
Loui
Seselja (b. 1948)
Ambulance Officers from the Queensland Ambulance Service Assist a Patient Transferred from Lockhart River on the Royal Flying Doctor Service
of Australia's Beechcraft King Air 200, VH-FDF, Cairns Airport, Cairns, Queensland, 16 June 2005
colour print from digital file, printed 2007
nla.int-nl39475d-ls438
ON, AND IN, THE AIR
In our efforts to conquer distance, we have also taken to the skies—via various forms of aircraft, and via communications sent over the airwaves.
The Overland Telegraph Line, completed in 1872 and spanning the continent from south to north, brought the nation into immediate contact with the rest of the world. It reduced from three months to less than a day the time it took for news to travel between Australia and overseas.
The invention of the pedal wireless revolutionised life in the outback, enabling those on remote properties to obtain lifesaving medical help in an emergency. Later, the wireless supported the School of the Air, giving a voice to the written correspondence lessons that until then had been the only means of bringing isolated children their schooling.
Telephones and digital technology today are an integral part of our communication, replacing the earlier telegraph messages and radio traffic.
The founders of the airline we now know as Qantas saw the early potential for air transport in Australia, reducing isolation. Air transport also enabled the establishment of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Aircraft are now an essential part of outback life.
Australians are a practical and inventive people. We seek solutions to problems posed by distance and terrain, a national characteristic possibly reflected in our enthusiastic adoption of services like mobile phones and air transport.