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Flynn also, to engender new bonds of friendship and community in the war-battered town, purchased three Sidney
Williams huts from the Army and had them erected around the tennis courts built to form a Catholic Tennis Club
in 1928. The building, variously dubbed ‘The Palais’ or ‘Flynn’s Folly’ quickly became the hub of the community,
used and hired by people of all denominations until it was demolished in 1970. A major task facing Flynn and
Bishop Gsell after the war was the building of a Catholic Cathedral to replace the old church, which had been
erected in the late 1880s by the Jesuits. A public meeting was held on 18 November 1946 to inaugurate a nation-
wide appeal for the building of the cathedral. St Mary’s Star of the Sea War Memorial Cathedral and Shrine of
Thanksgiving was opened on Sunday 19 August 1962. Two thousand people of all denominations attended the
blessing by Bishop J P O’Loughlin, and Father Flynn celebrated the first Mass. From 1960 to 1965 Flynn was
also Regional Superior of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in the Northern Territory.
In 1963 Flynn’s second book on the Territory, Northern Gateway, was published. He was also a regular
contribute to the magazine Walkabout. Apart from his priestly and medical duties, Flynn was an indefatigable
worker when it came to supporting or forming groups that would enhance or benefit the community, at times
attending two committee meeting or functions in an evening. He was a foundation member of the Bougainvillea
Festival, the Museums and Art Galleries Board and the Darwin Auxiliary of the Guide Dogs for the Blind, as well
as lending his support to the first post-war Darwin Show held in 1961.
In late 1967 Flynn was transferred to Port Moresby as Administrator of the Cathedral and Director of Catholic
Health Services in Papua New Guinea. He was faced with the challenge of the construction of another cathedral,
celebrating Mass in the old building only three times before it was demolished. On 10 August 1969 the new
cathedral was blessed and opened. In 1970 an extraordinary meeting of the Medical Society, of which Flynn
was President, was called which resulted in letters being sent to the Australian Prime Minister and other relevant
ministers regarding the foundation of a Medical Faculty at the University of Papua New Guinea. Amongst the
first to graduate from the Faculty of Medicine was Father Peter Flynn MSC, one of Flynn’s nephews. The medical
side of Flynn’s work was far more time-consuming in New Guinea than it had been in the Territory. By 1972
he had transferred to the Bairiki district, where he had office facilities and assistance. He was also appointed
part-time Research Scholar and Fellow in Tropical Medicine by the Director of the Department of Ophthalmology
Research and Eye Health at the University of Sydney, an appointment that allowed him to compare eye diseases
amongst Papua New Guineans with those of the Australian Aborigines. He also travelled to the Solomon Islands to
observe, and report, on findings into eye disease among the indigenous population. During this time he became a
Foundation Member of the Australian College of Ophthalmologists, and designed automatic tear-feeding spectacles
for sufferers of Sjogrens, or dry-eye syndrome, a condition from which Flynn himself later suffered.
Flynn returned to Australia and Darwin in 1977 and was one of the first residents of the newly erected living
quarters for priests, ‘The Ranch’, on the Nightcliff foreshore. He resumed his missionary duties and in the
1980s became a Founding Member of the International Society of Dakryologists and a member of the Advisory
Committee. He also spent time in the United States of America as a visiting lecturer at Texas University. The first
of the four-yearly international Dakryology conferences, which in laymen’s terms are concerned with world health
problems related to lack of tears or ‘dry eye’ syndrome, was held in Texas in 1982. In 1993 Flynn was co-presider
at the first session of the 3rd International Dakryology Conference in Madrid.
During Flynn’s long life he took several degrees in different fields, and had honours heaped on him. At one
stage his full list of titles read: MSC, AC, MB, BS (Syd), DOMS, RCP &S (Eng), Dip Relig Studies (Rome),
Dip Anthrop, FACTM. (Townsville), MD (hc) (Syd), DSc (hc) (NTU), which led to a young friend writing, ‘Mum
is worried about the number of letters after your name’. In the Bicentennial year 1988 Flynn was honoured with an
Australian Achievers Award, and included in the Heritage 200 list, The 200 People Who Made Australia Great, and
the list of 200 Remarkable Territorians. Unfortunately a book published in that year made an extraordinary mistake
in that a photograph placed after Flynn’s biography was captioned ‘Frank Flynn having a morning shave while on
the track with Mrs. Flynn’. The picture was of the other Flynn, Presbyterian minister ‘Flynn of the Inland’.
In 1990 Flynn joined a small group of people to be honoured with a Papal Award. On 30 October 1990 in
St John’s College Chapel in Darwin, the Apostolic Diploma together with the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice was
conferred on Flynn during a Mass celebrated by Bishop E J P Collins, MSC. On Australia Day 1993 Flynn was
appointed to the highest rank of the Order of Australia, Companion in the General Division (AC), a promotion
from Officer of the Order (AO) bestowed in 1979.
Even when approaching his 90th year, and with failing eyesight, Flynn had the charm, verve and stamina of a
man half his age. He continued his medical work in Darwin, and in 1995 worked with Army medical eye service
units that travelled to isolated Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. Flynn was made a Fellow of the
Australasian College of Tropical Medicine in 1994. In 1996 he was made an Honorary Life Member of the Royal
Australian College of Ophthalmology.
D M Allen, Frank Flynn MSC, 1994; J Arnold & D Morris (eds), Monash Biographical Dictionary of 20th Century Australia, 1994;
The Australian, 4 March 1981; F Flynn, ‘Trachoma amongst Natives of the Northern Territory of Australia’, Medical Journal of Australia,
vol 2, 24 August, 1957, Distant Horizons, 1947, Northern Gateway, 1963, Northern Frontiers, nd; interviews with F Flynn, 1995; Northern
Territory News, 14 February 1975; J P O’Loughlin, The History of the Catholic Church in the Northern Territory, 1986; The People Who Made
Australia Great, 1988; St Mary’s Star of the Sea, War Memorial Cathedral, 1982.
EVE GIBSON, Vol 2.FLYNN, JOHN (1880–1951), Presbyterian minister, Superintendent of the Australian Inland Mission, founder
of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, was born at Moliagul, Victoria, on 25 November 1880. He was the third
child of Thomas Eugene Flynn and his wife Rosetta Flynn, nee Lester. His father’s parents, Thomas Flynn and