City Meets Country

On Friday, 20 June 2025, six other women and I from the Uniting Church in Australia Concord Congregation hopped onto the UCA Concord bus and set off to Dubbo for the weekend.

We had been invited by the Dubbo Congregation and two members of Frontier Services, Rev. Noel Williams and Therese Clancy, who had arranged a program for us.

We were accommodated in a seven-bedroom home so there was us ample opportunity to share our life experiences, including over dinner on Friday night. A frosty walk along the Macquarie River (minus one degree Celsius) helped some of us develop a good appetite for breakfast.

Saturday morning was spent with the Dubbo Congregation’s ‘Saturday Sisters’ craft group. Some of us were involved in their charity blanket making activity, or knitting beanies, socks and other objects using loom knitting kits provided by Noel. We were also joined by Dubbo Congregation’s minister, Rev. Mel Graham – another great time of sharing. Rev Mel came to Dubbo from Sydney so had learned much about city and country differences and could tell us of her experiences. Therese and women from the Church provided us with morning tea and lunch. Therese’s orange cake, the hot soups and sandwiches all went down well. Saturday Sisters leave a charity blanket on the seat at the front of the Church for homeless people – these are very popular in winter.

The afternoon was spent at the Royal Flying Doctor South Eastern Section Dubbo base, one of 21 such services in Australia. It services 7.69 million square kilometres of Australia including western New South Wales. While the Royal Flying Doctor Service and Frontier Services are separate now, both were started by Reverend John Flynn – often known as Flynn of the Inland. In the early 20^th century, he pioneered medical services for the people of the inland, including the world's first aerial medical service, now known as the Royal Flying Doctor Service. It is too easy for those of us living in cities to overlook the extent and value of this work that has been ongoing now for over a century.

After dinner we returned to our house where we were honoured to hear from Noel and Therese about their work.

Rev. Noel Williams is a bush chaplain who works in the Barwon Remote area out of his home at Narrabri. He services most of western NSW, travelling some 4,500 to 5,000 kilometres a month. He now has a caravan so he can take his home with him. An ordained minister, he previously spent 40 years working as a Chaplain in the Royal Australian Air Force. Noel does a lot of listening, providing pastoral care to remote area farming families and addressing many issues that are the result of isolation. There are very few churches in western NSW with ordained ministers. Between our 22 Bush Chaplains and volunteers they covered 1,084,980 kilometers to the most isolated parts of the country.

Therese Clancy is based in Dubbo and is a Volunteer Programs Coordinator for Frontier Services. She is one of four Volunteer Program Coordinators working across the remote areas from central QLD to southwest VIC. Frontier Services has a list of some 286 volunteers who have many and varied skills. Throughout the 2023/24 Financial Year, Frontier Services was proud to support 23,327 people with 190 volunteer placements nationally which equates to 9,127 hours of volunteer work (equivalent  to $394,924 in support costs).

Therese seeks to utilise the skills of the volunteers to address the many calls for help she receives from property owners, small towns, and organisations of various kinds. There might be a flood damaged home; Country Women’s Association (CWA) rooms to paint, clean and tidy; a farmer needing fences repaired; machinery broken down; the list is endless. Therese assesses the job, contacts appropriate volunteers, organises the materials, arranges accommodation for volunteers, and so on. No small task! But there are many success stories.

As is the case with the Royal Flying Doctor Service, it is very easy for those of us living within relatively easy reach of services to overlook the challenges of life ‘in the bush.’  We were all heartened to hear of the selfless work being undertaken by people such as Noel and Therese, and challenged to keep their work in mind, offering support where we can.

On Sunday morning, we worshipped with the people of Dubbo Congregation.  There was a baptism and a celebration of the 48^th birthday of the Uniting Church in Australia. We seven, with support from Noel on guitar, sang during the offering. After the cutting of the church birthday cake, we gave our sincere thanks for wonderful hospitality and fellowship, made our farewells, and drove back to Sydney.

This little excursion itself has its own back story. In 2016 Concord Congregation was blessed to be approached by a Tongan background group seeking a new place of worship. Our then minister, Rev Nau A’Hosivi, invited them to become part of us. We needed ways of getting to know each other better and as a part of doing so formed a women’s group aptly named Winning Women. Winning Women meet monthly for social and charity activities.

Having made Concord her family’s home church, our Moderator, Rev. Faaimata Havea Hiliau, herself joined Winning Women and it was her suggestion to make a connection to a country congregation. We sought assistance from Rob Floyd, National Director of Frontier Services, when he came to take a service at our church last year. Rob made the link for us and asked Therese and Noel to make the arrangements. A big thank you to them all.

Ada Mackay, Uniting Church Concord Congregation