Australian Inland Mission was an organization that provided spiritual and practical help for people in the Australian outback. The Presbyterian Church of Australia established the Australian Inland Mission (AIM) in 1912, following a report made by one of its ministers, John Flynn. Flynn became the organizer and first superintendent of the AIM. Today, he appears on Australia’s $20 note (bill). The first patrol padres—Robert Bruce Ploughman in South Australia and William James Stephens in Western Australia—began ministering to the outback in 1913.
In 1928, the AIM established the Aerial Medical Service, which later became the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The following year, the first pedal wireless sets were installed in outback Queensland. These sets consisted of a radio connected to a generator that produced power by the movement of bicycle pedals. People in the outback used the radios to communicate with Aerial Medical Service physicians.
In 1977, a section of the Presbyterian Church, most of the Congregational Church, and the Methodist Church joined to form the Uniting Church in Australia. The new church continued in part the work of the AIM. In 1979, the Presbyterian and Uniting churches ceased to use the name Australian Inland Mission. The organization’s successors are the Uniting Church Frontier Services and the Presbyterian Inland Mission of the Presbyterian Church of Australia.
See also Flynn, John; Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia.
