This uniquely Australian outback icon, founded by the Reverend John Flynn to service the residents who live in remote and rural Australia. Again, please listen to Dorothea Mackellar’s iconic poem, “My Country”.
All the outback residents, including many of our “first nations citizens,” rely on this fleet of doctors, aeroplanes, and nurses for health services in areas where many kangaroos and crocodiles outnumber residents by a big number.
Life goes on, babies are born, people have accidents, people grow old and the nearest medical facility may be a thousand kilometers away. The amazing people at RFDS travel the vast length and breadth of this amazing land providing unsurpassed medical service in some of the most remote areas. All they need is a bush airstrip and the skilled pilots get these amazing doctors and nurses to where they can support locals and travellers alike.
My wife and I have had firsthand experience with RFDS. In 1989 on the Wynns Australian Safari our magnificent vehicle was involved in a “roll over” and flipped end over end on the “Plenty Highway” (dirt track) between Boulia in Western Queensland and Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Bad bulldust and deep hidden wheel ruts were contributing factors, but nevertheless Lyn suffered a very badly fractured shoulder and was in serious pain. The accident happened at 1.00pm in the afternoon. A quick trip back to Boulia in Kenny Bryant’s Mitsubishi Pajero, a phone call to RFDS, who were at that stage doing vaccinations in the Gulf of Carpentaria, and Lyn and I were transported to the hospital in one of the amazing Flying Doctor planes in Mt Isa. The surgeons there immediately operated and reconstructed Lyn’s shoulder before 7.00pm that same day.
