General News
15 December, 2025
Georgina leaves her post after two decades
The New Year is often a time for change, and 2026 will be no exception for Georgina Powell of Warracknabeal, who will retire after being a friendly face at the Warracknabeal Pharmacy for almost two decades.
The New Year is often a time for change, and 2026 will be no exception for Georgina Powell of Warracknabeal, who will retire after being a friendly face at the Warracknabeal Pharmacy for almost two decades.
On January 2, 2026, she will hand over the reins to a new manager and will take on additional duties with her husband, Steven, on the family farm.
"I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time I will miss the wonderful staff and the equally wonderful clients who, so many, have become friends over the years," she said.
"Working in the industry for 19 years means developing a personal relationship with many of the people I see regularly, and I am sure I will miss that."
Georgina will be missed by her senior manager, Aaron Bemet, who had high praise for her contribution ot the pharmacy and the community.
"George is a credit to the pharmacy and the wider Warracknabeal community," he said.
"In all my years, I have never encountered an individual who consistently puts both her team and community needs before her own.
"Her leadership, compassion, and unwavering commitment have made a lasting impact, and she will be sorely missed."
Georgina began her career in the pharmacy industry after leaving school at 15, before the pharmacy moved to its current location on Scott Street.
"The only time I had away from the pharmacy was when I was having our three children," Mrs Powell said.
"When the oldest was eight, I was offered my old job back, and so I went back two days a week part-time and then gradually progressed to full-time, and I have been managing for the past 15 years.
As an essential business, the staff were kept busy during the COVID-19 pandemic, and she remembers that time with pride, noting how they adapted to look after the community under such challenging conditions.
"None of us had any experience in anything like this, so we had to learn on the job.
"Deliveries became the norm because people were in isolation for so much of the time in Victoria."
One of the things she still remembers was the desperate need people had to communicate with someone.
"Dropping off a prescription that should take a few seconds would easily extend into much longer, but we soon realised that a chat was just as important as the medicine we were delivering because people were isolated and needed human contact," Mrs Powell said.
She still believes the staff's ability to adapt was remarkable and paramount in their continued ability to provide the service they did.
While the thought of leaving has its sad moments, she said the time is right.
"I already do the books for the farm, but being on the farm will mean I am around during shearing time and be able to be hands-on with lunches and smockos, and who knows, I may even learn some new skills on the farm," she said.
However, she says the new skills may not include driving the harvester or any other large machinery unless her husband, Steven, is willing to give her lessons.
She is also looking forward to the flexibility she'll have and being able to hitch the caravan on when it suits them.
While she is leaving the pharmacy, she said she will still be around, and some of that time will be finding new interests and hobbies.
But for a while, she will enjoy the quiet time on their generational farm.
"Stephen is the fourth generation of his family to farm the property, and our son Declan is the fifth," Mrs Powell said.
However, their family, like many others in the district, faces the uncertainty of what will happen to their farm as the mine gets closer.
"Our farm is not affected now, but it is in the proposed map," she said.
Like the farmers around them, she said, their family opposes their farm becoming a mine.
As her last day in the pharmacy looms, she said it was important to her to thank everyone, from the 100 or more staff over the years to the numerous customers who have trusted her with their health, their experiences, happy and sad, and had included her in their lives.
Georgina said having her family close by had been a big help when the children were young, and she would always be grateful to them for their help.
"They say it takes a village, and without my village I couldn't have done it," she said.