It's been a long time coming, but Dr John Houston Paradice has today been awarded the prestigious Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his dedication and service to the Scone community over many years.

"I'm a bit overcome because in all the time that I was in medicine I was just doing my job so I didn't expect this," he said.

Dr Paradice now joins former colleagues Dr Toby Barton, who learned of his national award of Australia Day 2001, and Dr David Barton Warden, a recipient on this day last year, in winning the medal.

The trio, along with Dr Walter Pye MBE, did exceptional work during their time together at the Scone Medical Practice from the early 1950s through to the 1980s.

Dr Pye was made a Member of the British Empire in the Queens Birthday Honours List for 1973.

Dr Paradice, who retired in 2004 after spending most of his extensive medical career in Scone, said all four men had similar backgrounds and training.

"The Scone practice was well-known as one of the longest established practices in the country," he said.

"We had a practice that remained a great training ground for rural general practitioners because of the nature of it; we all became skilled in many areas of medicine.

"In those days, we were fortunate in that we were able to do more I believe than the general practitioners in the country.

"For instance, I was the government medical officer carrying out post-mortems which they would never do now.

"It was a rather unpleasant and difficult part of the job."

Dr Paradice also reserved special praise for the role of nurses throughout his career.

He said a doctor's work was only as good as the support they received.