Today (Thursday, September 19) the Australian War Memorial is honouring the legacy of a far-sighted young airman and war hero whose vision played a great part in the inspiration and design of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
At 4.55pm the Australian War Memorial Facebook page will go live with its daily last post, today honouring Lieutenant (John) Clifford Peel.
In 1917 Lt Peel wrote an inspirational letter to Reverend John Flynn, founder of the RFDS, to suggest the use of aviation to bring medical help to the Outback.
Sadly Lt Peel's RE8 aircraft disappeared when he was shot down during a patrol in France on September 19, 1918 - two months before the end of the First World War.
He died at just 24 years of age, never to know his detailed letter to Flynn became a blueprint for the creation of Flynn's 'Flying Doctor' scheme.
His vision led to the establishment of an Australian institution that has been providing emergency aeromedical and primary health care services to outback communities for 90 years.
Lt Peel was a Victorian medical student before the war and was a keen reader of Reverend John Flynn's "Northern Territory and Central Australia - a Call to the Church".
According to Peel's family, it set him thinking about the logistics of how Flynn would be able to provide help to people in need who were widely dispersed throughout Australia.
When the Australian Imperial Forces was searching for candidates for their newly-formed Australian Flying Corps in 1917, Peel volunteered and was selected for flying training at the central Flying School in Laverton, Victoria.
While at Laverton, the union of aviation and healthcare occurred in Peel's mind.
He sent a letter to Flynn, suggesting the new invention of aeroplanes could carry healthcare to wide-spread areas of the Australian Outback.
Flynn wrote back with great interest, sparking a famous and detailed letter from Lt Peel, sent on the 20 November 1917, while on board HMAT Nestor, bound for the United Kingdom.
Lt Peel outlined the costs and advantages of running aeroplanes compared with the costs and disadvantages of travel on the ground.
Had he lived, there is no doubt he would have returned from the war to help Flynn build the Flying Doctor Service he had clearly foreseen.
However Lt Peel had succeeded in conveying his brilliant idea to Flynn and for the next 10 years, Flynn campaigned for an aerial medical service.
Cloncurry's John Flynn Place museum honours Lt Peel with a display including a copy of his famous letter.
READ ALSO: Tourism grants for 15 Outback festivals
While you are here subscribe to our weekly email to your inbox at 6am every Friday
Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
