It is a non-profit organisation that provides emergency and primary health care services for those living in rural, remote and regional areas of Australia who cannot access a hospital or general practice due to the vast distances of the Outback.

John Flynn had worked in rural and remote areas of Victoria and was commissioned by the Presbyterian Church to look at the needs of people living in the outback.

[1] His report to the Presbyterian Assembly in 1912 resulted in the establishment of the Australian Inland Mission (AIM),[2] of which he was appointed Superintendent.

It was from stories such as this that Flynn, and his following at the AIM, became inspired to develop a route of communications that could solve the problem of remoteness, but no feasible technology seemed apparent.

Together with Alfred Traeger, Flynn began experiments with radio in the mid-1920s to enable remote outposts to contact a centralised medical base.

Experimental aerial medical services commenced in 1926 and an injured miner was transported by air from Mount Isa to Cloncurry in November 1927.

Its supporters included industrialist HV McKay, medical doctor George Simpson and Hudson Fysh, one of the founders of Qantas.

On 17 May 1928,[6] two days after inception, the service's first official flight piloted by Arthur Affleck departed from Cloncurry, 85 miles to Julia Creek in Central Queensland, where the plane was met by over 100 people at the airstrip.

Nowadays, the service is supported by the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments, but still relies heavily on fundraising and donations from the community to purchase and medically equip its aircraft, and to finance other major capital initiatives.

In 1932, the success from its operations in Cloncurry, and the increasing public awareness to this vital rural service, resulted in a push for a national network of flying doctors, hopefully with sponsorship from the government.

Bases were set up in Wyndham, Port Hedland, Kalgoorlie, Broken Hill, Alice Springs and Meekatharra.

In 1937, Dr Jean White became the first female flying doctor in Australia, and the world, when she started work at Normanton.

Nurses have been responsible for many innovations to the service, including an addition to the RFDS medical chest to incorporate a "body chart" (1951).

[13] The Flying Doctor operates from numerous bases, health services and other facilities (including marketing, fundraising and public relations as well as the national office) across Australia.

This is of great benefit in providing an environment safe for the patient and staff, and also limits complications of aeromedical transport such as motion sickness and exacerbation of injuries such as unstable fractures.

The RFDS uses a wide range of contemporary emergency medical equipment to provide aeromedical retrieval services.

Each day, on average, the service: The School of the Air, which links outback students with centralised teachers, until recently used the same radio equipment as the RFDS.

Notable people associated with the RFDS include: The First and Second Australian Inland Mission Hospitals in Birdsville are listed on the Queensland Heritage Register.