“FLYNN OF THE INLAND”

Opunake Times, 10 May 1938, Page 1

“FLYNN OF THE INLAND”

A U t} I'iiAXiXAjN AJtt 1, IN' TDiiEiSTLN G VISIT. The Australian missionary who ha* won the picturesque line or “Piynu of tho inianu/’ irdm the hook of that name by Lon Ij. idriess, is a visitor to New’ Zeaiaud. He is ilev. Jouu I'lynu. U.E.E., superintendent of the Australian Inland Missonj the growth of which has oeen almost entirely due to activity and energy in establishing contact between the scattered settlers of Central Australia.

Mr Plynn is accompanied by Mrs *•’ i _) un ; and they are malting a courtesy tour of tho Dominion at the invitation of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand.

“It is not a money-raising visit,” Mr r ynu told a press representative in an .“Ui vciw. "it is an eii'ort to bring the uvo countries closer together by givUI H y uul ' peopie some conception oi our problems. xoe story oi the Australian amanu mission a, unnun my migrates me puron me ninstaiu seed, oiack in rood, nils onuln, Oi JJunesk, a aaugnter o. naion Oouglit ptoperty un O ouu auoiiai.it Wiiica sue gave tu me .tiee Unni'en ul ticoUanu io aiu p.uuee. vvoiii. A. oey.nning was maue at j_.eitt.na; some hUU mixes norm oi AUe.a.^c ; one it was not until lain tnat the lasn ox ministering to the 'spiritual needs oj. mu seiners oi me vast territory anowa us tue Inland, commenced. The Australian in.and Mission, was born about -b years ago, when Mr hiynu, then a young man, wonting 4.01 me t>nui!i oi louueaK. Mission, was commissioned by me ■t'resuyteriau Church oi Australia io visit the Northern Territory aud report. Some twelve mouths later nig re-

po; t mspiied the Churcn to uuuenaac me work ami it was theu that the “mustard seed’ 5 began to grow.

“The investigation ana exploration worn vvao not easy,” said Air ihynn, "It was not just a case of going irom place to place and preaching; it was a case of applying the ethics of practical Christianity.’ The inland had been pioneered by men; it had been no place for women to live in, and so the lirst task of the mission was to make the countryside fit and safe for family life, for without a happy jfamily life there could be little or Christian expansion, he maintained.

The early years of exploration work had been fraught witn many dangers, but the missionary was loth to taik along these lines. “we got inrough with it and that ds what matters now,” he said. In the fullness of time there were established the nursing homes and hospitals; then came the radio—a boon in the inland wnere there are no telephones —the aeroplane service and the “Flying Doctor."

“To-day the mantle of safety is almost completed,’’ Mr. Flynn added, “and although it is not yet fully adorned w© aro now ministering through the service* mentioned, and through our five patrol padres, to a stout-hearted and happy people. - ’ Talking of farming conditions in Australia, Mr. Flynn said that in New Zealand we had little conception of the problems which faced the man on the land there. One-third of Australia enjoyed less than 10 inches of rainfall in the year, while rignt across the north the rainfall was heavy, but it was entirely monsoonal and fell in a short period in the summer. “Wherever our mission works the drought problem is a vicious one,’’ the visitor said, “and the settlers have to be continually prepared cnther for terrific tropical floods or for long period* of dry weather.”