INLAND MISSION

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIV, Issue 21001, 1 April 1938, Page 14

INLAND MISSION

Notable Work Being Done

SUPERINTENDENT IN TIMARU

The origin and working of the Australian Inland Mission and the famous Flying Doctor Scheme were described in an interview by the Rev. John Flynn, 0.8. E., superintendent of the one and founder of the other, who is engaged on a tour of New Zealand and delivered a lecture in Timaru last night.

In order to understand the origin of the Australian Inland Mission, said Mr Flynn, it was necessary to go back to the federation of the Australian States in 1901. This was accompanied by a similar union of the Presbyterian Assemblies of the various States. The Northern Territory was placed temporarily under the care of South Australia, but it was not until 1911 that this responsibility was legalised. It would be seen that there was a considerable lag before the Commonwealth took responsibility for this territory, which really included Central Australia. Meanwhile the Presbyterian church had begun to study the question of this No Man’s Land of the northern coast and Central Australia, loosely attached to South Australia but never so joined as far as the church was concerned.

In 1912 a group in the church began a move to obtain a report on the territory, and Mr Flynn, then stationed in South Australia, was asked to undertake the work. With the report asked for, he submitted a supplementary one

urging that the whole of the “lonely” country in Australia be treated as a unit. This sparsely inhabited area comprised two-thirds of the area of Australia. The consent of the States followed, and as a result the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church authorised the Home Missions Board to proceed to open up the territory for church work. By the following year most of it was covered, and other portions were subsequently added. Thus the political situation created the interest w’hich paved the way for the church. Misled by Optimism. However, a certain measure of unjustified optimism misled the church, said Mr Flynn. While it was apparent that most of the country must remain lonely, the church was not prepared for the arrested development of many of the little townships, which it was hoped would act as suitable centres. Further, the Great War disorganised the work, drawing away most of the enterprisingpeople whose help was necessary. As an outcome the church decided to concentrate on the scattered population, covering an area of 2,000,000 square miles, and referred to after New Testament usage as “The Dispersed.” “It is to deal with this difficult situation that the Australian Inland Mission has slowly evolved,” said Mr Flynn.

“From the church point of view the patrolling ministers form the most conspicuous feature of the work. They have their homes not in the isolated areas where their work mostly lies, but in the capitals. They oscillate between the cities and some of the most isolated country in existence. They travel from their bases to fields more than 1000 miles distant, in one case 2000 miles. The fact that his home is in one of the strongest centres of the church enables each minister lo gather around him what may be termed a bodyguard of people. Many are senior ministers, ordained men of consider-

able experience. But they have no pulpit. • Assistance to Government. “Another valuable factor is the opportunity they have of assisting to bring about an understanding between their parishioners and the various Government departments. They know the territory, and their views are unbiased and not dictated by personal gain. The mission endeavours, indeed, to give the facts without opinions. A survey of conditions in these territories is shortly to be published by us. “There are no organised outposts, with men in charge,” said Mr Flynn in reply to a question, “except in a few places where the mission may have a man in residence. The stations, themselves self-contained communities, buy their stores from the metropolis and go there for their holidays. But mostly they cannot afford holidays. In one area in Western Australia, larger than the South Island of New Zealand, there is not a single school, although- there are hundreds of children scattered over the area. They are educated by correspondence. Transport is mostly by motor, but here and there camel trains are still used. Many districts are trying out Diesel trucks... In Central Australia the Government is testing the use of a Diesel road train with an engine, of the type used in London buses, and two trailers.” The Flying Doctor Coming to the medical side of the work and the flying doctor scheme. Mr Flynn said the first move in this direction was the establishment of a dozen nursing homes, some in the most isolated parts. These had become a big feature of the mission’s work, and a few had developed into public hospitals. There was no Government assistance. The Presbyterian Church, with the co-operation of the people benefited, bore the entire liability. After three years’ experimenting, a short-

wave radio transmitter was produced capable of sending messages several hundreds of miles, and now, after steady development, the isolated homesteads and aboriginal mission stations are able to keep in touch with a control station up to 800 miles distant. However, the aerial medical service did not wait for this development, but experiments began with the establishment of a station as headquarters for a single plane under contract with Qantas Airways, with a pilot and a doctor. On the basis of its success, there had developed the continuous, cooperative movement of the present day, conducted by an incorporated patriotic society, non-profit-making. “In Queensland the Australian Inland Mission is still acting as the management. along with the Australian Medical Service.” explained Mr Flynn. "For the other States there is incorported a Federal council, which deals with the Federal Government and with certain of our citizens who refuse to look at things from a State point of view and demand the privilege of giving directly to the co-operative body. County councils have co-operated throughout.” One thing insisted on so far was that the doctor should not fly the plane. Mr Flynn said. That was the job of the pilot, who was accompanied by a mechanic. Not only would it be too much responsibility for the doctor to fly the plane himself, but it would have a detrimental effect on his work.