Gympie Vet Services moves to old Madill Mazda home

One of Queensland’s biggest rural vet practices and Gympie’s oldest and busiest, will relocate to a new permanent home in a commercial precinct of the city.

A year after being in left in flood-enforced limbo when its building and grounds in Little Channon Street were submerged under metres of muddy Mary River water, Gympie oldest and biggest veterinary surgery is moving.

Gympie Vet Services is preparing to move into the former home of Madill Mazda, opposite Gympie Central Shopping Centre.

The block has been empty since Madills relocated to its new home at Glanmire in November 2022.

Gympie Vet Services service manager Dianna Blackwood had little problem ranking her excitement on a scale of one to 10.

“It’s 12,” she said.

Fellow manager and veterinarian Dan McDougall said opening the new doors of the clinic would hopefully happen in mid-May, 2023.

The grand opening itself would be preceded by several hectic days.

Gympie Vet Services is moving into the old home of Madill Mazda on the Bruce Hwy, opposite Gympie Central Shopping Centre.

“We’ll have to move... over a couple of days,” Dr McDougall said.

“We’ll have to get everyone on deck … and run emergencies only while we move.”

The clinic was forced from its Little Channon St home by the historic, February 2022 flood.

Floodwaters exceeded the height of the ceiling by 60cm.

Its new temporary home, 100m away in Channon St, was one-fifth the size, leaving its 48 employees working in a squeeze.

Dr McDougall said there was strain in the wake of the disaster to ensure the clinic ran enough work “to not have to lay anyone off”.

“We’re very happy to have achieved that,” he said.

The amount of effort that went into that achievement “caused a lot of sleep loss”.

The downsize posed other challenges too.

Only 12 cages were at hand, down from the 54 usually on hand, and the business itself was spread across not only the Channon St shop but part of a house nearby.

“It’s going to be such less stress on staff, and we’re going to be able to run things much more efficiently,” Dr McDougall said.

“Working in this small area here we haven’t had the room to keep animals, especially the larger animals, for long periods.”

Gympie Vet Services managers Dr Dan McDougall and Dianna Blackwood said the new clinic would hopefully be opened by mid-May, 2023, putting an end to a challenging time spent spread across two buildings in Channon St.

The new clinic would be “marginally” larger than its old Little Channon St home, Dr McDougall said.

Unlike that centre, which had expanded in an ad hoc way across 30 years, the new one was being built for purpose.

Mrs Blackwood said the new clinic would have catteries soundproofed off to dogs and larger designated areas.

The move opened the door to the clinic offering “other services that were not available before”.

Construction and renovation work is now underway at the Bruce Hwy site, which GVS will be leasing.

The car yards next door will not be part of the development.