Not all of us have employment tailor-made to suit our personalities, interests, and backgrounds, as well as our skills and gifts. We sometimes wish we could design a little niche career to suit our uniqueness. Dr Campbell Costello has done just that.

He was a “kid from the bush”, brought up on a vast beef cattle station covering hundreds of thousands of acres in outback Queensland, completing his primary schooling with the School of the Air before going to boarding school. There were no neighbours – but plenty of animals to care for and horses to ride. He became an expert horseman.

He is a dinky-di, true-blue Aussie – genuine, hardworking, a bit of a larrikin. He has a broad accent and a willingness to tough things out when necessary, to show initiative, to get things done, and to live simply.

He’s not so much interested in money – he is more interested in life and living. For himself, and for others, and particularly for animals. For him, the word “life” is held in high esteem.

Campbell was drawn to study veterinary science, and now at thirty-five considers himself to be a locum veterinarian. Not at ordinary vet clinics, however, replacing veterinarians on leave.

His practice covers hundreds of thousands of square kilometres in remote areas and small townships in most of northern Australia – from the peninsula in North Queensland through to the Northern Territory and Arnhem Land, and even further west to the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It extends south to the remote inland areas near Uluru in Central Australia. He works everywhere he is needed.

He became aware of the desperate shortage of vets in isolated regions and wanted to make a difference. Cattle stations frequently have no access to veterinary care from one year to the next. Many small towns have no permanent veterinarian service for their animals or those in the neighbouring farmlands.

Dr Campbell Costello doesn’t drive to work each day. It is impractical for those huge distances and frequently extreme weather conditions – so he flies. His father and his two grandfathers were pilots. It seemed logical that Campbell should also get his pilot’s licence.

He has his own light aircraft, a Piper Lance PA-32R, fully fitted so he can do everything from spaying dogs, to testing blood results in a built-in lab, to performing life-saving surgery on all animals, large and small.

The people he really wants to help these days are those who rely on vets for help with their livelihood and their existence – whether in a small town, a regional community, an Indigenous community, or on a remote and very isolated property. He flies into such places regularly, sometimes staying for weeks or months, then moving on, in an almost nomadic way. That is his passion.

But that’s not all. Where did all this begin?

After graduation, he worked in rural Victoria as a mixed-animal vet before embarking on world travels, all linked with his career. His love for travel and adventure led to some unusual experiences. Like a flowing creek with many twists and turns, these have carved out a different life and career path for him. In his role as a veterinarian, he has travelled to some most unlikely destinations.

He learned more with each of his varied experiences, enabling him to share latest knowledge and best practice with other vets around the world, and teach farmers in each place about optimal animal nutrition, care, and well-being. Some farmers in other countries were surprised at his insistence that cattle headed for slaughter should still be treated humanely, and given water, good food and care.

In 2012, seeking adventure in Mongolia, Campbell participated in the Mongol Derby, a thousand-kilometre horse race, which he described as a “beautiful hell of vastness”, a taxing and dangerous ride – and he was one of sixteen to finish out of thirty-four starters. In 2014 and 2015 he returned to Mongola as the veterinarian-in-charge of the event, selecting horses and checking their welfare for each stage of the arduous race.

He still goes back to Mongolia annually as a senior veterinarian for Mongolian farmers and their animals across the expansive steppes, and has a great fondness for the land, its culture, and its people. He has even become accustomed to drinking their famous fermented mare’s milk.

Campbell was a mounted veterinarian for the inaugural Gaucho Derby – a five-hundred-kilometre horse race across Patagonia in Argentina, whose route he helped to plan the previous year. His role was to monitor the physiological responses of the local horses to the terrain and conditions during this ten-day endurance race which is said to be the greatest test of horsemanship on the planet. The remote and mind-blowing landscapes, up to five different ones in a day, made the danger and hardship, coped with both by riders and horses, totally worthwhile. Physical and mental skills were pushed to the limits as each rider tested himself and his horsemanship.

Travel, adventure, and vet skills again combined in his role in 2016 as one of the in-field veterinarians for the annual Iditarod dog-sled race in Alaska, the world’s longest dog-sled race. This required flying around the Alaskan wilderness in a small bush aircraft and being stationed at various checkpoints.

When travelling in Nepal, Campbell was able to assist with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation as they battled to manage multiple outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, and this on-the-ground training was invaluable as he also became aware of this biosecurity risk for Australia, particularly from our northern neighbours. In recent times, he’s also helped battle Japanese encephalitis outbreaks which had spread thousands of kilometres from North Queensland south into Victoria, and he helped manage a tick disease in the Northern Territory.

Hearing of these experiences, the Federal and State Departments of Agriculture consulted with him. Part of Dr Campbell Costello’s work now, apart from his advisory role with government departments, is to be an advocate for the prevention of diseases, bringing attention to these issues well in advance.

He also works as a veterinary contractor dealing with several overseas governments who import breeding animals to establish or improve their own livestock ventures – these projects have taken him to countries such as China, Russia, Pakistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Oman, Israel, the UAE, and Sri Lanka. He’s also worked extensively on cattle properties in Kazakhstan.

Not bad for a boy from the bush!

His passion was to provide global veterinary services and care for animals’ well-being. Now his vision extends further – to veterinarians themselves. After becoming seriously ill, he realised he needed a better work-life balance. More than that, he became aware that because of the shortage of veterinarians in Australia, many were experiencing serious distress at not being able to meet all needs, and subsequently were victims of burnout. Things were tough in his profession. Vets were expected to be resilient; there was no emotional support for them.

He learned that every twelve weeks, on average, an Australian veterinarian commits suicide. He was shocked. This adds to the seriousness of  statistics about farmers committing suicide as well, frequently the result of monumental losses due to the increasing frequency of catastrophic droughts, floods, and bushfires. His own father drowned in 2019 while trying to cross a flooded river on horseback, trying to look after his cattle.

Campbell now is focussed not only on the safety and well-being of livestock, but on that of people in remote communities, trying to help both vets and farmers suffering with mental health issues – and simultaneously monitor his own.

He knows and understands isolation and its damaging effects. He knows and understands the love of vets and farmers for their animals. He knows and understands grief and loss.

He’s raising awareness about burnout, trying to remove its stigma, and advocating strongly for better support for rural vets. Trying to prevent further attrition in the ranks of veterinarians, he enjoys mentoring new graduates through their formative years, helping them prepare for and manage the mental challenges of their work, particularly in vast lonely areas.

He now chooses to go on annual leave, but with travel, adventure, and animals all being his passions, his “holiday” consists of him being a joint guide on study tours, offering insights about the local wildlife, their habitats and needs. Yet such tours provide the emotional release he needs, and a meaningful break from his “normal” work.

Last year he took a group to Borneo. Having already spent considerable time in South Africa previously, this year he will return there for his “holiday with a purpose” – again being a tour guide, spreading the word about the majesty and beauty of wild animals and their care.

This will revitalize him and recharge his energy levels – to get back into his bush aircraft again and fly around Australia, looking after the people and animals he loves. It's the world's largest veterinarian practice. A niche career for this bushie!