The base moved from Cloncurry to Mount Isa in 1964, a time described by many of the guests at the celebration as a completely different landscape to the conditions doctors and nurses of the service operate in now. 

RFDS patron and Queensland Governor Penelope Wensley congratulated the service on reaching its half-century milestone and officially unveiled the plaque with RFDS chairman Bill Mellor.  

“Behind the very impressive statistics on emergency cases responded to, and the 700,000 kilometres flown in a year, which would get us to the moon and back, there lie the calm, cool, expert, compassionate RFDS professionals dealing with situations that are often distressing and traumatic for those involved,” she said during her speech.

“We celebrate today the fulfilment of John Flynn’s vision of that ‘mantle of safety’ in the enormous area covered by RFDS Mount Isa.”

RFDS senior medical officer Don Bowley told the gathering how he’d discovered his own affinity with the people in the North West during his 20 years of service. The stories he shared from RFDS’s early pioneers, and some jewels of his own, were filled with humour and peppered with a few sombre moments where his emotions showed the effect that working in Outback Australia with the RFDS had had on him.

Tracey and Ian Foreshore, Rod and Michelle Low Mow and a representative from Marker’s Aviation were presented with awards by Ms Wensley for their tireless work supporting the service and maintaining the aircraft. 

The day wasn’t just about revelling in the good old days though. 

Mr Mellor and Dr Bowley agreed there was a continued need for the service to strive to improve community health outcomes, indigenous health and the North West’s life expectancy during the next 50 years of operation in Mount Isa.