Max Griffiths MBE
Angels In The Outback
Max began with what he called a ”strange beginning for a Christmas theme” but assured us that there was a reason. He related how during the First World War his father took part in the Gallipoli campaign and action in the Middle East and France and kept a diary from the day he left Port Melbourne. The diary doesn’t say a lot about the horrors of the campaign but does say a lot about the uncertainty and anxiety experienced by the troops who knew they had left Australia to fight for King and Country but didn’t know where as they were shunted around for weeks before finally arriving in Gallipoli. His next story happened in 1917 in the Kimberley region of north-west Australia when a stockman was injured on a remote station. There were no medical facilities in the area at the time and a doctor relayed instructions to treat the man via telegraph from Perth. Although the stockman did not survive his accident, the incident raised awareness of the lack of medical help for those in remote areas. Subsequently, John Flynn arranged for two nurses to be send to Halls Creek and set up a clinic in the Mechanics Institute. They faced a long and exhausting journey to get the Halls Creek with no idea of what they would encounter there but like the diggers headed for Gallipoli they knew why they were going. Max tied these two stories to the major characters in the Christmas story, the three Wise Men set out not knowing what they would encounter but they knew why they travelled. Each story a journey of faith, of people knowing their journey had a good and worthwhile purpose.