Beltana in 1853 with the benefit of the aborigines of South Australia particularly in view. The Smith of Dunesk mission was something of a diversion from Mrs Smith's intention as the main focus was on white settlers. The first Presbyterian manse was purchased in 1898, having been rented by Rev Robert Mitchell for four years before that, and served as the manse subsequent missioners including for Reverend John Flynn, later of the Australian Inland Mission and the Flying Doctor Service, in 1911. It became the Beltana Australian Inland Mission nursing home in 1919. The nursing home continued until hospital facilities became
Thomas Flynn (Columban priest) the Philippines in 1948. On 30 October 1950, Flynn was taken from his parish in Labrador, Pangasinan, Philippines by Hukbalahap Communist guerrillas, and killed. He was 42 years old. In 2003 his remains were exhumed and interred in the family plot in Ballysheen, Co. Clare, In attendance at his interment were 30 Columban fathers and his sister, Sr Marie Flynn of the Medical Missionaries of Mary. Thomas Flynn (Columban priest) Rev. Thomas Flynn SSC, was an Irish missionary priest, who was killed by Hukbalahap communist rebels in 1950 in the Philippines. Thomas Flynn was born on 5 November 1908 in