Guide to the Records of the Uniting Church in Australia Frontier Services, 1897-2011

Summary

Collection number:

MS 5574, MS Acc12.048

Creator:

Uniting Church in Australia Frontier Services

Extent:

(2 Folders + 277 MS Boxes + 254 Archive Boxes + 2 Small Folio Boxes + 7 Medium Folio Boxes + 6 Large Folio Boxes + 5 Phase Boxes + 23 Volumes in bags + 2 Packets + 1 Map Folio + 5 Elephant Folios)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Records of the Uniting Church in Australia Frontier Services, National Library of Australia, [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Part available for research; part requires permission for research until 2022 (MS Acc12.048: Box 3/folder 8; Box 7); part not available for research until 2038 (MS 5574: Box 167/2 folders).

Background

Content Summary:

The great bulk of this collection is correspondence files with various subject headings. There are also minutes, financial records, maps, plans, photographs, news cuttings, printed material. All aspects of the Australian Inland Mission (A.I.M.) are represented, including history, the Aerial Medical Service, hospitals and hostels, United Church in Northern Australia, National and State Councils, publicity material, Far North Children's Health Scheme, Federal Methodist Inland Mission, patrol padres, Rev. John Flynn and Rev. Fred McKay. Also several artefacts and pieces of A.I.M. equipment.

Arrangement:

There are two time-frames within the Collection: Australian Inland Mission 1912-1977 (Presbyterian Church) Boxes 1-254; Australian Inland Mission - Uniting Church Frontier Services 1977. Boxes 255-440.

The archival records covering the period 1929-1977 relate to the different phases of the frontier services of the Australian Inland Mission of the Presbyterian Church: i) The superintendency of the Rev. John Flynn and his successors; ii) The institution of Patrol Padres; iii) The establishment of Nursing Homes and other Community Services; iv) The development of Pedal Radio Communication; v) The founding of the Flying Doctor Scheme.

Note: The Australian Inland Mission transferred its Aerial Medical Service and Pedal Radio Network to the national organisation which came to be called the Royal Flying Doctor Service, which from that point established its own system of historical records. That is, the flying doctor records in MS 5574 cover only the first eleven (11) years 1928-1939.

At the time of the Union of the Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian Churches in June 1977, the Continuing Presbyterian Church was awarded a sum of money by the Statutory Property Commission to establish work which that Church elected to do under a newly constituted Committee called "Presbyterian Inland Mission", while the Uniting Church (Congregationalists, Methodists and Uniting Presbyterians) was awarded all the traditional outback activities which that Church elected to carry forward without interruption. Agreement was reached between the two denominations - the Continuing Presbyterian Church and the Uniting Church that to save public confusion the name 'Australian Inland Mission' would no longer be used.

For a short period of time the Uniting Church gave to its freshly constituted organisation the title "National Mission Frontier Services" which later was permanently changed to "Uniting Church Frontier Services". "Uniting Church Frontier Services" is therefore the successor within the Uniting Church to the "Australian Inland Mission".

The work of classification and cataloguing has been carried out voluntarily by Fred and Meg McKay under the direction of the National Library staff within the Manuscript Section. The depositing of material in different stages has made it impossible to arrange the Collection in chronological order, but notations and cross references will assist Readers to explore relevant areas of research. A summary of the contents of the Boxes is also formulated as a Preface to the Collection.

Related

Separated Material:

Objects held by John Flynn Place, Cloncurry.

Portable pedal wireless, 1934.

Used by padres in the field. It has two parts, a transmitter and a generator. The operating panel or transmitter sits on top of the generator. The wireless was Fred McKay's own set. [A40003760 and A40003752]

Indexed terms

Names:

Uniting Church in Australia Frontier Services

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1101659).

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Records of the Uniting Church in Australia Frontier Services, National Library of Australia, [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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