First stop was the Distance Learning Centre. This amazing service delivers schooling to children in remote areas who cannot commute to school. Surprisingly, parents living in urban areas who choose not to send their children to school also use it. We watched a teacher at work with a Year 1 class. It takes a special skill to interact with children through a web conference.
Next stop was the Royal Flying Doctor Service exhibition. On the way we encountered a horse running free down the centre of the street.
It felt quite emotional to see the work and the passion of the doctors, nurses and air crew along with the gratefulness of those being treated. It was staggering to see Rev John Flynn’s vision in practise; an emergency health service for people living remotely that is free at the point of consumption. Equally impressive was Alf Traeger’s ingenuity in providing radio communications with the pedal powered radio emitting only 1 watt in signal power. The low power meant that the senders on the remote stations could only transmit Morse code. The base station transmitting with 200 watts could send back clear voice messages. Traeger devised a Morse typewriter so remote station hands did not have to become proficient in Morse code. The remote station sent a Morse code message which the base station read back in clear and the station simply confirmed. We hope the RFDS is able to continue such a wonderful service for some time to come.
After lunch we followed the Charleville Outback Native Timber Walk in Graham Andews Parkland. The track takes in 18 Australian trees giving information about their use by indigenous Australians and the European settlers. It was a great concept but sadly marred by vandalism. At one BBQ point an old Crown wood burning stove with three ovens had been systematically trashed. One or two of the plaques about the trees had been removed. There was also a considerable number of drink cartons and fast food wrappers.
Next we visited the Historical House Museum
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