Royal Flying Doctor Service

Beech King Airs equipped as ambulances. One is always on standby.

We are still in Broken Hill, stopping over on our cross country train ride aboard the Indian Pacific. That chilly Sunday morning the good people who run the Flying Doctor's Service were good enough to get out their warm houses and give a lecture and tour of this famous Australian institution. RFD's story is unique to Australia. Started by Rev. John Flynn of Queensland, in 1928, to bring emergency medical service to remote outback areas where there were only two doctors in over 2 million square miles. The operation we visited in Broken Hill dates back to 1938 and is entirely voluntary. It is free to patients with revenue coming entirely from donations. Today RFDs cover about 80% of Australia and treat about 160,000 people a year, conducting 17,000 evacuations from 16 bases.

The first RFD was organized in the Queensland town of Cloncurry, where there was a pioneer airline called the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service., Quantas. Yes, that is the origin of Quantas Airlines. Not even many Australians know that. Gee whiz!

Overnight to Broken Hill

A deserted Broken Hill on a cold mid-winter Sunday morning

Taking the second seating at breakfast we were in no hurry to leave the train. We had arrived at Broken Hill about 7:30 in Sunday morning, and the town was very quiet. Broken Hill had been a gold mining town for 120 years, and the story goes that more gold has been taken out of that operation during that time than anywhere else in Australia. It is estimated that from the 1880s to the 1950s about a billion dollars in gold came from the mines every year. That is BIG money. The mines are still a private company so the books are not publically available. If you have heard of the British mining company BHP, the largest in the world today, it got its start as Broken Hill Properties and has made many a Brit rich. Unfortunately, being Sunday, and a nippy one at that high on the plains in mid-winter, there was not much going on. Despite the wild west feeling, the town was deserted.

Gold Kangaroo Dining Car

What the romance of the rails was all about.

We left the station around 3:30pm and after getting settled into our compartment, where Elysee informing me I had the upper berth, we made our way to the lounge car for pre-dinner drinks and to meet some of our fellow travelers. It was already lively, as you do not have to wait long for Australians to create a holiday spirit.The dining car was terrific. A throw back to an era long gone, and the food and service were all one could expect. Lots of wine, too.After dinner back to the lounge car we met a New Zealander on his way to Perth, Bob Dansey. It was not long before we were invited to stay with him when we got to New Zealand, and sure enough, some months later that happened.Regarding sleeping on trains. For me, the romance quickly faded. Its like sleeping in a giant cocktail shaker, and every once in a while you get poured out. The allusion to imbibing isn't accidental. A solution to sleeping well on trains is to to be amply "fortified" before turning in.

(Much of the above is from my book Our Summer in Australia and New Zealand which you can read on my web site links at www.marshallpublications.com)

Train Across Australia

E Elysee invites you to board. The Wedge Eagle is the train's
Mascot with a wingspan of nine feet
Very comfortable compartments

One of the advantages of staying for an extended time (in Australia we stayed for three months) is the ability to plan any excursions to meet your schedule, and design an itinerary to suit your interests. We planned and took a twelve-day journey across the continent from Sydney to Perth and back, with many stops along the way. I'm going to begin with our embarkation from the Sydney train station aboard the Indian Pacific. That train makes the three night, 2700 mile journey, stopping along the way at Adelaide, and crossing the 160,00 square mile Nullabor Plain, one of the most desolate places on earth. But I'm getting ahead of myself. We were ticketed for Gold Kangaroo service, a first class ride with sleeping compartments, a wonderful period dining car and a private lounge car with a full service bar and a smoking room for those who still do. All A'board. Come along with Elysee and I, and ask any questions you may have.

(There is more on my website http://www.marshallpublications.com/)

Shearing Sheep in Australia

My Bushlady wife Elysee getting ready to shear

Before and after

While staying at the Avalanche Homestead we learned the art of shearing the sheep, of which Frank Biddle has about 1500. A fellow named Jacky Howe, in 1892, hand sheared 321 sheep in 7 hours and forty minutes, a record. That's one sheep every 1.4 minutes. He must have had forearms like Popeye! Not a man to arm wrestle with! I would like to know if that record still stands for manual shearing.

Visit To The Blue Mountains-Part Three

F Family cabin built in 1887
Oberon, NSW train station now a museum

As I said, we took the long way,stopping at Oberon, and we were thankful for our decision. Oberon taught us a lot about Australian development. Mrs Laurie McMahon, a descendant of pioneers, runs the museum which is dedicated to life in Oberon in yesteryear's. Winter comes with a vengeance to Oberon, at 2000 feet above sea level and exposed to open plains. We were treated to a tour and viewed collected artifacts from the rough days of early settlement, through the advent of the railroad, radio days and up up present times. The farm cabin was in use for almost 100 years and is the real ting. No heat, no plumbing, no electricity even up to the end. It is decked out almost as though you had stopped by at the turn of the century. The railroad doesn't go anywhere. It was built in the early 20s to bring out copper from a local mine. Just as it was completed the copper ran out. And there is an 18 hole golf course that has a unique was of keeping the grass trimmed. Grazing kangaroos. No kidding.

I know this is really out of the way for most tourists, but for the adventurous, give it a try. Or read about it in my book, Our Summer in Australia and New Zealand.

VISIT TO THE BLUE MOUNTAINS-PART TWO

Reading room. HYDRO MAJESTIC HOTEL

Near Katoomba, we found the Hydro Majestic Hotel, a massive resort built by Mark Foy in 1904. This is where prosperous Australians "summered" as was popular during that Golden Era. It had a casino, hugh ballroom, pool room, tea rooms for the ladies. therapeutic baths, and looking across the reading room the glass enclosed men's cigar room. There were cottages across the rail line for maids, chauffeurs, valets and governesses...a place they called Siberia.
During WWII it was converted to a convalescent hospital for American serviceman injured in the battle of the Coral Sea. You must stop by and take a walk through, and time permitting some lunch on the terrace overlooking the mountains.
Leaving the Majestic, rather than take to main road to our overnight destination, we drove a circuitous route of 40 miles through open country to Oberon, not something the average traveler would do. We were glad we did. There is more in my book Our Summer in Australia and New Zealand.