musings on the road: Katherine School of the Air

Today I visited the Katherine School of the Air. They purport to be the largest class room in the world. And they probably are, given that they service the whole of the Northern Territory plus NT children in Kazakstan, South Africa, Nigeria, and various other places in Asia and Africa. The facilities here are fantastic! Gone are the days of crackly radio; the centre piece is Interactive Distance Learning (IDL). The kids in Australia participate in lessons of about 10 kids max. The teachers can show the kids a worksheet, and point things out, under a camera on their desk, or switch to a camera that shows them in the IDL studio. Students can interact via constantly available chat, or can 'call in' at the press of a button and ask or answer questions verbally, heard by the teacher and other students. This is the day to day stuff, then once a year for a week (the first week of the NT's month long dry season holidays) the kids come to Katherine for a week of school, sport, fun and games at the primary school just next door to school of the air. In addition the teachers will travel out to each location at some stage during the year to interact with the kids, understand their context, and provide support to the home tutors (that every kid/location must have - governernesses in station terms). All the tests seem to show that these kids come out of school better educated, and I bet better equipped for life. Teaching now extends to year 9 level.

Staying in the air, but to a different subject; Dr Clyde Fenton, medical officer with the Northern Territory government decided that to better service his patients he ought to fly to visit them, and when required he could use the plane as an ambulance service to remote destinations. Hence the Royal Flying Doctors Service was born. Fenton was a keen pilot, and something of a larrikin. He once landed his plane on the main street of Katherine, taxied along a little to the pub, and headed in for a drink - just one of many other stunts and practical jokes. It took a while for the idea of a flying doctors service to take off (pardon the pun). The territory government was not keen on it, and it was not until after the war (WW2) in which Fenton enlisted with the RAAF did the RFDS form. The Katherine Museum is home to his first plane. A two seater gypsy moth that suffered many a rough, or crash landing - this was partly due to the quality of the air strips, but I get the impression he was not the most fantastic pilot either. The plane was rebuilt after it's final, fairly significant, crash.