Royal Far West Children's Health Scheme
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| Motto | Caring for Country Kids |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1924 |
| Founder | Reverend Stanley Drummond |
| Type | Charitable organisation |
| Headquarters | Drummond House, Manly, Australia |
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Chairman
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G Richard Barron |
| Website | http://www.royalfarwest.org.au/ |
The Royal Far West Children's Health Scheme also known as Royal Far West is an Australian not for profit charity based in Manly, New South Wales that provides specialist medical care and allied health support services for children from remote areas of the state. It was founded in 1924 by Methodist missionary Reverend Stanley Drummond in Cobar. Royal Far West provides children and their families with beachside accommodation, schooling as well as educational and recreational excursions across Manly and Sydney while receiving free medical treatment. The patron of Royal Far West is Governor of New South Wales, Professor Marie Bashir.
The first Royal Far West camp was organised in 1925, taking fifty-eight children and six mothers to Cronulla. The children came from towns including Bourke, Brewarrina and Wilcannia. The following year the camp was held at Manly for the first time In Manly, operator of a local cottage hospital Dr George Moncrieff Barron volunteered his services free of charge and would continue to do so until his death. Land would later be purchased in Wentworth street allowing the Drummond Far West Children's Home to be built. The original facility provided 80 beds.
An idea conceived by a doctor from the remote town of Trangie was adopted by Far West in 1931 which saw it operating mobile baby clinics staffed by nurses out of converted railway carriages along railway lines in the west of the state. By 1954, four carriages had been converted and were the only of their type in the world. The Far West Scheme also developed an aerial transport service in the 1930s and successfully lobbied the New South Wales Government to pay for the construction of airstrips to allow better access to communities. Stanley Drummond met Nancy Bird Walton in 1935 and soon hired her to provide the air ambulance service on behalf of the scheme. Walton used her own aircraft, and later was appointed Officer Order of the British Empire in honour of her dedication to this service in 1966.
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