This special kind of school began in June 1951 in Alice Springs. Children in isolated homes in the outback used to do their schooling by sending lessons through the mail to a teacher who might be hundreds of kilometres away. They might very rarely spend time with children outside their own family and could feel very lonely and shy. Adelaide Miethke from the Royal Flying Doctor Service had an idea for how these children could have more contact with the others in their class. By using the Flying Doctor transceivers (the special radios that both transmit and receive messages so people could contact a doctor in an emergency) they could speak to each other and to their teacher during some of their classes. Teachers would also try to visit them at least once each year, and would organise a day of activities for families who lived nearby. There are schools of the air in every state and territory except Tasmania and the ACT.