman, Federal Council Radio Sub-committee, and architect of Royal Flying Doctor Service entry into single side band era; Director of Telecommunications, RAAF, 1954-59.

Plowman Place Robert Bruce Plowman Born: 1886 Died: 1968 First Australian Inland Mission Patrol Padre at Oodnadatta, South Australia, 1913-18; although not ordained he carried out all duties of a Minister; wrote `Camel Pads’, `The Boundary Rider’, and `The Man from Oodnadatta’. Allan Robert Stanley Vickers Born: 1901 Died: 1967 CMG; OBE; KStJ; Medical Superintendent, Cloncurry Base, Australian Inland Mission Aerial Medical Service, 1931-34; District Medical Officer, Broome, Western Australia, 1934-35; Flying Doctor, Port Hedland, 1938-40; established second Queensland Flying Doctor base, Charleville, 1942-55; Chief Medical Officer, Queensland Section, from 1955.

The Allan Vickers Outdoor Theatre Victory Place Name of the first flying doctor aircraft, a De Havilland D H 50; ( VH-UER ) the name was selected by John Flynn to commemorate financial help from Hugh Victor McKay of Sunshine, Victoria. More on Hugh Victor McKay : and John Clifford Peel Traeger Street, Canberra suburb of Dunlop Alfred Traeger Born: 1895 Died: 1980 Born at Glenlee, Dimboola, Victoria; worked for John Flynn from 1926 when Flynn was planning his Australian Inland Mission Aerial Medical Service for remote communities; invented the pedal wireless; when the first pedal sets had been introduced in Queensland in 1929, the invention created a communications revolution by diminishing the loneliness of the inland; invented a typewriter Morse keyboard, 1933; appointed OBE in 1944; continued inventing: he designed a turbine-driven car and used solar power to convert salt water to fresh water. also : More information on the above men and women may be contained in the Australian Dictionary of Biography Online While it is not known for certain if all of the above were ‘Christian’, all obviously would have supported the work of the Rev John Flynn.

Other associates of John Flynn Australian Inland Mission Collection - Archival Collection - Find & Connect - Western Australia The Australian Inland Mission Collection is a digital picture collection relating to the work of the Australian Inland Mission throughout Australia from c.1912 to c.1955. The collection consists of photographic materials, slides, negatives and transparencies and is held by the National Library of Australia. It has been partially digitised and as at 2015 has over 3300 images available online. The collection was assembled by the Rev. Fred McKay and a large component of the images were taken by Rev. John Flynn. Details Access Conditions The images are available online. The collection is under copyright until 2025. Contact the National Library of Australia to copy or order copies of the images. Records The Australian Inland Mission Collection covers all aspects of the Australian Inland Mission and its work since it began. The photos have a particular focus on the missions in Dunbar, Birdsville, Innamincka, Broome, Carnarvon, Oodnadatta, Darwin, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Beltana, Victoria River Downs and Port Hedland.

The photograph subject's include portraits and conditions of Aborigines, ministers of the Mission and their families, the doctors and nurses of the Aerial Medical Service. The collection consists of around 50 boxes of photographic material ; gelatin silver, glass slides, glass negatives and nitrate negatives. 3,198 transparencies and negatives; glass, b&w : 8.2 x 8.2 cm. Further Records There are more records about the Australian Inland Mission at the National Library of Australia than are in this collection. The Australian Inland Mission collection comprises a number of manuscript collections, as well as photographs and oral history interviews. Please consult the online finding aid called Australian Inland Mission for more information. Related Entries Royal Flying Doctor Service | Australian medical service | Britannica.com Royal Flying Doctor Service THIS IS A DIRECTORY PAGE. Britannica does not currently have an article on this topic. The Royal Flying Doctor Service office in Charleville, Queensland, Austl. Brian Voon Yee Yap Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia.

Peter Schuller Learn about this topic in these articles: in Australia: Health and welfare ...of disability and rehabilitation pensions and family allowance supports, but particular provision is made for the needs of remote communities, especially for Aboriginal health and welfare. The Royal Flying Doctor Service, established in 1928, provides emergency medical care to people living and working in Australia’s remote areas; the service operates, in part, through subsidies by the federal,... in flying doctor service ...in 1912 by the Rev. John Flynn, superintendent of the Australian Inland Mission of the Presbyterian Church. Flynn’s plan came to fruition in May 1928, when the first base of what is now the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia began operating at Cloncurry, Queensland, under Dr. K. St. Vincent Welch. An Adelaide electrical engineer, A.H. Traeger, developed a low-powered, portable,... in Meekatharra ...of the Canning Stock Route and Madman’s (cattle) Track, Meekatharra now receives livestock trucked south down the Great Northern Highway from as far away as Broome.

Meekatharra is the site of a Royal Flying Doctor Service base and the first regular School of the Air (public education by radio for outback children). The town is also a base for mining in the region. Pop. (2006) local...

Question: Which Australian service was founded by the Rev. John Flynn?
Answer: Flying Doctor Service