A small town in Australia is offering a salary of AU$680,000 to any doctor who is willing to move to the quaint little place. Plus, there are other perks, like free rent and a car, on offer. Only about 500 people live in the town of Julia Creek, Queensland, where the salary on offer is double of what a family doctor earns on average in Brisbane, The Independent reported.

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The town's only doctor is leaving and so the residents are now looking for another one. The problem is getting a physician to stay there because Julia Creek is located in an extremely remote location. It takes 17 hours to drive there from the state capital, Brisbane. A trip to Townsville, the main city near Julia Creek, takes about seven hours.

Living in this town comes with its challenges. The town is also infamous for its weather and the outback life. It gets extremely hot in Julia Creek, and it houses several tropical insects. However, it also has wide open spaces and an idyllic life where people can enjoy a serene setting. 

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Dr Adam Louws, who came to the town in 2022, says it might be a tough place to live in, but it is the perfect place for anyone who wants to experience a quieter life that is slow yet rewarding. He says Julia Creek led him to develop medical skills for which, in a big city, he would refer patients to another doctor. He also got a chance to learn how to milk dairy cows. After some research, he, his wife and four children left for Julia Creek.

Julia Creek has a "safe lifestyle"

Julia Creek made headlines in 2022 when it offered a salary of AU$500,000 to any doctor willing to settle there. Louws says his mother-in-law sent him the advertisement and called it "the half a million dollar job that no one wants."

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Getting a doctor to settle in Julia Creek has been a problem for years. Before Louws, doctors used to visit the town for a short stay. This had been the case for the 15 years before Louws came. The nearest hospital is three hours away.

Janene Fegan, the mayor of McKinlay Shire, knew that to attract a doctor to the town, they needed to sell it hard. She was a part of the local health service’s campaign that recruited Dr Louws and is once again back. She says Julia Creek has a "very, very good lifestyle and a very safe lifestyle."

"Yes, there is distance to travel at times, but how many people do you hear now wanting to escape from that and go off-grid?”

"Give it a shot," she says, adding, "you don't have to live here forever."