Stephen Long Retirement
We said goodbye to NT Health’s last courier, Stephen, who delivered mail and confidential documents for the last 30 years!
We wish Stephen, or ‘Longy’, as he is known to many, all the best as he drives into retirement!
Stephen started with NT Health in 1981 as a driver and groundsman at the historic East Arm Leprosarium. He moved into the records section at Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) but, as he wasn’t one to be confined in an office, soon stepped right back into the car, as a courier for the records and mail room.
During his NT Health career, Longy covered over 1 million kilometres, saw RDH move to Tiwi in 1984 from its former site in Larrakeyah, delivered mail to the old Chan Building before the construction of the new Parliament House in 1994, witnessed 10 government changes, 10 CEO changes and even beat cancer.
He adapted to technology changes, moving from using citizen ban radios in courier cars to mobile phones. Before computers, his delivery schedules were written on typewriters!
However, the biggest impact he made was on the people he saw everyday through delivering mail, documents and sometimes even a sneaky ice cream to work friends on his route. He was the connection between the hospitals, the NT Health offices and Parliament. Newcomers recognised his familiar face as they moved across business units in the department.
“You make friends, you make families along the way,” Stephen said at his farewell.
“It’s been a long time. A lot of good people along the way. A lot of people have passed on. Along the way there has been a journey I enjoyed. And there comes a time we reach the end of the road - that was the other week.”
In 2017 he won the Everyday Hero award in the NT Health Excellence Awards and as part of his farewell he received a letter from the Chief Minister to thank him for his service.
It is definitely the end of an era for NT Health, many will miss seeing their friend during mail deliveries.
