Outback

Press, Volume C, Issue 29518, 20 May 1961, Page 3

Outback

Innamineka. By Elizabeth Burchill. 173 pp. Hodder and Stoughton. Flying Doctor. By Michael Noonan. 192 pp. Hodder I and Stanchion. These two books, one an autobiography, the other a novel, tell the simple but ; thrilling story of what is probably the most resourceful and imaginative medical in the world. Between them they cover nearly three decades, and whereas Sister Burchill reflates her personal experiences as a nurse in the Australian Inland Mission, circa 1930. and foreshadows the 'stepping-up of that service 'with the increasing help of 'radio and aircraft. Michael ■Noonan has created a fictional but quite plausible situation to illustrate the perils faced by the Flying Doctor as he makes his “rounds” lin the great Australian out- | back today. “Innamineka” was written as a labour of love, so that jthe work of that relatively ■unknown body—the Australian Inland Mission—should |not remain for ever unirecorded. Originally established by the Rev. John : Flynn in 1912, the object of ■ the mission was to bring to 'the sparse population of Central Australia an organised effort to promote their spiritual and physical well,being. The A.I.M. formed a Nursing Sisters’ Association, and in 1929 a hospital—a two■storey concrete building—was 'erected at Innamineka (“your shelter”) in Sturt’s Stony Desert some 400 miles north of Broken Hill, and more than double that distance from Adelaide. Two nursing

sisters at a time were appointed to run it. and in 1932 Sisters Elizabeth Burchill and Ina Currie were to take on this onerous and dedicated duty. The author has a lively pen and her book contains not a single dull page. The journey to Innamincka entailed crossing a 30-mile area of perpetually shifting sands known as the “Cobbler” in a dilapidated mailtruck. and made a fitting start to the life of hardship and endurance ahead. Notwithstanding the discomforts of mercilessly high temperatures combined with a chronic shortage of water the work done was evidence enough of its value, and even in those early days the radioflying doctor link began to be forged. Apart from her experiences as nurse, Sun-day-school teacher and dentist (in which capacity she skilfully wielded forceps when required) Sister Burchill touches on the history of the area, the compulsory closing through drought of once-prosperous sheep and cattle-stations, the death in 1861 of two pioneers, Burke and Wills, who had penetrated far into scorching territory and had perished within reach of safety, and the significance of Innamineka as an old-time trading centre. For many years camels had been the principle means of transport across the deserts of Central Australia and among their patients the Sisters occasionally numbered an Afghan camel driver who still steadily plodded back and forth on trading missions. Social life was somehow carried on by an indomitable people and among the photographs which illustrate the book is one of a bush-wed-ding in which a diminutive 50-year-old bridegroom is seen arm in arm with a twenty - year - old bride weighing about 18 stone. Tragedy and comedy go hand in hand in this exposition of pioneer life in which human courage isj needed to match one of the fiercest climates in the world. The A.I.M. gallantly meets all demands made upon its resources and in an appreciative foreword Mr R. G. Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia, acknowledges Australia’s debt to it.

“Flying Doctor” is a simple but fascinating story illustrating the hazards faced by a medical man with a practice which covers 300,000 square miles. Always in close radio touch with his patients the flying doctor is ready to set forth by air to attend an emergency case. The pilot of his aircraft must have an equally steady nerve, and a great deal of flying skill to boot. This story is built round the antagonism of the dour pilot. Copper Kennedy, for the new young doctor Jeremy James who has been sent to the Flying Doctor Base Station, Mustard creek, as a possible successor to the ageing but popular Dr. Saxon. Jeremy is willing enough to learn all the lessons that will have to be mastered in such a difficult assignment, but has to earn the eventual approval of Copper the hard way. This includes cutting down trees to clear a runway after a forced landing, the destruction of a poisonous snake which had found its way into the aircraft, a journey to a distant township where an armed foreign migrant had run amok,, and a desperately hazardous parachute drop among towering rocks to save a sick boy. The stories which unfold concerning the boy and the migrant are interesting in themselves, but the friendliness of the outback people, the complexities of a school service run by remote control, and the descriptions of a fearsome and wonderful countryside are even more absorbing.

Dr. Herman E. Spivey, vice-president of the University of Tennessee, speaking at a recent conference of deans of Southern graduate schools, made a strong plea for the teaching of clear, uncomplicated English prose. As an example of how professional jargon is making it harder and harder for people to understand each other, he cited the case of a lawyer who asked a witness: "Was there post-war, in your thinking, a degradation in the individual concept of responsibility toward charitable or educational or public welfare contributions?” To which the witness responded: “Do you mean did people give less?”