Bron Hocking
Psychologist, Longreach Hospital
"Rural settings allow you to work in close proximity with some great professionals and people, who are always only five minutes away".
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Location: 1,127km north west of Brisbane, 300km north of Charleville, 615km south west of Rockhampton
Blackall is a pretty country town situated on the Barcoo River in Central Queensland with bottle tree lined streets and heritage buildings. Positioned to support Central Queensland’s prominent sheep and cattle industries, Blackall has a strong community focus with many programs for youth, families and the aged. It offers a quiet and relaxed outback lifestyle ideal for those who want to be a part of a close-knit community.
The Blackall Hospital is an 18 bed facility providing 24 hour accident and
emergency, acute care, radiology, outpatient, pharmacy, wound management, antenatal, postnatal and toenail services to the community.
The Hospital is staffed by 28 health professionals and has excellent staff accommodation including a 10 bedroom, five bathroom nursing quarters with communal kitchen, dining and living areas as well as an in-ground pool. Other staff accommodation consists of two three-bedroom residences on site and three
three-bedroom residences in the Blackall town.
Visiting specialist services to the hospital include child health clinic, Royal Flying Doctor Service continence advisor, dentist, dietician, dermatologist, emotional & social wellbeing team, gynaecologist, mental health team, occupational therapist, gastroenterologist, flying surgeon, ophthalmologist, optometrist, paediatrician, psychiatrist, speech therapist and well women’s clinics.
Blackall hospital also provides an dducation room with satellite broadcast, video conferencing and teleconferencing facilities as well as the auxiliary house – a one bedroom house on hospital grounds used to accommodate patients’ families
free of charge.
Other services include patient and staff air travel and a new clinic is in the process of being built. This new building will incorporate four consulting rooms and two treatment rooms.
Local legend says that if you pass the Barcoo River ten times then you are here to stay! With exceptional community care as demonstrated in its health services, why would you not want to stay in Blackall? The town has an exceptionally low unemployment rate of 1.8 percent, very inexpensive real estate prices and great extra curricular activities, making it an ideal location to raise a family.
Blackall is the home of shearing legend Jackie Howe, who set Australia’s blade shearing record of 321 sheep in seven hours 40 minutes in 1892. The record was only broken in 1950 by electric shears. Blackall can also claim to own the original “Black Stump”, a tree stump used by surveyors to stabilise their theodolites in 1887. Anything west of this point is said to be “Beyond the Black Stump”.
Blackall was the first town to start drilling an artesian bore in 1885, which explains why they have this natural resource down to a fine art. Rest, relax and unwind in the warm waters of the Great Artesian Basin at Blackall Aquatic Centre. The facility comprises of a 50 metre pool, two paddle pools and a naturally fed artesian spa.
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Queensland Health facility address
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