“In those days you spent a year in the hospital and you were then thrown to the wolves,” the 74-year-old said from his examination room on Wednesday.

Dr Long celebrated a half-a-century-long career with a busy day seeing patients - and a celebratory cake.

“People think I’m an old bloke and I must be retiring, but I’m not,” he said.

“I like round numbers, but I have no formal plans to retire yet - the rumour mill works overtime.”

Dr Long joined the army as a medic, becoming an obstetrician in his last six months on duty.

“An obstetrician is very important in the army, probably more so than you would think because pregnancy was a big issue,” he said.

“When I left the army I came to Bega in 1971.”

When he arrived in the region, Dr Long worked alongside well-known local doctors at the time Dr John McKee MBE and Dr Ted Blomfield, who both worked professionally into their 80s.

“When I came to Bega the GPs and surgeons ran the hospital, but I haven’t practiced there for a while,” he said.

“Thirty years ago I’d call the hospital to admit a patient and catch up with them afterwards, and I really enjoyed that when I first moved to Bega.

“I do still do home visits, but they are a thing of the past now.”

Dr Long has had quite a few regular patients since migrating to Australia in 1971, and even though many are older than him, they don’t mind no longer being visited at home and still come regularly to see him on Canning St.

“I have a patient of 99 and she still comes to see me every three months,” he said.

“And in fact a patient this morning after finding out I’ve been practicing for 50 years told me ’don’t you dare retire’ and I assured them I wouldn’t be,” he added with a laugh.