“WE ARE not of them who turn back. The secret of life is to overcome failure.”

Those are the words of John Flynn, a gentle man of God who nevertheless had an incredible drive to accomplish one of the miracles of the outback - the Flying Doctor Service.

Flynn’s belief was simple: “If you start an idea, nothing can stop it.” His idea was to find a way to overcome the vast distances of inland Australia to provide people with medical assistance. The only way to do that, he believed, was to give wings to doctors. And thus the Royal Flying Doctor Service had its beginning. At the time, the aeroplane was still a sideshow wonder and wireless communication of the kind needed hadn’t even been invented.

Marvel at the inspiring story of John Flynn and the other pioneers of the RFDS by visiting the John Flynn Place Museum and Art Gallery. The cool air-conditioned interior of this unique outback building with its curving roofline pays tribute to the amazing accomplishments of some of Australian history’s greats. Even if you already know the background of the RFDS, the centre gives you an opportunity to realise all over again that even today, it would be almost impossible to duplicate the feat that was accomplished more than 70 years ago.

His dream was realised in 1928 when the “Victory”, a single-engined DH50 aircraft, took off with a doctor on board for its first mission.

A wonderful surprise in store for people who tour through the John Flynn Place is the museum’s very own “Victory”.

The complete scale model aircraft is exactly one-third the size of the original. The model, built by international airline company Qantas engineer Ross Woodcock and valued around $60,000, was donated by Qantas to the John Flynn Place as a fitting tribute to the beginnings of the marvellous Flying Doctor Service. Qantas was the company which built the first flying doctor aircraft in Longreach during the late 1920s.

The John Flynn Place is a tribute to all who worked to create a “mantle of safety” over the inland with the Flying Doctor Service.

The complex, in Daintree Street, is open from 8.00am to 4.30pm during weekdays. From May to the end of October, it is also open on weekends from 9.00am to 3.00pm. (It is closed in December and January.)

The centre is also opened on request for organised tours outside those hours.

People can buy souvenirs as mementoes of their visit, including a video on the John Flynn Place. There is an admission charge.

The John Flynn Place features some of the equipment used in the early days of the service, set into realistic displays. It includes the pedal generator, part of the transceiver equipment which was very important to the early progression of the service.

One of the pieces of historical memorabilia is the first Traegar Pedal Wireless. There are old letters written by John Flynn to his father, and these letters give an insight into the personal thoughts of this quiet, sensitive man.

The complex also comprises the Fred McKay Art Gallery, Alfred ­Traegar Cultural Centre, the Allan Vickers Outdoor Theatre and the Cloncurry Gardens.

In an enclosed area at the front of the centre you’ll also find a 1924 Dodge, the same model as the car used by Rev. Flynn when he travelled the inland promoting the pedal radio and the doctor with wings. The vehicle was donated to the John Flynn Place by Edwin Gerns Hams and Smallgoods and was restored in 2001 by Eric McGregor and members of the Sunshine Coast Vintage Car Club in conjunction with the Cloncurry Shire Council and with help from Mark Fennell of Mount Isa and Peter Bartlett of Eudlo. It was handed over at the official opening of the refurbishment of John Flynn Place during the Centenary of Federation Celebrations.

The Centenary of Federation funded project has made it possible to present an extended history of both the work of John Flynn and the many pioneers who followed in his footsteps. The interior refurbishment includes carpets designed to depict the view of the landscape from an aircraft and updated video and audio displays.

At the time when Flynn had his vision for a “mantle of safety” across the outback, he was already doing a great deal for the people of the inland, for he was the organising agent and superintendent of a special home mission area which became the Australian Inland Mission (AIM).

The mission helped people overcome much of the fear, loneliness and suffering in the outback, but it could not provide medical service during emergencies.

W. Scott McPheat, in his book, “Apostle of the Inland”, explains that while resident doctors could never have been supported by the scanty population of the inland, Flynn envisaged that a “flying doctor” could work from an inland base, sweeping over flood waters and deserts with equal ease, landing when necessary to take patients to the base hospital. For this to work, a new form of communication had to be brought to the inland.

Although Flynn’s vision for a “baby” transmitting and receiving set was greeted with scepticism in many circles, valuable allies in his quest were H.V. McKay, the founder and principal of the Sunshine Harvest Company in Melbourne, and Lieutenant Hudson Fysh DFC, who was a founder of the pioneer airline company Qantas.

In following years, Flynn was awarded an OBE and an honorary doctorate of divinity was conferred on him by the McGill University in Montreal.

But it is most likely that his greatest sense of reward came from the achievement of a mantle of safety across the vast inland area of Australia.

Even today, the RFDS is considered a phenomenal organisation that few countries in the world could hope to match.

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