Vision and care emerge from the red dust
Updated
John Flynn dug a hole in the red, sandy soil of outback South Australia in 1911 and planted a palm tree.
That small act marked the Inland Mission taking control of a nursing home at Oodnadatta, a speck of a town created as the terminus of the Great Northern Railway.
The overland telegraph had already been wired through the region, connecting the continent between north and south.
In the next decade the rail line would be extended to Alice Springs for the Ghan.
Oodnadatta, on the edge of the Simpson Desert, was home to Indigenous families, Afghan cameleers and railway workers.
Reverend Flynn had started the Inland Mission to provide a mantle of safety over the outback and so the modest nursing home in the town became a vital medical service for the people there and on the remote surrounding cattle stations.
The small rooms were used to deliver babies, perform minor operations and offer convalescence for patients.
A corrugated iron verandah was built to provide some protection for visitors against brutal summers.
The sparse rainfall allowed only the hardiest of plants to grow in such an environment but the palm tree thrived, providing a small exotic view in a red moonscape.
As it grew, so did the Inland Mission. In 1928 it became the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), with aircraft now able to fly emergency medical aid to the most remote parts of the country.
A compact red earth airstrip was made at Oodnadatta for planes to land and take off.
The strip was used by the Army and Air Force during the Second World War as the outback town became a service centre for troop trains and aircraft heading north.
This was a high-water mark for town's population. People later drifted away and in 1981 the Ghan line was shifted and the railway workers left.
The road to Oodnadatta was sealed and became a staging post for tourists in four-wheel drives wanting to explore the dunes of the Simpson Desert.
The clinic remained, with its signature palm tree, and provided health services and access to the Flying Doctor in emergencies.
The building was showing its age, with the floorboards warping and modern equipment struggling to be incorporated into areas that had been exposed to 100 summers of extreme temperatures.
New era
In 2011, the ribbon was cut for a new clinic built by SA Health, with purpose-built consultation rooms, dental facilities and an emergency room.
Marilyn Ah Chee from the Dunjiba Community Council oversees the clinic as it provides health services to people in a 200-kilometre radius.
There is a doctor's day every fortnight and regular visits by specialists, such as podiatrists. A move toward primary health care in medicine has been adopted by the RFDS, which now provides regular screenings, health checks and advice.
Last year the RFDS provided 8,000 emergency evacuations and transfers in South Australia and the Northern Territory, but it was only part of the 45,000 interactions with patients over that time, most of those in regular clinics.
One such program at Oodnadatta, Marree and Marla uses final-year dental students from the University of Adelaide to provide free check-ups and basic work.
The RFDS provides the flights, the clinic offers facilities, the BUPA Health Foundation covers extra costs and the University oversees the students.
Preliminary results show the quarterly visits are improving the quality of oral health, particularly for children.
While Oodnadatta is not a place any of the student dentists has been before, many report being fascinated with the work to the point they would consider working in a regional or remote town in the future.
"There is a crisis in Australia getting people to work in rural and remote locations," Professor Lindsay Richards from the University School of Dentistry said.
"This empowers the students to know that you don't have to work in high street in the big cities, you can go somewhere remote and enjoy the life and the people in the community and practise dentistry."
The new clinic at Oodnadatta sits next to the old Inland Mission nursing home. The palm tree John Flynn planted died almost at the time the switch was made to the new facility. It remains as something of an historic marker and testament to endurance and compassion in a hostile but exotic part of the nation.
- Mike Sexton will have a further report this Friday on 730SA on ABC1
Topics: doctors-and-medical-professionals, medical-history, healthcare-facilities, health-policy, dental, health, university-and-further-education, indigenous-policy, government-and-politics, history, community-and-society, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, human-interest, oodnadatta-5734, sa, adelaide-university-5005, adelaide-5000, port-augusta-5700, port-lincoln-5606, port-pirie-5540, australia, nt
First posted
Watch Mitt Romney's address to supporters following his defeat in the US presidential election.
The ABC's election analyst Antony Green calls the 2012 presidential election for Barack Obama.
US president Barack Obama thanks Democrat supporters in Chicago and congratulates Mitt Romney on a spirited campaign.
Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney has thanked his supporters in Ohio, saying "it is a big day for big change".
