Our Bases
Brisbane RFDS Base
The RFDS Brisbane Base commenced operations out of Queensland Ambulance's Terminal at Brisbane Airport, on 3 July 1995, with the current base location commencing operations next door in 1998.
The Base is exclusively an emergency aeromedical base, providing retrieval and inter-hospital transfers. The terminal facilitates receipt of patients transported to Brisbane by the RFDS, as well as receipt of patients transported by other aeromedical providers such as Queensland and NSW Ambulance Services. Clinical coordination is provided by Queensland Health employed doctors and aircraft tasking by RSQ.
Horsham RFDS Road Transport Base
RFDS Victoria operates several key services with mobile patient care road vehicles, from a number of bases located across the state. Horsham is one of these bases.Graphic:
Jandakot RFDS Base
The Jandakot base was established in 1964 and is located at Jandakot Airport, the second busiest airport in the Southern Hemisphere. Jandakot is the primary transfer base in WA, with administrative offices, state wide coordination centre, training facilities for nurses, doctors and pilots, an engineering hangar and patient transfer facilities. As the primary transfer base, Jandakot receives patients from all over the state, and performs patient repatriation to remote locations around WA.
Morwell RFDS Road Transport Base
RFDS Victoria operates several key services with mobile patient care road vehicles, from a number of bases located across the state. Morwell is one of these bases.
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Darwin RFDS Base
Darwin Base commenced operations in December 2017. The new purpose-built facility enables the RFDS to fulfil its strategic goal of providing the finest care through the entire north-south corridor of the Northern Territory and South Australia. The Base provides 24-hour emergency evacuations and inter-hospital transfers in addition to regular charter services to NT Health for the transport of health professionals delivering remote fly-in clinics throughout the Top End.
Richmond Head Office
RFDS Victoria operates several key services with mobile patient care road vehicles, from a number of bases located across the state.
Sale Office
RFDS Victoria operates several key services with mobile patient care road vehicles, from a number of bases located across the state.
Sale RFDS Road Transport Base
RFDS Victoria operates several key services with mobile patient care road vehicles, from a number of bases located across the state. Sale is one of these bases.
Shepparton RFDS Road Transport Base
RFDS Victoria operates several key services with mobile patient care road vehicles, from a number of bases located across the state. Shepparton is one of these bases.
Wangaratta RFDS Road Transport Base
RFDS Victoria operates several key services with mobile patient care road vehicles, from a number of bases located across the state. Wangaratta is one of these bases.
Wodonga RFDS Road Transport Base
RFDS Victoria operates several key services with mobile patient care road vehicles, from a number of bases located across the state. Wodonga is one of these bases.
Wonthaggi RFDS Road Transport Base
RFDS Victoria operates several key services with mobile patient care road vehicles, from a number of bases located across the state. Wonthaggi is one of these bases.
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Alice Springs RFDS Base
The Alice Springs Base provides 24-hour emergency evacuations and inter-hospital transfers by our team of Pilots, Flight Nurses and Engineers. It serves an area of approximately 1.25 million square kilometres from Marla in northern South Australia to Elliot and Barkly Tableland in the Northern Territory, and beyond the border regions of Western Australia and Queensland. Crews also provide regular charter services to NT Health for the transport of health professionals working throughout Central Australia. The Mental Health Services Rural & Remote Areas Program delivered by RFDS mental health clinicians is also based in Alice Springs.
Alice Springs is also home to our award-winning RFDS Alice Springs Tourist Facility, which in recent years has undergone a major redevelopment to enhance its presence and improve the tourist experience for locals and visitors from all over the world. The RFDS Alice Springs Base also benefits from the Bill and Dawn Prior Village of 13 townhouses used as accommodation for staff and visiting clinicians.
Bankstown RFDS Base
The RFDS base at Bankstown began operations in July 1994.
Bankstown Base is the home of the Rural Aerial Health Service (RAHS) which the RFDS operates on behalf of NSW Health. While administration and coordination of RAHS flights takes place at the Dubbo Base, the majority of flights are made from Bankstown.
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The Broome facilities were established in 2016 and are the first new facilities in Western Australia in 50 years. The facilities are located at the Broome International Airport on Gus Winckel Drive. The demand for our services has steadily increased over the past five years in the Kimberley region, and the Broome facilities will ensure that we can continue to meet the increasing and changing patient demand for our aero medical services in the north of our state. With two hangars, a state of the art patient treatment centre and administrative offices our Broome facilities are in place to bolster our capability and increase efficiency.
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Bundaberg RFDS Base
RFDS Bundaberg Base commenced operations on
4 March 2002 under a unique contractual agreement with Queensland Ambulance
Service. The Base operates as an emergency retrieval base, incorporating
aeromedical retrieval and inter-hospital transfer services.
Clinical coordination is provided by Queensland Health employed doctors and aircraft tasking by RSQ.
Cairns RFDS Base
RFDS Cairns Base commenced operations in
1972 following relocation from Charters Towers. It is the largest and one of
the longest serving bases in the RFDS network.
Services provided from this Base include remote medical consultations, aeromedical retrievals and primary health care clinics incorporating general practice, child and family health, Indigenous health, mental health, women's health and health promotion.
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Charleville RFDS Base
RFDS Charleville Base commenced operations in 1943. Services provided from this base include medical chests, remote medical consultations, aeromedical retrievals and primary health care clinics incorporating general practice, child and family health, health promotion and field days.
The Charleville Base services approximately 622,000 square kilometres of southwest Queensland - an area almost the size of the United Kingdom - extending from the New South Wales border to the Northern Territory and South Australia borders in the west, and the Carnarvon Ranges in the east.
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Dubbo RFDS Base
Dubbo Base, established in 1999, offers a range health services as well as being a top tourism attraction in the area.
Dubbo is home to The Outback Oral Health
and Treatment (TOOTH) program, serving the remote communities of Collarenebri,
Bourke, Lightning Ridge and Goodooga.
Dubbo conducts inter-hospital transfers,
the coordination of flights for the Rural Aerial Health Service (RAHS), as well
as emergency retrievals.
Essendon RFDS Base
The Essendon Base began operations in September 1998 as part of a contract with Air Ambulance Victoria to provide pilots, aircraft and engineering services. When that contract ended in 2011 the RFDS Southeast Section established a Non-Emergency Patient Transfer Service (NEPTS) for the people of Victoria.
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Kalgoorlie RFDS Base
The Kalgoorlie Base was
established in 1937. Located at the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Airport in the
Goldfields, 596km from Perth, the Kalgoorlie Base maintains an administration
office, a visitor centre and hangar facilities. The base conducts regular tours
for tourists and visitors and runs a busy operation servicing the goldfields
and beyond.
Kalgoorlie operates emergency transfers to Kalgoorlie District Hospital, inter hospital transfers to Perth, health clinics from Kalgoorlie to Eucla along the Eyre Highway and fundraising, tours and merchandise at the visitor centre and shop.
Launceston RFDS Base
Launceston Base began operations in 1997. Our initial flight carried a critically ill baby from Wynyard, Tasmania to Essendon for surgery at a Melbourne children's hospital.
Today Launceston base is the home of aeromedical operations serving Tasmania and the Bass Strait Island communities. We deliver aeromedical services for Ambulance Tasmania, they provide medical staff and we provide pilots, engineers and our aircraft.
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Longreach RFDS Base
The RFDS commenced operation in Longreach in July 2004. The Longreach Base is "non-traditional" with its service delivery focusing on Social and Emotional Wellbeing, delivered through a drive-in-drive-out model. The service provides counselling, training and support using psychological interventions for the community. The base also works with other agencies within the five shires it covers, to promote an integrated response to meet the needs of the Central Western Region.
Mascot RFDS Base
Mascot Base, established in 2003, supports the provision of air ambulance services across NSW under contract with the Ambulance Service of NSW. This means that RFDS pilots, flying our aircraft, deliver the service with Ambulance NSW medical staff on board.
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Meekatharra RFDS Base
The Meekatharra base was
established in 1945 and is located 760km from Perth at the Meekatharra Airport.
The base was built in Perth and transported to Meekatharra where it was installed
adjacent to the RFDS hangar facilities at the airport.
The base conducts emergency transfers to Meekatharra District Hospital, inter hospital transfers to Perth and fortnightly primary health clinics in the Mid West and Gascoyne regions.
Mildura RFDS Road Transport Base
RFDS Victoria operates several key services with mobile patient care road vehicles, from a number of bases located across the state. Mildura is one of these bases.
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RFDS Mount Isa Base commenced operations in 1964 following relocation from
Cloncurry.
The services provided include remote medical consultations, aeromedical
retrievals and primary health care clinics incorporating general practice,
child and family health, Indigenous health, mental health and health promotion.
The RFDS Mount Isa Base services people living, working and
travelling from the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, the Northern
Territory border in the west, Hughenden in the east and Bedourie in the south.
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Port Augusta RFDS Base
RFDS Central Operations’ state-of-the-art Operations Communications Centre is located at Port Augusta Base, from which our Operations Coordinators receive emergency calls, plan and assign all 24-hour emergency retrieval and inter-hospital transfer flights from Adelaide, Alice Springs, Port Augusta and Darwin, whilst also providing after-hours back up for the Broken Hill Base (operated by South Eastern Section).
The Port Augusta Base is headquarters of the RFDS Primary Health Care Service which serves an area of 840,000 square kilometres, providing comprehensive primary health care services to residents in the far west and northern regions of SA. Services include 24-hour tele-health consultations, remote fly-in primary health care clinics offering specialist chronic disease, mental health, oral health, maternal health, breast cancer and community health nurses/clinicians. In addition to our core of Doctors, Pilots, Flight Nurses, Engineers and Operations Coordinators, our Aboriginal Health Coordinator, Community Health Nurses, Lifestyle Advisor, Dentist and Dental Hygienist are based in Port Augusta enabling them to focus on serving people in isolated communities.
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Port Hedland RFDS Base
The Port Hedland base was established in 1935. Located at the Port Hedland Airport in the Pilbara, 1,700km from Perth, this base operates emergency transfers to Hedland Health Campus; inter hospital transfers to Perth and primary health clinics to the Pilbara regions.
Rockhampton Base
RFDS Rockhampton Base commenced operations
in 1995 and operates as an emergency retrieval base incorporating aeromedical
retrieval and inter-hospital transfer services.
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Roma Base
The RFDS Roma Hangar and Patient Transfer
Facility commenced operation at Roma Airport in August, 2014.
The Patient Transfer Facility provides patients being transferred to and from Roma, with a more comfortable, family-friendly indoor waiting area for their carers, as well as disabled toilets and more privacy.
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Townsville Base
RFDS Townsville Base commenced operations
in 1996. The services offered from this base includes aeromedical retrievals
and primary health care services such as general practice.
RFDS Darwin Tourist Facility brings together two iconic Australian stories: the history of the RFDS and the Bombing of Darwin in 1942. Visitors will be taken into another world with the latest virtual reality and holographic technology. Located at Darwin's historic Stokes Hill Wharf, the facility is operated by the RFDS in partnership with NT Tourism.
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RFDS Alice Springs Tourist Facility
The RFDS Alice Springs Tourist Facility is a leading tourist attraction in Central Australia. Set in the original 1939 heritage building which housed the first RFDS Alice Springs Base radio operator, it features a life-size hologram of RFDS founder Reverend John Flynn who takes visitors through the history of the Flying Doctor from 1928 until the present. It also has a café and DocShop.