RFDS Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This cache is in recognition of the great work done by all
members of the RFDS.
History.
The RFDS began as the dream of the Rev John Flynn, a
minister with the Presbyterian Church. He witnessed the daily
struggle of pioneers living in remote areas where just two doctors
provided the only medical care for an area of almost 2 million
square kilometres. Flynn’s vision was to provide a
‘mantle of safety’ for these people and by 1928, his
dream had become a reality with the opening of the Aerial Medical
Service (later renamed the Royal Flying Doctor Service) in
Cloncurry.
Over the next few years, the RFDS began to expand across
the country. In 1936, the NSW Section was opened at Broken
Hill.
By the 1950s, the RFDS was acknowledged by former Prime
Minister Sir Robert Menzies as “perhaps the single greatest
contribution to the effective settlement of the far distant country
that we have witnessed in our time.”
Until the 1960s, the Service rarely owned our own aircraft.
We used contractors to provide aircraft, pilots and servicing. We
progressively began to purchase our own aircraft and employ our own
pilots and engineers.
Today, the RFDS own a fleet of 53 fully instrumented
aircraft with the very latest in navigation technology. They
operate 21 bases across Australia. RFDS pilots annually fly the
equivalent of 25 round trips to the moon and the doctors and flight
nurses are responsible for the care of nearly 270,000 patients! The
RFDS has come a long way from that first flight in 1928 which saw
the Flying Doctor airborne at last.
The Australian $20 note features the Rev John Flynn (1880-1951),
founder of the Aerial Medical Service (which changed its name to
the Flying Doctor Service in 1942 and the Royal Flying Doctor
Service in 1955).
RFDS Port Augusta.
RFDS Central Operations’ state-of-the-art
Communications Centre is located at Port Augusta, and here receive
emergency calls, plan and assign all retrieval flights from
Adelaide, Alice Springs and Port Augusta, whilst providing
after-hours back up for the Broken Hill Base (operated by South
Eastern Section).
The Port Augusta Base serves an area of 840,000 square
kilometers, providing comprehensive health services to people in
the far west and northern regions of South Australia. Services
include 24-hour emergency retrievals and telehealth consultations,
primary healthcare clinics and interhospital transfers.
In addition to the core team of pilots, flight nurses and
doctors, there are Aboriginal Health Coordinators, Community Health
Nurse, Community Mental Health Nurse, together with a Healthy
Living Program Coordinator and Lifestyle Trainers, based in Port
Augusta, enabling them to focus on serving people in isolated
communities.
For more information please check out the website related
to this page.
The cache
The cache was originaly to be a simple multi, but due to
other caches in the area of the intended WP1 it has been made into
a traditional.
Please use extreme stealth at GZ as it can be very busy.
There is no need to go on any garden beds at GZ.
Bonus points for a RFDS take off or landing photo posted with
cache and GPS.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Onfr bs cbyr.