Australian
Screen

Clip description

This clip presents a brief summary of the achievements and services delivered by the Australian Inland Mission through a montage of images and explanatory narration. It uses a man on a camel in the outback as the key image which dissolves into a series of scenes illustrating the work of AIM including: two AIM nurses, some of the AIM hostels in remote areas, a plane flying through the air, a pedal transmitter and radio telephone. The last part of the clip cuts to present day and the Reverend ‘Skipper’ Partridge. The Reverend is shown loading the last of his things onto his ute and heading out from Broken Hill as he prepares for his mission patrol to continue delivering a ‘mantle of safety’ to the remote communities that the AIM have serviced for decades.

Curator’s notes

In 1912, young Presbyterian missionary Reverend John Flynn made his first patrol in central and northern Australia where he identified the need for adequate medical facilities. Flynn’s vision was to overcome the tyranny of distance and connect the people of the outback with services and support. This clip establishes the historical link between the Reverend John Flynn, the Australian Inland Mission and the Reverend ‘Skipper’ Partridge’s continuing work to service the people of remote Australia. The narration places Flynn with the likes of the biblical Abraham who had gone out ‘not knowing wither they went’. The opening minutes of the film make further parallels by including historical examples of Charles Sturt in 1845, the doomed Burke and Wills expedition 15 years later and the gold prospectors who searched for gold in the 1880s. This situates Flynn, and later the current AIM mission patroller ‘Skipper’ Partridge, in a long tradition of men who have ventured with purpose into Australia’s interior. Flynn did this by establishing a medical air service (which became the Royal Flying Doctor Service) and pioneering the use of wireless telecommunications in the outback.