History
The Royal Flying Doctor Service has a rich and vibrant Australian history.
Before there was the Flying Doctor there was little medical help for people who lived in places far from cities. If they were seriously injured they had to travel hundreds of kilometres by horse, cart, or camel to reach a doctor. They often died before they got there.
RFDS Founder - Reverend John Flynn
Reverend John Flynn witnessed the daily struggle of pioneers living in remote areas and had a vision to provide a 'mantle of safety' for the people of the bush.
He once said "If you start something worthwhile - nothing can stop it" and this simple truth is evidenced by the RFDS today, over 90 years on.
John Flynn Biography
Seeds for Flynn's flying doctor sown 100 years ago
Kimberley stockman Jimmy Darcy suffered massive internal injuries on 29 July 1917 when his horse fell in a cattle stampede. His death attracted national headlines and proved the impetus for Reverend John Flynn's vision for an outback aeromedical service. Read his story
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Lieutenant Clifford Peel – Providing a Blueprint for the RFDS
In 1917, Flynn received an inspirational letter from Lieutenant Clifford Peel, a Victorian medical student with an interest in aviation. The young airman and war hero suggested the use of aviation to bring medical help to the Outback. Shot down in France, he died at just 24 years of age and never kn
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Alfred Traeger - Pedal Radio
The Flying Doctor Service lacked the communication technology to deliver services efficiently. Alfred Traeger helped to hurdle this barrier with the invention of a pedal-operated generator to power a radio receiver. By 1929 people living in isolation were able to call on the Flying Doctor to assist them in an emergency.
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An Aerial Experiment
On 15 May 1928, Flynn's dream became a reality when a long time supporter, H.V. McKay, left a large bequest for 'an aerial experiment'. This enabled Flynn to open the Australian Inland Mission Aerial Medical Service (later to be the RFDS). At this time, Flynn also met Hudson Fysh, a founder of QANTAS. In 1927, QANTAS and the Aerial Medical Service signed an agreement to operate an aerial ambulance from Cloncurry, Queensland.
The Sugar Bird Lady
Robin Miller fit a lot into her short life. A flight nurse and a pioneering aviator, she combined her passion for caring for the children of the bush with her love of flight. To her patients throughout the Kimberley and Pilbara, Robin became the 'Sugar Bird Lady' - a name that stuck throughout her life.
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Adelaide Miethke and the School of the Air
While travelling to Alice Springs, Adelaide noticed the shyness of outback children. The idea of ‘bridging the lonely distance” seized her mind. She devised the idea of using the Flying Doctors two-way radio to give education talks to children in outback Australia.
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New Sections & Expanding Reach
The growth of the RFDS in those early days was rapid and soon reached right across our vast continent. By the late 1930's there were Sections of the RFDS operating in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Northern Territory and of course Queensland.
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Logo
Since 1928, the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia has transformed its logo eight times to reflect the changing nature of the Service and to modernise its look. The logo used today represents a refinement of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia's symbol as it has evolved over the last ninety years.
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Our Fleet
From the 1960s the RFDS moved away from using aircraft contractors to instead progressively purchasing our own aircraft and employing our own pilots and engineers. Today, we own a fleet of 79 fully instrumented aircraft and operate from 23 bases across Australia.
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Twenty Dollar Note
In 1994 the Australian Council Office collaborated with the Reserve Bank of Australia on the design of the Australian twenty dollar note, to feature the face of the Reverend John Flynn. In 2019, the Reserve Bank has released a new twenty dollar note, once again featuring the origins of the Flying Doctor.
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“I have heard so much of the work of the Flying Doctor Service and the security and comfort it brings to every part of the outback. I express my admiration to all those, past and present, who have contributed to its splendid work.”
Queen Elizabeth II, 1954, speaking at the RFDS base in Broken Hill, NSW
Pictured here is Queen Elizabeth II, speaking at the RFDS base during her visit to Broken Hill, NSW.
Whilst at theBase, the Queen chatted over the wireless with a young mother, Mrs Mitchell, from Muloorina, on Lake Eyre.
Mrs Mitchell told the Queen,"I am speaking from a wireless transceiver 300 miles from Your Majesty at Broken Hill. We have one child. My family is very isolated, our nearest settlement is 35 miles away."
The Broken Hill RFDS museum still has the 1950s chair the Queen sat on when she made her broadcast to the world. The chair features gold embossing of her initials.
In the 1950s the RFDS was acknowledged by former Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies as "perhaps the single greatest contribution to the effective settlement of the far distant country that we have witnessed in our time"
RFDS Women in History
We are proud of the remarkable, pioneering women that have contributed deeply to the RFDS throughout its history and at present. Here we feature some of the amazing women that are part of the early history of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
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