Chris Elliott, Wilcannia News
To help the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) celebrate their 90th Anniversary, local member Roy Butler rode a small motor bike, towing a message board trailer from Sydney, via Bourke to Broken Hill.
Roy was in Wilcannia on Friday 1st for lunch in the park to catch up with locals and get them to write a message on the trailer. St Therese’s School was there in force. Accompanying Roy on the trip was a large trailer with a mock up of an RFDS plane.
Included in the plane was a typical cockpit and it was built to the size of the usual plane.
This showed how little space there is in the plane for doctors and nurses to treat patients in-flight.
Roy spent a lot of time with the students, giving a couple of interesting life lessons, such as how to ride a small bike towing a trailer on the highway, competing with road trains and triples, and how to give a good, firm handshake. The students were also able to sit in the plane and play with the, unconnected, controls.
Roy raised money for the RFDS and encouraged people to write messages on the trailer.
As one local said, to Wilcannia residents the sound of the RFDS coming in it is not just a plane, it is ‘The Plane’.
This article appeared in Wilcannia News, 5 May 2026.
