Australian Inland Mission | National Library of Australia National Library of Australia Australian Inland Mission Australian Inland Mission John Flynn (1880-1951) was born at Moliagul, Victoria, and was educated at government primary schools and the University High School in Melbourne. He became a pupil-teacher in the Education Department and developed a strong interest in photography. In 1903 he became a home missionary of the Presbyterian Church and served at Beech Forest in the Otway Ranges and Buchan in Gippsland. In 1907 he began studies at the Presbyterian Theological Hall in Melbourne and he was ordained as a minister in Adelaide in 1911. In the same year he joined the Smith of Dunesk Mission in the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. In 1912 he compiled a detailed report on the spiritual condition of the people, both Indigenous and European, of the Northern Territory and Central Australia. The General Assembly of Australia responded by establishing the Australian Inland Mission, with Flynn as Superintendent.

The Australian Inland Mission, which was responsible for the Northern Territory and the remote parts of South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland, began with one padre (Bruce Plowman), a nursing sister and a nursing hostel at Oodnadatta. In 1913 Flynn launched the illustrated magazine The Inlander . By 1918 he had established patrols at Oodnadatta, Port Hedland, Broome, Pine Creek and Cloncurry and nursing sisters at Oodnadatta, Port Hedland, Halls Creek, Maranboy and Alice Springs. In 1926 he persuaded Alfred Traeger to come to Alice Springs and develop the pedal radio. A radio station was installed at the Presbyterian Church at Cloncurry and pedal sets placed at homesteads and missions. In 1929 the Aerial Medical Service was established, operating from Cloncurry, and it was an instant success. It was transferred to the Australian Aerial Medical Service (later the Flying Doctor Service) in 1933. In 1933 Flynn was made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) and he was Moderator-General of the Presbyterian Church in 1939-42.

He remained Superintendent of the AIM and in his last years he established a retirement home in Alice Springs and a holiday camp for Outback children in Adelaide. Following Flynn’s death in 1951, Fred McKay, who had been a patrol padre in the 1930s, was appointed Superintendent. Under his leadership, the AIM became a very large organisation, its influence extending to the new mining regions in the far north and west and even to Papua New Guinea. The John Flynn Memorial Church was opened in Alice Springs in 1956. McKay retired in 1974 and was succeeded by Max Griffiths. In 1977 the Presbyterian Church divided, with the majority of churches joining the Uniting Church of Australia. All the AIM properties were awarded to the Uniting Church, but after some fraught negotiations the two churches agreed that the name ‘Australian Inland Mission’ would no longer be used. The Uniting Church adopted the name ‘Frontier Services’ for its range of Outback ministries. Acquisition In 1964, at the suggestion of Sir John Ferguson, Jean Flynn presented to the Library the papers of her husband, the Reverend John Flynn.

In 1977 the Board of Frontier Services of the Uniting Church of Australia donated an extensive archive of the Australian Inland Mission. Numerous additions were made to the archive between 1983 and 2001, more than doubling it in size. The Library had a long and happy association with the second Superintendent of the AIM, the Reverend Fred McKay and his wife Margaret. They made many visits to the Library between 1982 and 1991 and compiled the listings that cover the bulk of the archive. The personal papers of Fred McKay were presented by his family in 2001. The papers of Dr George Simpson, one of the founders of the Flying Doctor Service, were donated by his wife Nesta Simpson in 1962. In 1967 R. Cameron Plowman presented the papers of his father, R.B. Plowman, the first AIM padre. Description John Flynn John Flynn FLYNN OF THE INLAND (Compiled by Anne Doran) “He created a social revolution without knowing it” Fred McKay. The John Flynn Monument at Moliagul Important notice: The house remains across the road from the monument are not Flynn's home.

The existing house was moved there after Flynn's home was moved to Mildura in the 1920s. John Flynn was born on 25th November 1880 in Moliagul on the Victorian Goldfields. The young John Flynn decided in his teens to pursue a career in the church. After formal schooling he taught at several small Victorian schools until the opportunity came to enter the Presbyterian Home Mission Scheme. This Scheme guaranteed him a place at Ormond Theological Hall while working as a home missionary in various country centres, including the Shearers’ Mission at Hamilton (Vic). His term at Hamilton was an important factor in moulding him for his subsequent career. It was also during this time that he developed his two main hobbies – First Aid and Photography. Ordained as a minister in 1911, Flynn was posted to the Smith of Dunesk Mission at Beltana, a remote South Australian town. The itinerant horse and buggy work in Beltana- Oodnadatta region, far from exhausting him, increased his enthusiasm for Outback folk and he developed a growing commitment to them.

In 1912, John Flynn made an important survey of the Inland that resulted in the establishment of the Australian Inland Mission with himself as superintendent (a position he held until his death in 1951). The die was cast for his future career. A large part of Flynn’s genius was in recognising and fostering talent in others – finding the right person for the job. THE MANTLE OF SAFETY. John Flynn’s report prepared in 1912 directed that the church must take a much more practical approach to the problems of living in the Inland. He interpreted the people’s needs as he listened to the bush folk and concluded that there must be medical services, nursing homes, boundary riding padres and travelling libraries. He looked to the evolving technologies of wireless and aviation to solve communication and distance problems. NURSING HOMES The first home was opened at Oodnadatta S.A. in 1910 by Rev. F.W. Rolland of Beltana and later taken over by the Australian Inland Mission. Other homes followed at Port Hedland W.A. (1915), Alice Springs N.T. (1915), Maranboy N.T.

(1917), Hall’s Creek N.T. (1918), Beltana S.A. (1919), Victoria River Downs N.T. (1922), Birdsville Qld. (1923) NURSES 354 trained nurses volunteered for service at these bush hospitals during John Flynn’s lifetime, creating a refreshing sense of community by their social influence and medical skills. Many of these nursing sisters married men of the outback, fulfilling another of Flynn’s visions for a “brighter bush”. PADRES By 1913-15 camel padres were on the bush tracks through Central Australia and the Pilbara, with a pack-horse patrol from Pine Creek and a T-model Ford patrol at Cloncurry – Queensland. They did not “talk religion” when they visited a station, but pitched in helping with well-sinking, branding, digging postholes, erecting rails, tending the sick, fixing machines, pulling teeth, filling in tax forms and writing business letters. The preacher must prove first capable of standing on his own feet and show a good sense of humour before he was accepted by taciturn bushmen.

SKY DOCTORS In July 1920, “Inlander” Flynn published a map showing 16 possible flying doctor bases. Beneath the map was the caption “Eventually – why not now?” It was the blueprint of his “dearest dream” and it was shared by his friend H.V. McKay, the inventor of the Sunshine Harvester. A bequest of 2000 pounds in his friend’s will provided the beginnings of a financial base for the flying doctor experience. FROM AERIAL MEDIAL SERVICE TO FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE The Australian Inland Mission (A.I.M.) decided to establish a flying doctor experiment, John Flynn gathered a team of experts about him. Rev. Andrew Barber raised the bulk of the finance. Dr. George Simpson advised on medical matters, Hudson Fysh of Qantas advised on aviation and radio expert George Towns and Harry Kauper advised on wireless technology. Cloncurry, Queensland was chosen as the site for the experiment for it was made up of scattered settlers, mining camps and small townships in a 300-mile flying radius.

There was also a well-equipped aerodrome, a 40-bed hospital with full staff and a skeleton telephone and telegraph service. Established Sydney surgeon Dr. Kenyon St. Vincent Welch and pilot Affleck made the first flight on May 17th 1928, but radios were not installed until 1929. In the first year Qantas flew 17,479 accident free miles. Brilliant young South Australia radio engineer, Alf Traeger solved the communication problem with his ingenious pedal radio. While the “mother” station at Cloncurry used radiotelephony – the “baby” stations at the homesteads replied in morse code. The first flying doctor aircraft a deHavilland DH5OA was named "Victory" Following the success of the first year of operation, the A.I.M. voted to continue the experiment. Doctors came and went until the advent of Dr Allan Vickers in 1931. He was to devote his life to the service, steering it through the difficult Depression years.

Fred McKay, then patrol padre in Cloncurry, worked with John Flynn to transfer the experiment to the national organisation – Australian Aerial Medical Service (AAMS). In 1942, the name was changed to the Flying Doctor Service with the “Royal” prefix added in 1955. There are now 14 bases Australia wide – Mount Isa, Charleville and Cairns in Queensland, Wyndham, Derby, Port Hedland, Carnarvon, Meekatharra, Kalgoorlie and Jandkadot in Western Australia. Broken Hill in New South Wales. Alice Springs in Northern Territory, Port Augusta in South Australia and Launceston in Tasmania. The modern service combines regular clinic flights to Aboriginal communities, mining camps, station properties and other Inland settlements, with daily consultations to anyone within radio range in need of medical advice. However, emergency flights are still given top priority. CENTENARY OF THE BIRTH OF REV. JOHN FLYNN November 25th 1980 marks the Centenary of the birth of Rev. John Flynn at Moliagul. This great Australian man was the founder of the Australian Inland Mission and the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

In 1871, his father Thomas Flynn was appointed to take charge of the Moliagul School. Mr. Flynn attended the Methodist church and was also a lay-preacher. While attending a service at Dunolly, he met Rosetta Lester, daughter of Anthony Lester, the schoolteacher at Newbridge. Thomas Flynn and Rosetta Lester were married at Newbridge on 13th April 1876, by Rev. Charles Du Bourg. At Moliagul, the Flynn family lived in a small wooden cottage which served as a teacher’s residence and occupied a site in the main street of Moliagul. It was here that John Flynn was born on 25th November 1880. John Flynn’s mother Rosetta died in 1883 while giving birth to her fifth child who survived only two weeks. After his wife’s death, Thomas Flynn transferred to Burnt Creek, now known as Bromley, 2 miles south-east of Dunolly and was in charge of the school there from 1883 until 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Lester of Llanelly assisted with the care of their grandchildren, Eugene, Rosetta and John Flynn.

The Flynn family later moved to Melbourne where Thomas Flynn taught at Sunshine and Braybrook. After completing his primary education, John Flynn attended University High School and completed his matriculation at the age of eighteen. He became a pupil teacher and for four years taught at Braybrook, Hawthorn and Hazelwood South near Morwell in Gippsland. In July 1903, John Flynn became a Home Missionary for the Presbyterian Church and was sent to Beech Forest in the Otway Ranges, south of Colac. After three years, Flynn moved to Buchan in East Gippsland, and while stationed there assisted Frank Moon, a prospector and geologist, to explore the vast limestone caves of the Buchan Valley. It was due to their work that these caves were opened to become an important tourist attraction. In 1909, John Flynn carried out a mission to shearers in Western Victoria where he visited the shearing sheds to meet and talk with the shearers. During a visit to Hamilton, he met a small boy named George Simpson, who later became a doctor and a close friend and assistant. After his ordination in Adelaide in 1911, Rev.

John Flynn was sent to take charge of the Smith of Dunesk Mission at Beltana – 350 miles north of Adelaide. During 1911, he undertook a patrol over the Northern Territory to meet the inhabitants and carry out his ministry. He was shocked at the lack of medical assistance, the isolation and the vast distances to be travelled to consult a doctor. He reported his findings to the Presbyterian Assembly and suggested that a chain of hospitals and nursing homes should be set up to assist inhabitants of the Inland. The first nursing home was established at Oodnadatta, which was at that time the terminus of the northern railway. In 1912, the Australian Inland Mission was established and Rev. John Flynn became its Superintendent, a position he held until his death in 1951. In spite of the development of medical centres, John Flynn was not satisfied and planned for the time when there would be a nursing home within 100 miles of every outback station property. He believed that the aeroplane would be used to conquer the vast distances and spread a “mantle of safety” – as he called it over Inland Australia.

The first medical flight was made on 2nd August 1927 from Cloncurry to Mount Isa to bring in a seriously injured miner. The plane used was a De Havilland 50 mail-plane chartered from Qantas. The pilot was Norman Evans. He was accompanied by Dr George Simpson who tended the patient on the return flight. This errand of mercy, although unofficial, was the first flight of the Aerial Medical Service. On May 5th 1928, the Aerial Medical Service officially began. Dr K. St. Vincent Welch was in charge and the pilot was Arthur Affleck. The first flight of the new service took place on 17th May 1928 when a call came from Julia Creek – Queensland. Dr Welch recorded in his diary, “that as the plane rose into the air, its shadow formed a cross on the ground”. With the advent of the Aerial Medical Service, John Flynn sought a method of contacting the flying-doctor base when assistance was required. After a number of experiments, Alfred Traeger of Adelaide, invented a cheap, easily operated radio transceiver set which was available in 1929.

Power to operate the set was produced by a small generator which was pedalled by the feet. It was known as the “pedal-wireless”, and by its use, people of the outback could directly contact the Aerial Medical Service. Alfred Traeger died on 31st July 1980, but he will long be remembered for his work in connection with the Royal Flying Doctor Service for many years. He was one of John Flynn’s many friends and helpers. On 7th May 1932, Rev. John Flynn married Miss Jean Baird of Grafton. Miss Baird first met her future husband when she joined the Australian Inland Mission (AIM) staff in 1922 in Sydney. From 1926 until 1932 she was General Secretary and handled all the secretarial work for the AIM and the Flying Doctor Service. Mrs Flynn was of great assistance to her husband, and continued her interest in the two services after her marriage. In 1933, Rev. John Flynn was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his services to Australia.

From 1939 until 1942, Flynn served as Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, while in 1940, the McGill University in Montreal – Canada, awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Divinity. In 1941, the Aerial Medical Service became known as the “Flying Doctor Service”. In 1955, Queen Elizabeth 11 allowed the use of the prefix ROYAL, and the service is now known as – ROYAL FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE OF AUSTRALIA. Its motto being: - “Medicine, Aviation, Radio”. John Flynn died in Sydney on 5th May 1951, and after cremation his ashes were flown to Alice Springs and buried at Mount Gillen. Speaking at his funeral service, Rev. Kingsley Partridge said – “He is not dead. His work abides, his memory is forever eloquent, for across the lonely places of the land he planted kindness and from the hearts of those who call those places home, he gathered love”.

John Flynn’s work lives on in the Australian Inland Mission now managed by the Uniting Church and the Royal Flying Doctor Service, a tribute to a great Australian who was born in Moliagul – central Victoria and gave so much to Australia. Some years before his death, John Flynn visualised the building of an inland cathedral at Alice Springs. The foundation stone of this unique church was laid by Mr. Robert G. Menzies – Prime Minister of Australia on 26th May 1954 while the building was opened on 5th May 1956 by Sir William Slim – Governor General of Australia. At Moliagul, on 9th December 1956, Mr. Malcolm Moore – Federal President of the Flying Doctor Service unveiled the Memorial erected opposite the birthplace of Rev. John Flynn. The address was given by Dr. George Simpson, one of Flynn’s many friends. The wording on the Moliagul Memorial plaque refers to John Flynn’s work as follows – “He spread a mantle of safety over Inland Australia by aviation, radio and medicine and brought spiritual comfort, gladness and rejoicing. Across the lonely places of the land he planted kindness and gathered love”.

John Flynn never claimed his achievements as being due to his own efforts and always acknowledged the work of his friends and helpers who helped develop and expand his ideas to bring them to fruition. His greatest memorial is the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia which operates in Western Australia, South Australia, Northern Territory and New South Wales. (This article was compiled by Mr. Ron L. Carless of Moliagul to mark the Centenary of the Birth of Rev. John Flynn) UNVEILING OF PLAQUE AT FLYNN PRIMARY SCHOOL – A.C.T. On Saturday 22nd November 1980, the Dunolly Goldfields Historical and Arts Society was represented at the unveiling of a memorial plague at the Flynn Primary School in the Australian Capital Territory. Mr Ron Carless of Moliagul travelled to attend the function and was a member of the Official Party. Miss Helen Simpson of Melbourne, daughter of the late Dr George Simpson, who was a close-friend and long-time assistant of Rev. John Flynn unveiled the memorial plaque to commemorate the life and work of Rev. Doctor John Flynn, founder of the Australian Inland Mission and what is now the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Representatives of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the Uniting Church National Mission Frontier Services and the Goldfields’ Historical and Arts Society – Dunolly attended the ceremony. The Memorial is the result of a two-year plan to make the Flynn Primary School and the suburb of Flynn, both named after Rev. John Flynn more aware of the life and achievements of this great Australian. The Canberra Memorial Committee agreed for a memorial to be erected in the school grounds. Visitors were welcomed by Mrs Shirley Pipitone of the Flynn School Board and Assistant Principal Mr Mike Dwyer recalled some of the important achievements of Rev. John Flynn who would always be remembered because of the Inland Mission and the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Other speakers were Rev. Gray Birch and Mr Alex Simpson, a brother of the late Dr George Simpson. Alex Simpson recalled how at his brother’s home in Melbourne, late at night, his brother George and Rev. Flynn held important discussions and made plans which resulted in the development of the Flying Doctor Service. Mr Simpson said that John Flynn was described as a dreamer, but his feet were planted firmly on the ground. The Flynn Primary School Choir sang several Australian folk songs.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, a newly released film showing the Flying Doctor Service in action at Broken Hill was screened in the school assembly hall. As part of their studies on John Flynn and his work, pupils had completed excellent projects, paintings and models which were displayed in the entrance foyer. The official visitors were served morning tea in the very attractive school library. Flynn Primary School had been established about six years. DESERT TOMB OF JOHN FLYNN Herald – Sun 30th April 1998 The future of the famous desert tomb of Australian pioneer and Flying Doctor founder John Flynn remains near Alice Springs – N.T. is in doubt. This is more than a year after it was to be controversially dismantled. Fighting between two Northern Territory Aboriginal tribes has stalled the planned move. The boulder monument was to be shifted to its original home 200kms away to be among sacred rocks known as the Devil’s Marbles. To further complicate moves, geologists have been unable to find a suitable replacement rock for the huge piece of marble which adorns the tomb, 5km west of Alice Springs at the foot of Mount Gillen.

Geologists have been searching nearby rock formations for the past 12 months but have been unable to find a piece of marble to replace the famous round boulder. It has been incredibly frustrating, “Royal Flying Doctor Services national executive director Gerry Macdonald said. “We have not heard from tribe representatives for at least six months and geologists cannot find a replacement boulder”. Alice Springs locals want the monument maintained. However, the RFDS, as an act of reconciliation, has agreed to the controversial move. Mr. Macdonald said the John Flynn controversy was also affected by the Wik debate. “Nothing that moves in that part of the world is not affected by the Wik debate”, he said. It is understood that the two tribes involved, the Kaytetye and Arrente people, are in dispute over the boulder’s movement but the RFDS has been unable to determine the exact nature of the dispute. However, it does know one tribe owns the land where the monument rests while the other owns the area at Tennant Creek from where the boulder was removed 46 years ago. Tribal elders began the campaign to reclaim the boulder as far back as 1980. They say the rock was stolen from them.

The planned swap upset Dr. Flynn’s descendants and former colleagues who considered removing his ashes from the tomb. Dr. Flynn’s successor as RFDS chief, retired Reverend Fred McKay, 90, opposed the move. He said the tomb represented a sacred symbol of what John Flynn’s life was all about. The monument is considered one of the nation’s most important because it is dedicated to man considered one of Australia’s most important modern pioneers. Known as “Flynn of the Inland”, Dr Flynn died on 5th May 1951 after founding the RFDS. The monument, which more than 80,000 tourists visit annually, was built by Mr McKay. Despite the opposition, the move has been supported by Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Herron, the RFDS, the NT Government and the Uniting Church. A spokesman for the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority, which is overseeing the move, Mr Walter Zigkowski, was unavailable for comment yesterday. WHY FLYNN’S STONE WAS MOVED Herald – Sun 24th September 1999 By James Ensor – Community Aid Abroad – Advocacy Manager. It was an emotional day. We stood by the grave of the Rev.

John Flynn near Alice Springs, the majestic MacDonnell Ranges rising behind us. Lesley Foster Jampijinpa, senior traditional owner of the sacred stone that adorned Flynn’s grave for half a century said: “I’ve been worrying for this stone like a father worries for a child who has been taken away. Thank you all for letting him go home to Karlu Karlu. Community Aid Abroad was delighted to support this landmark event. The Warumungu and Kaytetye traditional owners of Karlu Karlu – known to white Australians as the Devil’s Marbles – saw their sacred stone returned. And in keeping with his family’s wishes, Flynn’s grave is still protected by a sacred stone, given by the Arrernte people of Alice Springs. Many people were involved in making this happen – The Royal Flying Doctor Service, the Uniting Church, Flynn’s family, the Arrernte and Warumungu and Kaytetye peoples. Why did an aid agency such as Community Aid Abroad support the rock exchange? Our work around the world – in South Africa, East Timor or here in Australia – has taught us the value of reconciliation. It means coming together to heal the wounds of the past.

But it can only happen if we take an honest look at our shared history. Some have criticised the exchange, saying it showed disrespect to the Rev. Flynn. Yet Flynn’s work in the outback is recognised by everyone, including Aboriginal people. It was a profound tribute to him that the Arrernte provided a sacred stone to protect his memorial. Is it not fitting that the grave of the Rev. Flynn, who did so much for black and white Australians, is now marked by an Arrernte stone that is spiritually connected to the land in which he is buried? This event provided a stark contrast to the reconciliation debates in Canberra. There, statements of “sincere regrets” replace an official apology to the stolen generation, and the truth of our history has become a casualty of party politicking. Our political leaders could learn from the wisdom of the ordinary Australians – black and white – involved in this inspiring story. Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, Cairns, Queensland - YouTube Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, Cairns, Queensland Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented.

This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Oct 8, 2011 The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (RFDS) began in 1928. It was formed by Reverend John Flynn, the first Superintendent of the Australian Inland Mission (AIM), a branch of the Presbyterian Church of Australia. He witnessed the daily struggle of pioneers living in remote areas where just two doctors provided the only medical care for an area of almost 2 million square kilometres. Flynn's vision was to provide a 'mantle of safety' for these people and on 15 May 1928, his dream had become a reality with the opening of the Australian Inland Mission Aerial Medical Service (later renamed the Royal Flying Doctor Service) in Cloncurry, Queensland. Beechcraft at RFDS Museum in Cairns. Le Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia est une organisation de secours en Australie. Elle apporte une aide médicale aux populations isolées du pays.

Le révérend John Flynn (25 novembre 1880 - 5 mai 1951) était un pasteur presbytérien et aviateur australien qui a créé le Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), premier service d'ambulances aériennes au monde. En 1917, Flynn envisageait déjà la possibilité de nouvelles technologies, comme la radio et l'aviation, pour fournir un service plus pointu d'aides médicales et il reçut ensuite une lettre d'un pilote australien de la Première Guerre mondiale, Clifford Peel, qui avait entendu parler des projets de Flynn et décrivant les fonctionnalités et les coûts de avions alors disponibles. Cette liste fut publiée dans le magazine de l'église, le début de la collecte de fonds considérable pour créer un service médical volant. Le premier vol eut lieu en 1928 à partir de Cloncurry, au Queensland. En 1934, l'Australian Aerial Medical Service était créé et progressivement un réseau national mis en place.

Beechcraft au Musée des docteurs volants de Cairns. Musique/ Music : Lynyrd Skynyrd "Free Bird" Songwriters/composé par : Collins, Allen; Vanzant, Ronald (Ronnie) Category Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia - The Full Wiki The Full Wiki More info on Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia Wikis Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia: Wikis Advertisements Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article! This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it! See more info or our list of citable articles . Related top topics An RFDS Beechcraft Super King Air on a remote airstrip The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (RFDS, informally known as The Flying Doctors) is an air ambulance service for those living in the remote inland areas of Australia . It is a not-for-profit organisation which provides both emergency assistance and primary health care to people who cannot easily get to a hospital or general practice due to the prohibitive distances of the Outback . The Service also assists with distance education .

Contents 8 External links A "mantle of safety" for the outback The service began in 1928, originally as an experiment known as the Aerial Medical Service (AMS) which was to run for a single year. This experiment was based in Cloncurry , Queensland . It was formed by Reverend John Flynn , the first Superintendent of the Australian Inland Mission (AIM), a branch of the Presbyterian Church of Australia . Flynn's missionary work involved the establishment of hospitals in bush communities. This, however, did not help those who lived far from any major community. In his public speaking he would often retell the tragic circumstances that had befallen several bush settlers. The fate of Jimmy Darcy, in 1917, was one of these stories. Darcy was a stockman in Western Australia . After being found injured, with a ruptured bladder, by some friends, he was transported over 30 miles (12 hours), to the nearest town, Halls Creek . Here, Darcy was met by FW Tuckett, the Postmaster, and the only man in the settlement trained in first aid.

Tuckett said there was nothing he could reliably do for injuries so serious, and tried unsuccessfully to contact doctors at Wyndham , and then Derby , by telegraph. He eventually got through to a doctor in Perth . Through communication by morse code , Dr Holland guided Tuckett through two rather messy bladder operations utilising the only sharp instrument available, a pen knife . Due to the total absence of any medical facilities, Darcy had been operated on strapped to the Post Office counter, having first been made insensible with whisky. Holland then travelled 10 days to Halls Creek on a boat for cattle transport, a Model T Ford, a horse drawn carriage , and even on foot, only to find that Darcy had died the day before. To rub salt in the wound, the operations had been successful, but the stockman had died from an undiagnosed case of malaria and ruptured abscess in his appendix . It was from stories such as this that Flynn, and his following at the AIM, became inspired to develop a route of communications that could solve the problem of remoteness. However, no feasible technology seemed apparent. Flight and radio: the fusion of two fledgling technologies Dispatch service, Alice Springs, N. T.

(2008) Victorian Lieutenant Clifford Peel , had heard Flynn's public speeches, and on being shipped out to France for World War I in 1917, sent Flynn a letter explaining how he had seen a missionary doctor visiting isolated patients utilising a plane. Assisted by costing estimates by Peel, Flynn immediately took the idea of using aircraft to incept his idea, and published Peel's idea in the church's newsletter. Sadly Peel died in combat in 1918, probably not even knowing the impact he had in the creation of an Australian icon. Along with motorised flight, another new technology was being developed that could replace the complicated means of communication by telegraph. Together with Alfred Traeger , Flynn began experiments with radio in the mid 1920s to enable remote outposts to contact a centralised medical base. The pedal radio was the first result of this collaboration. These were distributed gradually to stations , missions and other human residences around Cloncurry , the base site for a 50-watt transmitter . By 1928, Flynn had gathered sufficient funds through fundraising activities to launch the experiment of the AMS on 15 May.

Its supporters included industrialist HV McKay , medical doctor George Simpson , and Hudson Fysh , one of the founders of Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service, the company which would go on to become Qantas . Qantas supplied the first aircraft to the fledgling organisation, a De Havilland DH.50 , dubbed "Victory". On 17 May, two days after inception, the service's first official flight departed from Cloncurry, 85 miles to Julia Creek in Central Queensland , where the plane was met by over 100 people at the airstrip . Qantas charged two shillings per mile for use of the Victory during the first year of the project. Success, and continued success Dispatch service building, Alice Springs Within the first year of operations, the service flew approximately 20,000 miles in 50 flights, becoming the first comprehensive air ambulance service in the world. The service persisted through some very tough first few years, dealing with postwar Australia and the Great Depression of the 1930s. During its first few decades the service relied heavily on community fundraising, volunteer support and donations.

This is still the mainstay of the service's funding, but it benefits greatly from State and Federal Government funding programmes that have since been introduced. Until the 1960s the service predominantly hired aircraft, pilots and service technicians from contractors. After this point, the service moved on to purchasing its own equipment and employing its own pilots and mechanics. In 1932, the success from its operations in Cloncurry, and the increasing public awareness to this quite vital rural service, resulted in a push for a national network of flying doctors, hopefully with sponsorship from the government. In 1934 this was realised with the new Australian Aerial Medical Service opening up "Sections" across the nation. Bases were set up in Wyndham , Port Hedland , Kalgoorlie , Broken Hill , Alice Springs and Meekatharra . The Queensland experiment was expanded with two additional bases opening in Charters Towers and Charleville . An official Federal Council for the organisation was formed in 1936. In 1942 it was again renamed to Flying Doctor Service, with Royal being bestowed upon the service in 1955.

Sister Myra Blanch was one of the first nurses, known as "Flying Sisters", to join the service. She was key in the New South Wales Section operations during the 1940s and 50s, even though Flying Nurses didn't actually become regular until the 1960s. Today, 80% of emergency evacuations are performed with only a nurse and pilot being present in person, a doctor directing such actions from a remote location. Nurses have been responsible for two innovations to the service, the "medical chest" (1942), which was later to incorporate the RFDS official "body chart" (1951). The chart is an anatomical representation of a human being, with areas clearly numbered. With such a chart on the scene of a situation, a remote doctor can ask the patient "which number is the pain felt?" and receive an easily comprehensible reply. The medicines contained within the chest are similarly numbered for ease in the communications of specific medical instructions. The service today A sign on the Eyre Highway indicating that a RFDS emergency airstrip is ahead. There are four such strips on the highway.

The service is still heavily reliant on community support for funding, and is well respected across the country as an organisation that has contributed so much to rural development. The service basically holds true to the original model set by John Flynn. Its services include: on site emergency first aid safe transport to hospitals as needed advice to remote situations via telephone, satellite-phones and portable video conferencing units. transportation of a general practitioner for regular clinical visits to remote areas (usually a circuit visiting several communities and/or stations) consultation, communication, and support for rural and remote doctors across Australia inter-hospital transfer of patients The service also utilises not just aircraft but also four-wheel drives and other utility land vehicles to aid in transportation and communications. Advertisements Organisation A Beechcraft B200 King Air modified with B200C-style large entry door, operated by the RFDS South Eastern Section on behalf of the Ambulance Service of New South Wales A Pilatus PC-12 of RFDS Central Operations parked near the RFDS/Ambulance Service of New South Wales Base at Sydney Airport The Service is a loose federation of four "Sections", each of which contains a number of bases from which the Service's aircraft are dispatched.

They are: Western Operations - Derby , Kalgoorlie , Meekatharra , Perth 's Jandakot Airport , and Port Hedland Some bases have been closed, or moved, since inception. Stations at Carnarvon , Geraldton and Wyndham have closed, while the original base at Cloncurry was moved to Mount Isa in 1965 and the early base at Charters Towers moved to Cairns in 1972. Aircraft As of October 2007 the aeromedical evacuation aircraft used are either the Pilatus PC-12 or the Beechcraft King Air 200 series . The internal configuration of these two aircraft varies in the different RFDS sections. Typically they are configured with two rear-facing seats which look onto two stretchers. In some aircraft, one stretcher can be removed quickly and two seats slipped into place instead. Both the PC-12 and King Air are pressurised and so can be used to safely transport patients who would not otherwise tolerate the decreased atmospheric pressures involved in non-pressurised aircraft. By flying at a lower altitude than usual, the internal cabin pressure can be maintained throughout the flight at sea level.

This is important for patients critically sensitive to pressure changes. In addition, pressurised aircraft can fly at a sufficiently high altitude in order to be above turbulent weather conditions. This is of great benefit in providing an environment safe for the patient and staff, and also limits complications of aeromedical transport such as motion sickness and exacerbation of injuries such as unstable fractures. In October 2009 the standardisation on pressurised aircraft ended when two Cessna 208B Grand Caravans joined the fleet. [1] As of December 2009 the RFDS fleet numbers 60: [1] 29 Beechcraft B200 King Air 5 Beechcraft B200C King Air 2 Cessna 208B Grand Caravan 24 Pilatus PC-12 The South Eastern Section operates 18 King Airs, the Queensland Section 11 King Airs, three PC-12s and the two Caravans, Western Operations ten PC-12s and five King Airs, while Central Operations has a PC-12 fleet numbering 11 aircraft.

Statistics Memorial to RFDS pilot, Robin Miller Dicks , the "Sugarbird Lady" at Jandakot Airport According to the RFDS 2003 Annual Report the service owned 36 aircraft, and operated 23 bases with 521 employees. Each day, on average, the service: travels 38,550 kilometres by air performs 105 landings 202 telehealth sessions At the end of 2005 there were 50 aircraft operating through 22 bases. The RFDS had 495 full-time and 145 part-time staff members. Total operating expenses were AU$ 31,017,289 of which $ 2,325,467 was funded by donations while the remainder came from Government and internal funding. School of the Air The School of the Air , which links outback students with centralised teachers, until recently used the same radio equipment as the RFDS. This has been surpassed with the availability of internet services. Trivia On 22 October 1958, Holden car manufacturers donated their 500,000th vehicle to the service in Melbourne .

The RFDS was the subject of the TV drama series The Flying Doctors . The series followed the lives of an RFDS crew based in a fictional township called 'Coopers Crossing' and the members of the local population that they served. in the 1950s the RFDS featured in a BBC Radio series The Flying Doctor, which became wellknown for the catchphrase "Flying Doctor to Wollumboola Base". See also Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia Facts for Kids | KidzSearch.com 6 Other websites History One of the original de Havilland DH.50 planes flown by Qantas. Here it is delivering a patient to hospital in Brisbane in 1931. Beginnings The service was started by Reverend John Flynn . [1] He had worked in rural areas of Victoria . In 1912, he was asked by the Presbyterian Church to look at the needs of people living in the Northern Territory . His report about it led to the creation of the Australian Inland Mission (AIM). Flynn became the manager of this. It began as one nursing clinic . By 1926, it had become a network of ten nursing clinics.

[2] On 15 May 1928, Flynn formed the AIM Aerial Medical Service (AMS). This was an experiment based in Cloncurry , in Queensland . AIM leased a de Havilland DH.50 plane from the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service (Qantas). The plane was named Victory. It would fly doctors to remote communities. The service answered its first call on 17 May 1928. From Cloncurry, the plane flew 137 kilometres (85 mi) to Julia Creek in central Queensland. [2] Within its first year of operations, the service flew more than 30,000 kilometres in 50 flights. It became the world's first flying ambulance service. [4] From the mid-1920s, Flynn had been experimenting with radio together with Alfred Traeger . Traeger built the first pedal -powered transmitter in 1929. It allowed people in remote places to contact a central medical base. These transmitters were given out gradually to stations, missions and other communities around Cloncurry. Cloncurry was the base site for a large transmitter.

Growth By the early 1930s, there was growing interest in expanding the service across the continent. Demand for its services was increasing. In response, the service expanded its fleet by hiring more planes and more pilots. Money from fundraising and the Australian Government [4] helped to finance the project. In 1934, it became the Australian Aerial Medical Service. It opened up new bases across the country, in Wyndham , Port Hedland , Kalgoorlie , Broken Hill , Alice Springs , Meekatharra , Charters Towers and Charleville . These bases were organised into "sections". A council to manage the organisation was formed in 1936. The service's name was changed to the Flying Doctor Service in 1942. It was given the honorific "Royal" in 1955. [4] Support An RFDS Beechcraft Super King Air on a remote airstrip During its first few decades, the service got most of its money from community fundraising , volunteers and donations . Today, the service gets financial help from the federal and state governments. But it still needs money from fundraising and donations from the community.

Until the 1960s, the service mostly leased planes and pilots. After this point, the service moved on to buying its own equipment and employing its own pilots and mechanics. Related pages Connellan Airways References Patrick Treacy Flying Doctors | The RFDS service began in 19… | Flickr Patrick Treacy By: Patrick Treacy Patrick Treacy Flying Doctors The RFDS service began in 1928, originally as an experiment known as the Aerial Medical Service (AMS) which was to run for a single year. This experiment was based in Cloncurry, Queensland. It was formed by Reverend John Flynn, the first Superintendent of the Australian Inland Mission (AIM), a branch of the Presbyterian Church of Australia. Done ROYAL FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE OF AUSTRALIA : definition of ROYAL FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE OF AUSTRALIA and synonyms of ROYAL FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE OF AUSTRALIA (English) 8 External links A "mantle of safety" for the outback The service began in 1928, originally as an experiment known as the Aerial Medical Service (AMS) which was to run for a single year.

This experiment was based in Cloncurry , Queensland. It was formed by Reverend John Flynn , the first Superintendent of the Australian Inland Mission (AIM), a branch of the Presbyterian Church of Australia . Flynn's missionary work involved the establishment of hospitals in bush communities. This, however, did not help those who lived far from any major community. In his public speaking he would often retell the tragic circumstances that had befallen several bush settlers. The fate of Jimmy Darcy, in 1917, was one of these stories. Darcy was a stockman in Western Australia. After being found injured, with a ruptured bladder, by some friends, he was transported over 30 miles (12 hours), to the nearest town, Halls Creek . Here, Darcy was met by FW Tuckett, the Postmaster, and the only man in the settlement trained in first aid. Tuckett said there was nothing he could reliably do for injuries so serious, and tried unsuccessfully to contact doctors at Wyndham , and then Derby , by telegraph. He eventually got through to a doctor in Perth .

Through communication by morse code , Dr Holland guided Tuckett through two rather messy bladder operations utilising the only sharp instrument available, a pen knife . Due to the total absence of any medical facilities, Darcy had been operated on strapped to the Post Office counter, having first been made insensible with whisky. Holland then travelled 10 days to Halls Creek on a boat for cattle transport, a Model T Ford, a horse drawn carriage , and even on foot, only to find that Darcy had died the day before. To rub salt in the wound, the operations had been successful, but the stockman had died from an undiagnosed case of malaria and a ruptured abscess in his appendix . It was from stories such as this that Flynn, and his following at the AIM, became inspired to develop a route of communications that could solve the problem of remoteness. However, no feasible technology seemed apparent. Flight and radio: the fusion of two fledgling technologies Dispatch service, Alice Springs, N. T.

(2008) Victorian Lieutenant Clifford Peel , had heard Flynn's public speeches, and on being shipped out to France for World War I in 1917, sent Flynn a letter explaining how he had seen a missionary doctor visiting isolated patients utilising a plane. Assisted by costing estimates by Peel, Flynn immediately took the idea of using aircraft to incept his idea, and published Peel's idea in the church's newsletter. Peel died in combat in 1918, probably not even knowing the impact he had in the creation of an Australian icon. Along with motorised flight, another new technology was being developed that could replace the complicated means of communication by telegraph. Together with Alfred Traeger , Flynn began experiments with radio in the mid 1920s to enable remote outposts to contact a centralised medical base. The pedal radio was the first result of this collaboration. These were distributed gradually to stations , missions and other human residences around Cloncurry , the base site for a 50-watt transmitter . By 1928, Flynn had gathered sufficient funds through fundraising activities to launch the experiment of the AMS on 15 May.

Its supporters included industrialist HV McKay , medical doctor George Simpson , and Hudson Fysh , one of the founders of Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service, the company which would go on to become Qantas . Qantas supplied the first aircraft to the fledgling organisation, a De Havilland DH.50 , dubbed "Victory". On 17 May, two days after inception, the service's first official flight departed from Cloncurry, 85 miles to Julia Creek in Central Queensland , where the plane was met by over 100 people at the airstrip . Qantas charged two shillings per mile for use of the Victory during the first year of the project. Success, and continued success Dispatch service building, Alice Springs Within the first year of operations, the service flew approximately 20,000 miles in 50 flights, becoming the first comprehensive air ambulance service in the world. The service persisted through some very tough first few years, dealing with postwar Australia and the Great Depression of the 1930s. During its first few decades the service relied heavily on community fundraising, volunteer support and donations.

This is still the mainstay of the service's funding, but it benefits greatly from State and Federal Government funding programmes that have since been introduced. Until the 1960s the service predominantly hired aircraft, pilots and service technicians from contractors. After this point, the service moved on to purchasing its own equipment and employing its own pilots and mechanics. In 1932, the success from its operations in Cloncurry, and the increasing public awareness to this quite vital rural service, resulted in a push for a national network of flying doctors, hopefully with sponsorship from the government. In 1934 this was realised with the new Australian Aerial Medical Service opening up "Sections" across the nation. Bases were set up in Wyndham, Port Hedland , Kalgoorlie , Broken Hill , Alice Springs and Meekatharra . The Queensland experiment was expanded with two additional bases opening in Charters Towers and Charleville . An official Federal Council for the organisation was formed in 1936. In 1942 it was again renamed to Flying Doctor Service, with Royal being bestowed upon the service in 1955.

On 22 October 1958, Holden car manufacturers donated their 500,000th vehicle to the service in Melbourne Sister Myra Blanch was one of the first nurses, known as "Flying Sisters", to join the service. She was key in the New South Wales Section operations during the 1940s and 50s, even though Flying Nurses didn't actually become regular until the 1960s. Today, 80% of emergency evacuations are performed with only a nurse and pilot being present in person, a doctor directing such actions from a remote location. Nurses have been responsible for two innovations to the service, the "medical chest" (1942), which was later to incorporate the RFDS official "body chart" (1951). The chart is an anatomical representation of a human being, with areas clearly numbered. With such a chart on the scene of a situation, a remote doctor can ask the patient "which number is the pain felt?" and receive an easily comprehensible reply. The medicines contained within the chest are similarly numbered for ease in the communications of specific medical instructions.

The service today A sign on the Eyre Highway indicating that an RFDS emergency airstrip is ahead. There are four such strips on the highway. The service is still heavily reliant on community support for funding, and is well respected across the country as an organisation that has contributed much to rural development. The service basically holds true to the original model set by John Flynn. Its services include: on site emergency first aid safe transport to hospitals as needed advice to remote situations via telephone, satellite-phones and portable video conferencing units. transportation of a general practitioner for regular clinical visits to remote areas (usually a circuit visiting several communities and/or stations) consultation, communication, and support for rural and remote doctors across Australia inter-hospital transfer of patients The service also utilises not just aircraft but also four-wheel drives and other utility land vehicles to aid in transportation and communications.

Organisation A Beechcraft B200 King Air modified with B200C-style large entry door, operated by the RFDS South Eastern Section on behalf of the Ambulance Service of New South Wales A Pilatus PC-12 of RFDS Central Operations parked near the RFDS/Ambulance Service of New South Wales Base at Sydney Airport The Service is a loose federation of four "Sections", each of which contains a number of bases from which the Service's aircraft are dispatched. They are: From the 1950s to 1970s, the fleet included the Beechcraft Baron , Beechcraft Travel Air , Beechcraft Queen Air , Beechcraft Duke , Cessna 180 , Cessna 182 , Cessna 421 , Piper Cherokee and Piper PA-31 Navajo . Aircraft were provided by contractors until the 1960s. Subsequently the RFDS owned its own aircraft and employed its own pilots and engineers. Preserved GAF Nomad on display at the RFDS base Broken Hill. This was not an actual RFDS aircraft but has been repainted to represent one of the Nomads based there.

A Hawker 800XP2 at Broome Airport. The aircraft is sponsored by Rio Tinto . In the 1970s and 1980s the RFDS base at Broken Hill operated the Australian-made GAF Nomad . From the 1980s to 2000s, the fleet included the Cessna 404 and Cessna 441 . For a time in the mid-2000s the aeromedical evacuation aircraft used were either the Pilatus PC-12 or the Beechcraft King Air 200 series . The internal configuration of these two aircraft varies in the different RFDS sections. Typically they are configured with two rear-facing seats which look onto two stretchers. In some aircraft, one stretcher can be removed quickly and two seats slipped into place instead. Both the PC-12 and King Air are pressurised and so can be used to safely transport patients who would not otherwise tolerate the decreased atmospheric pressures involved in non-pressurised aircraft. By flying at a lower altitude than usual, the internal cabin pressure can be maintained throughout the flight at sea level. This is important for patients critically sensitive to pressure changes.

In addition, pressurised aircraft can fly at a sufficiently high altitude in order to be above turbulent weather conditions. This is of great benefit in providing an environment safe for the patient and staff, and also limits complications of aeromedical transport such as motion sickness and exacerbation of injuries such as unstable fractures. In October 2009 the standardisation on the two aircraft types ended when two Cessna 208B Grand Caravans and a Hawker 800XP [1] joined the fleet. [2] As of March 2011 the RFDS fleet numbers 68: [2] 202 telehealth sessions At the end of 2005 there were 50 aircraft operating through 22 bases. The RFDS had 495 full-time and 145 part-time staff members. Total operating expenses were A$ 31,017,289 of which $ 2,325,467 was funded by donations while the remainder came from Government and internal funding. School of the Air The School of the Air , which links outback students with centralised teachers, until recently used the same radio equipment as the RFDS.

This has been surpassed with the availability of internet services. Cultural references The RFDS was the subject of the TV drama series The Flying Doctors . The series followed the lives of an RFDS crew based in a fictional township called "Coopers Crossing" and the members of the local population that they served. in the 1950s the RFDS featured in a BBC Radio series The Flying Doctor, which became well known for the catchphrase "Flying Doctor to Wollumboola Base". At the closing of Charlie Drake's humorous song "My Boomerang Won't Come Back", it is implied that the narrator accidentally downs a Flying Doctor plane with his boomerang . The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia is featured in the outback map of the video game Flight Control . [3] See also

Question: What organisation, formed by Reverend John Flynn and based in Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia, began in 1928?.
Answer: Royal Flying Doctor Service