Frank Flynn

Francis Stanislaus Flynn (6 December 1906, Sydney – 29 July 2000) was a Northern Territory-based Australian medical doctor (ophthalmologist), author and missionary priest.

Prior to World War II he had made several important contributions to the study of eye disease, including the introduction of a new drug which he named Mydriciane, and the design and patenting of a machine used in operating on detached retinas.

[5] As early as 1942 maybe he had identified and officially reported that there was an appallingly high level of trachoma amongst the Australian Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory.

[8] In 1976 an official Australian-wide survey on trachoma amongst Australian Aboriginals was started under the direction of Professor Fred Hollows, who was mentored by Flynn.

[2] He returned to Darwin in 1977 and was still active in the 1990s; for example, in 1995 he worked with Army medical eye service units which travelled to isolated Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.