Annette Allison - Royal Doctor Flying Service

As mentioned by President Gordon guest speaker Annette Allison gave a short but highly comprehensive description of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.    Most in the audience were taken back by the revelation of the size and operational extent of the service today. 

Annette had us absorbed in her presentation with an endless list of statistics highlighting its growth from its first day of a flight from Cloncurry to Julia Creek in May 1928 to the present day--now its annual budget is $250M and involves 61 aircraft and an average of 763 patients per day.   Its coverage for example  is characterised by the fact that WA has 450 rated air strips from which the RFDS can fly.

We were reminded of three critical characters, its founder the conservative Rev John Flynn and of his desire to create a "Mantle of Safety", the young pilot Clifford Peel (who died in WW1) who suggested aircraft in the first instance to Flynn and then Alfred Traeger who in 1928 developed the pedal radio which became so linked with the Royal Flying Doctor Service story.

To complement the presentation, our regular auctioneer (Simon ) sold some related ties for the benefit of the RFDS.

A wonderful story , thank you Annette.