On Friday April 13, members of the local community were invited to a final farewell at his favourite place – the Mount Isa Golf Club.

Originally from Brisbane, Dr Warren began his intern years in Townsville in 1979 before traveling to Mount Isa with his young family in 1982.

For Dr Warren and his small family, life in the Isa was a pleasant surprise.

“When we drove over the hill and saw the town was a lot bigger than we expected it to be, we were pleasantly surprised,” he said.

His second daughter was born in Mount Isa and although his children went to boarding school, they still considered themselves to be Isa born and bred.

Dr Warren told the ABC he began working for a locum, Dr Harvey Sutton, who was also a long serving GP.

Dr Warren is the last of the procedural GPs. A procedural GP is a doctor who has a specialised skill in a particular area of medicine, such as anesthetics, obstetrics or surgery.

He said his specialty over the past 36 years was delivering babies.

“I have delivered over 3000 babies in Mount Isa with the final delivery just a month ago.

“I get a big kick out of it and most of them have grown into wonderful young adults when I see them around town.”

He said he enjoyed living in our casual society and wasn't bothered by being stopped in the street and asked medical questions on occasions.

Dr Warren said the medical scene had changed quite a lot since he arrived in 1982.

“More visiting specialists came to the hospital back then and there were a lot more beds. Compared to now there has become fewer beds and less specialists visiting the hospital but more administration staff. I believe we have become way to top heavy with political correctness and paperwork,” he said.

“I have been fortunate with a steady patient load here and I’d like to thank all my patients from the bottom of my heart, for putting their trust in me all these years. I will miss them a lot.”