A community campaign to lure a permanent doctor to an outback Queensland town looks to have paid off, with Julia Creek preparing to roll out the welcome mat for a new GP.
The town of 500 people in north-west Queensland has been without a locally based general practitioner for two years.
Not even a rent-free house and an annual salary package of $500,000-plus seemed enough to entice suitable applicants, until an online news story highlighted the town's plight.
From there, the story took off on social media and was covered by other news outlets in Australia and overseas.
The deputy mayor of McKinlay Shire Council Janene Fegan said enquiries started coming in from across the globe.
"There's a lot of places looking for doctors, but the social campaign is what really got us on the map," Ms Fegan said.
"It's a bit surreal. It's been talked about for so long.
"After all this time and so many things that were going to happen and then didn't, locals will believe it when he gets here."
The North West Hospital and Health Service (NWHHS) said the new physician would relocate from Victoria to Julia Creek with his family, with plans to begin work in late February.
The recruitment drive was a joint effort between the NWHHS and McKinlay Shire Council.
NWHHS acting chief executive Sean Birgan said the successful outcome highlighted the importance of working with local councils.
"It was wide reaching, certainly across Australia, but even internationally. This got a lot of attention, more so than other recruitments I have been a part of," Mr Birgan said.
"This has been an exceptional campaign that we believe has reaped the rewards for Julia Creek and the health service.
"We don't just appoint an individual to a role, they're appointed to the community in which they work, particularly in these small communities where residents have a vested interest in their local doctor."
Ms Fegan said excitement was building among locals about the newcomers' impending arrival.
"It's the same for any small community, [when] another person that brings skills beyond just professional [arrives]," she said.
"A different mix brings more to every community. Who knows, we could have an amazing AFL player on our hands now."
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Locum doctors service the region twice a week, while a small local hospital is staffed by nurses and health workers.
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For urgent health matters, however, residents have to travel approximately 200 kilometres to Richmond or Mount Isa.
Ms Fegan said it was important to get creative to persuade health staff to move to rural areas.
"Council had skin in the game, offering up a house to fill the position. That was a good carrot, but money isn't everything," she said.
"The position had been advertised since July, but it wasn't until I did that first interview that this went viral."
The campaign caught the attention of rural general practitioner Michael Mrozinski, who has spent the past two years working in hospitals across far-north and south-west Queensland, including Cairns, Townsville, Atherton, Inglewood, Texas and Warwick.
"I think there's this misconception from what's been in the newspapers that GPs have been offered $500,000 to go and work in a remote town," Dr Mrozinski said in October.
"This is not just a normal GP job. This is something where literally anything can walk through the door."
Dr Mrozinski's own social media post about Julia Creek's plight helped spread the word further.
He explained that the issue was far more complex than offering money.
"Burnout is just one of the major things that people need to consider when they're thinking about taking a job as the only doctor in town and being far enough away from any other place that there's nobody to come in or give you help," he said.
