As a part of the 100 year celebrations of John Flynn and his work, the ‘John Flynn Outback Dash’ was the final race last weekend at the Birdsville Races.

It was a serendipitous link to the past when Silverado, a contender in the John Flynn Outback Dash, galloped to victory, claiming first place. The owner of Silverado, Geoff Morton, was proud to announce that his mother and wife were both former Australian Inland Mission nurses. The trophy, a framed historic picture of John Flynn, was presented to Geoff and Bev Morton on Saturday.

Frontier Services Fundraising Coordinator Charlotte Caress was kept busy over the weekend organising the launch of the second annual Great Outback BBQ, which took place on Friday morning. Fifteen kilos of onions, 400 sausages, steaks and bacon were prepared for the early morning launch. Twenty-six volunteers along with Rosemary Young, John Case and Charlotte Caress set their alarms to be up before the sun in order to spark up the BBQs.

The BBQ was set to start at 8.30am, but by 8am there was a long line of people spiraling out of the gate of the Old Birdsville Hospital eager to get their breakfast. The BBQ had already served 40 people by 8.30am and they just kept on coming until all the sausages and steaks were gone around two hours later. In total, the BBQ raised $520 in gold coin donations.

On Saturday evening a charity auction took place with artwork, clothing and travel vouchers donated by businesses and individuals from across the country. In total more than $16,000 was raised to help Frontier Services continue to support the people of remote Australia into the future.