Past Conferences

Since 1983, CRANAplus has held its annu­al con­fer­ence to bond and unite the dis­persed remote and iso­lat­ed health work­force. The con­fer­ence serves as an oppor­tu­ni­ty for like-mind­ed remote and iso­lat­ed health indi­vid­u­als to net­work, con­nect and share.

Held at a dif­fer­ent loca­tion each year or under­tak­en online, the event brings togeth­er health prac­ti­tion­ers, man­agers, gov­ern­ment rep­re­sen­ta­tives, pol­i­cy mak­ers, aca­d­e­mics and stu­dents into an ener­getic social forum.

Built around a series of high qual­i­ty pre­sen­ta­tions, it pro­vides the ide­al plat­form for recog­nis­ing the out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tions of health pro­fes­sion­als through CRANAplus awards and fel­low­ships. Dis­cov­er past award win­ners.

2021 Vir­tu­al Symposium

The CRANAplus Vir­tu­al Sym­po­sium was held on Sep­tem­ber 17 2021 from 10:30am (AEST) to 4:40pm (AEST).

This one-day cel­e­bra­tion of ideas invit­ed health pro­fes­sion­als to Con­nect Across an Iso­lat­ed Land­scape as we con­tin­ued our 37-year-strong annu­al con­fer­ence tra­di­tion in an online envi­ron­ment for the first time.

Pre­sen­ters at the 2021 Vir­tu­al Sym­po­sium included:

• Helen Zahos, Human­i­tar­i­an and Dis­as­ter Nurse
• Adjunct Prof. Shel­ley Nowl­an, Deputy Rur­al Health Commissioner
• Prof. Yvonne Cadet-James, Aca­d­e­m­ic at James Cook University
• Prof. Roianne West, CEO of CATSINaM

Speak­ers dis­cussed top­ics includ­ing ear health, wound care, immu­ni­sa­tion, mater­ni­ty, COVID-19 and more — all from a remote and iso­lat­ed per­spec­tive. Revis­it the day’s pro­gram here.

Thank you to every­one who took time out of their busy sched­ule to attend, and to our spon­sors (Cor­ner­stone Med­ical Recruit­ment, Sug­ar­man Aus­tralia, Rur­al LAP, and Flinders Uni­ver­si­ty Col­lege of Nurs­ing & Health Sci­ences) for help­ing to make the event the suc­cess it was.

CRANAplus Con­fer­ence 2019

“Embrac­ing Diver­si­ty to Build Stronger Con­nec­tions”
Held at The Crowne Plaza Hunter Val­ley, Lovedale NSW from the 18^th — 20^th Sep­tem­ber 2019
2019 Con­fer­ence Program

CRANAplus Con­fer­ence 2018

“Think Glob­al, Act Local.”
Held at the Pull­man Cairns Inter­na­tion­al, Cairns, QLD on 20^th — 22^nd Sep­tem­ber 2018

CRANAplus Con­fer­ence 2017

“The Future of Remote Health and the Influ­ence of Tech­nol­o­gy”
Held at the Cable Beach Resort, Broome WA on the 18^th — 20^th of Octo­ber 2017.
2017 Con­fer­ence Program

CRANAplus Con­fer­ence 2016

“GOING TO EXTREMES : How iso­la­tion, geog­ra­phy & cli­mate, build resource­ful­ness & inno­va­tion in health­care”.
Held at the Grand Chan­cel­lor in Hobart on the 12^th — 14^th of Octo­ber 2016.
Our Keynote Address Speak­ers were Dr Bob Brown who spoke dur­ing the first day and The Hon. Michael Kir­by AC CMG, who spoke dur­ing the first ses­sion on Fri­day Octo­ber 14^th 2016.
2016 Con­fer­ence Program

CRANAplus Con­fer­ence 2015

“Telling Tales: The Pow­er of the Nar­ra­tive“
The 33^rd Annu­al CRANAplus Con­fer­ence was held at the Alice Springs Con­ven­tion Cen­tre — from Thurs­day 15^th Octo­ber, con­clud­ing Sat­ur­day 17^th Octo­ber 2015. Keynote Speak­ers includ­ed Stephanie Dale and Dr Bud­dhi Lokuge.
2015 Con­fer­ence Program

CRANAplus Con­fer­ence 2014

“Cre­at­ing and sus­tain­ing diver­si­ty with­in com­mu­ni­ties“
The 32^nd Annu­al CRANAplus Con­fer­ence was held at the Pull­man Albert Park — from Wednes­day 15^th Octo­ber, con­clud­ing Sat­ur­day 18^th Octover 2014.
Keynote Speak­ers includ­ed Tim Wil­son and Chris­tine Nixon.
2014 Con­fer­ence Program

CRANAplus Con­fer­ence 2013

“From the cra­dle to the grave“
The 31^st Annu­al CRANAplus Con­fer­ence was held at the Dou­ble Tree by Hilton Dar­win Esplanade in Dar­win — from Wednes­day 25^th Sep­tem­ber, con­clud­ing Sat­ur­day 28^th Sep­tem­ber 2013.
Keynote Speak­ers includ­ed Dr Philip Nitschke, Dr Peter Saul and Dr Yvonne Lux­ford.
2013 Con­fer­ence Program

CRANAplus Con­fer­ence 2012

“Remote pearls of wis­dom.“
The 30^th Annu­al CRANAplus Con­fer­ence was held at the Sebel Hotel in Cairns from Wednes­day 24^th Octo­ber 2012 and con­clud­ing Sat­ur­day 27^th Octo­ber 2012. The con­fer­ence was offi­cial­ly opened by by Queens­land Assis­tant Min­is­ter for Health The Hon. Chris Davis. Keynote speak­ers includ­ed the Hon. Michael Kir­by AC CMG, Karen Cook, Melis­sa Sweet, Lee Thomas and Dr Mark Wena­tong.
2012 Con­fer­ence Program

CRANAplus Con­fer­ence 2011

“Sup­port­ing the full spec­trum of remote health prac­tices.“
The 29^th Annu­al CRANAplus con­fer­ence was held at the Novetel Lan­g­ley Hotel in Perth, WA from Tues­day 11^th to Fri­day 14^th Octo­ber 2011. The con­fer­ence was offi­cial­ly opened by the Hon. Helen Mor­ton MLC, Min­is­ter for Men­tal Health and Dis­abil­i­ty Ser­vices WA. The open­ing cer­e­mo­ny also marked a sig­nif­i­cant mile­stone in CRANAplus’ his­to­ry with the pre­sen­ta­tion of the inau­gur­al CRANAplus Fel­lows. The pre­sen­ta­tion was made by Marie Bax­ter, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of Nurs­ing, WA Coun­try Health Ser­vice. The keynote speak­ers at the 2011 con­fer­ence were Pro­fes­sor Colleen Hay­ward, John Mof­flin and Lee Thomas.
2011 Con­fer­ence Program

CRANAplus Con­fer­ence 2010

“Remote Health – we’re out there… doing it, teach­ing it, sup­port­ing it and research­ing it.“
The 28^th Annu­al CRANAplus con­fer­ence was held at the Hotel Grand Chan­cel­lor in Ade­laide, SA from Wednes­day 13^th to Sat­ur­day 16^th Octo­ber 2010. The con­fer­ence was unique­ly opened at the Ade­laide Zoo­log­i­cal Gar­dens by The Hon­ourable War­ren Snow­don Min­is­ter for Vet­er­ans’ Affairs, Defence Sci­ence and Per­son­nel, and Indige­nous Health. The keynote speak­ers at the 2010 con­fer­ence were Rose­mary Bryant, Mr Greg Cavanagh and John Mof­flin.
2010 Con­fer­ence Program

CRANAplus Con­fer­ence 2009

The 27^th Annu­al CRANAplus con­fer­ence was held at the Alice Springs Con­ven­tion Cen­tre, Alice Springs, NT from Wednes­day 14^th to Sat­ur­day 17^th Octo­ber 2009. The event was opened with a Wel­come to Coun­try by Pat Ancell-Dodds, per­for­mances by the One Fire Dance Troupe and Drum Atweme and address­es from the Hon. War­ren Snow­don and Greg Rickard from NT Health. The keynote speak­ers at the 2009 con­fer­ence were Dami­an Amamoo and James Charles.

CRANAplus Con­fer­ence 2008

“Australia’s Remote Health Chal­lenge: Is Pri­ma­ry Health Care the Answer?“
The 26^th Annu­al CRANAplus con­fer­ence was held at the Novo­tel Rock­ford, Palm Cove, Cairns, QLD from Thurs­day 11^th to Sun­day 14^th Sep­tem­ber 2008. The keynote speak­ers at the 2008 con­fer­ence were Pro­fes­sor Earnest Hunter, Sabi­na Knight, Janet Mal­oney-Moni and Les­ley Podesta.

CRANAplus Con­fer­ence 2007

“Sil­ver Jubilee Con­fer­ence — Cel­e­brat­ing 25 years of Achieve­ment.“
The 25^th Annu­al CRANAplus con­fer­ence was held at the Bro­ken Hill Enter­tain­ment Cen­tre, Bro­ken Hill NSW from Thurs­day 13^th to Sun­day 16^th Sep­tem­ber 2008.