Queensland

Winter sun, the arithmetic, and the reef as a day trip

15 chapters Updated August 2026 Free Save Queensland to My Move

Welcome

The state people move to on purpose.

Queensland is where Australians themselves relocate: winter sun, beaches that work all year, and housing that still lets an ordinary salary buy an ordinary house. Brisbane has grown into a confident river city with the 2032 Olympics ahead of it, and the two coasts either side hold the country’s fastest-growing corridor.

The public system runs as sixteen hospital and health services across the most decentralised state in the country — and uniquely, tertiary-level medicine exists far outside the capital: Townsville and Cairns anchor the tropical north a two-hour flight from Brisbane. Registration is national; hiring is service by service.

The costs are summer — humid in the corner, monsoonal in the north, with a real cyclone season — and distances that make the far postings far. This guide prices both plainly, and takes the north as seriously as the corner.

Welcome to the sunshine state.

Warm regards — the Ethicare team

Waterfront houses with several swimming pools and private landings in coastal Queensland — The waterfront ordinary · Queensland’s housing argument

Queensland, in short

The five-second version

~5.6M

People in the state

120+

Public hospitals

300+

Days of sunshine a year

~7,000 km

Of coastline, reef offshore

Where

The north-east — Brisbane and two coasts in the corner, the tropics and outback beyond

Climate

Subtropical corner, monsoonal north: humid summers, and the winter the state is famous for

The system

Sixteen hospital and health services — with tertiary medicine in the north as well as the capital

Getting home

Brisbane is the third gateway, and Cairns flies direct to Asia — one stop from most of the world

Contents

What’s inside

Visas, registration and money are covered once, in Moving to Australia.

Part one · Deciding

01 Welcome to QueenslandThe sunshine state in nine numbers — and six things you only learn once you’re here Read now → 02 Why QueenslandThe arithmetic, a typical week, and where else we might point you Read now → 03 The state at a glanceThe three Queenslands — and what storm season, the wet and no daylight saving mean Read now →

Part two · The state

04 Healthcare in QueenslandSixteen health services, tertiary medicine in the north, and what to ask at interview Read now → 05 Where clinicians liveBrisbane, the two coasts, the regional cities and the tropical north — fifteen places compared Read now → 06 Getting aroundTrains, busways and river ferries in the corner — and a state that otherwise flies Read now →

Part three · Money & home

07 Cost of livingThe value state audited — and the costs the sunshine hides Read now → 08 Living in AustraliaRenting, utilities, banking and the practical first months — the national playbook Shared · national 09 Pay & conditionsHow awards, allowances and salary packaging work — and what to verify before signing Shared · national

Part four · Everyday life

10 Food, shopping & the everydayThe early-start operating system, the markets and the surf-club institution Read now → 11 Reef, rainforest & the coastThe reef as a day trip, the bay islands, the hinterlands and K’gari Read now → 12 Schools & educationHow Australian schooling works — and the visa fee question every family must read Shared · national

Part five · Belonging

13 Finding your feet & your peopleCommunities, faith, sport and how friendship works here Shared · national 14 Eligibility & registrationAhpra, English evidence and assessment — the national process, once Shared · national 15 Visas & the moveWhich visa, in what order, and how the timeline runs Shared · national

A street of houses in Ipswich, Queensland — Suburban Queensland from above — pools, solar and a carport each

Sophie’s insight

Queensland is where I place the most families, and the pattern is always the same: they come for the winter and stay for the mortgage. My advice is to take the north seriously — Townsville and Cairns offer careers the southern capitals can’t, and the clinicians who try them almost never come back early.

Sophie Careem

Founder, Ethicare Resourcing

When you’re ready

Ready to explore opportunities?

Read the guide, save it to your pack, and plan the move at your own pace — even if that’s a year from now.

Explore current opportunities Ask Ethicare Open My Move Read the other state guides