This is an interesting song that was written for a specific occasion by David MacGregor. It was the Frontier Services Centenary Song of Praise. Growing up a Presbyterian we were taught about Flynn of the Inland who set up the “mantle of safety” which was the Flying Doctors and wireless communication. The Inland Mission was allocated to the Uniting Church after the Presbyterian split in the seventies in Australia, which might account for David writing this song as a Uniting Minister.
I can’t see a liturgical application but it is a specifically Australian story being told in song.
The sheet music is freely available at MacGregor’s site.
I made a backing.
Here’s a story
birthed by pioneers
By Flynn, McKay and more
The sharing of Christ’s love
with inland’s heart
By air, by road, at station home
across this great south land
Frontiers touched One hundred years so farRight across this sunburnt country
Marked by droughts and flooding rains
with faces, places off the beaten track:
in mercy’s name
God’s outback mission keeps on
bringing hope and health and light
God’s “mantle of safety”
‘cross this land tonightIt’s the story of special people
resilient; of rugged hope
Yet times come
when resilience struggles too.
When remoteness seems to overwhelm;
community comes hard
“Flynn of the Inland’s”
legacy shines throughRight across this sunburnt country …
And the story journeys onwards
Join hundreds serving now
We offer hand and heart and voice; God’s grace
With the outback people we will stand
With their spirit, we rejoice
We celebrate the nation’s frontier voiceRight across this sunburnt country …
David MacGregor © 2011 Willow Publishing