John Flynn (minister)
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John Flynn OBE |
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John Flynn, 1929
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| Born |
John Flynn 25 November 1880 Moliagul, Colony of Victoria, Australia |
| Died | 5 May 1951 (aged 70) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Cause of death | Cancer |
| Occupation | Minister, author, founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia |
| Organization | The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia |
| Spouse(s) | Jean Baird |
John Flynn OBE (25 November 1880 – 5 May 1951) was an Australian Presbyterian minister who founded what became the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the world's first air ambulance.
Educated at Snake Valley, Sunshine and Braybrook primary schools, he matriculated from University High School Parkville, aged 18. Unable to finance a university course, he became a pupil-teacher with the Victorian Education Department and developed interests in photography and first aid. In 1903 he began training for the ministry through an extra-mural course for 'student lay pastors', serving meanwhile in pioneering districts of Beech Forest and Buchan. His next four years in theological college were interspersed with two periods on a shearers' mission and the publication of his Bushman's Companion (1910).
Always thinking of the needs of those in isolated communities, in September 1910 Flynn published The Bushman's Companion which was distributed free throughout inland Australia. He took up the opportunity to succeed E. E. Baldwin as the Smith of Dunesk Missioner at Beltana, a tiny settlement 500 kilometres north of Adelaide. He was ordained in Adelaide for this work in January 1911. The missioners visited the station properties in a wide radius of Beltana, and their practical and spiritual service was valued in the isolated localities. Flynn used it as an opportunity to look at the potential for something bigger. By 1912, after writing a report for his church superiors on the difficulties of ministering to such a widely scattered population, Flynn was made the first superintendent of the Australian Inland Mission. As well as tending to spiritual matters, Flynn quickly established the need for medical care for residents of the vast Australian outback, and established a number of bush hospitals.
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