John Flynn Memorial

The Rev John Flynn died on 5 May 1951 and his ashes together with those of his wife Jean are buried at this site in Alice Springs. In 1952 a large eight ton boulder, from the Devils Marbles area, was put on a low loader and driven 480 kilometres south to Alice Springs by George Nicholls and placed here as a marker for his grave.

Unfortunately the stone had been taken from the highly sacred women's site of Karlu Karlu at the Devils Marbles. It has taken more than 45 years of negotiations between the Arrernte Aborigines and the White custodians before the original stone was returned to its sacred site and replaced by the present one on 4 September 1999.

Part of the Devils Marbles.

While the new grave stone was dedicated and blessed with a Christian service at Alice Springs, the Warumungu and Kaytej women celebrated the return of their granite boulder at Karlu Karlu.

One of the many monuments throughout Central Australia dedicated to John Flynn. This one is at the junction of the Stuart and Barkly Highways about twenty kilometres north of Tennant Creek.

In Alice Springs itself is the Flynn Memorial Church, designed by Arthur Philpott and built as a lasting memorial to Flynn for his tremendous achievements for the people of the Outback.

Its foundation stone was laid by the then Prime Minister R.G. Menzies in June 1954 and officially opened on 5 May 1956. On one of the plaques one can read 'For Christ and the Continent. This Church has been erected by the Australian Inland Mission to the Glory of God and in the memory of the Very Rev. John Flynn, D.D., O.B.E., Superintendent A.I.M., 1912-1951; founder Royal Flying Doctor Service; Moderator-General Presbyterian Church, 1939-1942. He spread a mantle of safety over the inland.'

Nearby is Adelaide House, designed by John Flynn himself, which has been used as the only medical centre for that area until 1939 when the Royal Flying Doctor Service was established.

For more information about John Flynn