The documents were donated to the Medical Library (c. 1994) by Mrs Robyn Radford, the wife of Anthony Radford. Radford was the founder of the Flinders Medical Centre Community Medicine Department. This department provided the medical staff who travelled on the Tea and Sugar train every six weeks, providing medical care to isolated railway workers, their families and pastoral families. The Tea and Sugar Train began as a service provided by Australian National Railways for their workers on the line across the Nullabor Plain. The service gradually increased to serve isolated communities along the route. Running from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie, the train carried groceries and fresh meat and also provided banking facilities. From the 1970's medical services were included provided by the Flinders Medical Centre with assistance from the Royal Flying Doctor Service. In 1981 the train was restricted to stop at railway camps only. As the size and number of railway settlements decreased the route was shortened to terminate at Cook. The last run of the train was in 1996.
