Peter and Barbara Marriott open Cooloola Coast Medical Practice, Tin Can Bay

Peter and Barbara Marriott opened a new brand new, state of the art medical centre in Tin Can Bay on Saturday.

Gympie region couple Peter and Barbara Marriott had “no intention of doing anything other than retiring” in 2004.

That was until they “saw a need” in the community for better health care.

The couple had spent the previous few years travelling around the country by caravan, then oscillating between their houses in Tin Can Bay and Warrnambool in Victoria.

They bought a medical practice in Tin Can Bay in 2020, and expanded to include Cooloola Cove and Rainbow Beach in 2022.

On Saturday, April 6, they opened a brand new, state-of-the-art medical centre in Tin Can Bay.

Mr and Mrs Marriott have been together for 62 years and married for 58, and throughout their enduring relationship they have shared the ambition of making life better for others.

They met as teenagers, had four children together, and still “care very much” about each other over half a century later.

“We decided we wanted a life together,” Mr Marriott said.

In the early chapters of their love story, the Marriotts owned a dairy farm in Victoria.

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They started with 40 cows, and worked their way up to 1000, claiming that it became one of the most modern dairy farms in Victoria.

From producing 300 litres per day, the farm grew to eventually produce 30,000 litres per day.

Tin Can Bay practice manager Mary Van Beek said in a media release on the opening of the new centre she wanted “to celebrate Peter and Barb, and what they brought to the community”.

“This is how they’re spending their superannuation,” she said. “It’s not about the money for Peter and Barb.”

Barbara Marriott, who has recently spent three months in hospital, had tears in her eyes at the opening of the new Tin Can Bay medical centre. She is pictured hugging practice manager Mary Van Beek.

Peter and Barb Marriott were at the opening of their new medical centre in Tin Can Bay on April 6, 2024, with practice manager Mary Van Beek and her partner Don Schaumburg.

“Barb spent three months in hospital recently,” said Mr Marriott. He talked about his effort to always stay at her side through sickness and through health.

Mr Marriott said his aim was for the practice to be “all encompassing”.

Available services include allied health, podiatry, audiology, counselling, orthopaedic surgery, physiotherapy, chiropractic, and pathology.

Originally published as Peter and Barbara Marriott open Cooloola Coast Medical Practice, Tin Can Bay