From Charlie's Trousers

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We left Mt. Isa and drove through very boring country to Cloncurry. We stopped at the John Flynn Memorial Centre there to view an excellent display on Dr. Flynn's work - his starting the Australian Inland Mission, which became the Royal Flying Doctor Service, begun in Cloncurry in 1928. He was a man of great vision. The network depended largely on a pedal-powered radio invented by Alfred Traeger which helped open up the outback in that people on lonely stations (ranches) could transmit and receive the doctor's information.

Tregear and Reverend John Flynn, discussed other services that could be made possible using the radio. Adelaide Miethke, an Adelaide schoolteacher, made the proposal for a School of the Air to be set up through the radio network and in 1950 the first lesson was broadcast. By 1956 the program had spread to New South Wales and there are now 12 Schools of the Air around Australia.

There were so many wonderful things on display, the books written by Flynn, transmitters through the years, the medicine chests owned by each station where every medicine is numbered so the doctor can advise what 'number' medicine to take. We were there a long time!

We drove on to Julia Creek where we spent the night - 35C degrees when we arrived in the afternoon - thank heavens for air conditioning and powered sites! Today's drive was even more boring than yesterday's - flat brown country that went on and on. We did stop at the town of Richmond and went through a very good dinosaur centre. Richmond, Winton and Hughendon form the dinosaur triangle where many fossilised bones and shells from 110 million years ago have been found as well as dinosaur and other animal footprints just out from Winton.

This was an excellent display and it's amazing how many skeletons of, er, long-named animals have been found - weird and wonderful, including a type of turtle shell and head and big nautilus type shells. There is a similar centre at Hughendon with even more 'old bones' but we'd done the Winton centre when we were there last and were pretty well dinosaured, kronosaured and every other 'saured' out!

We were beside ourselves when the countryside changed to hills and tall trees and finally we were in Charters Towers (called Charlie's Trousers by locals). So this is where we spend the night and tomorrow it will be on to Townsville and the ocean! Hallellujah!

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Photos

The chart
There were back and front views where parts were numbered and patients could tell the Dr. over the radio which part hurt. A similar chart is still used today.

A ...... osaurus
Evolving to the crocodile?