Objective. The availability of health services in rural areas creates challenges for the existing providers and health consumers. In preparation for an exploratory study of these issues, we aimed to identify 1) a suitable community to study, and 2) the existing services in this community. Methods. 1) A health services mapping consultant (RE) provided proximity, demographic and preliminary health services data for towns in the Darling Downs region. 2) Services in the identified community/region were confirmed by systematic Internet searches, hard-copy directories, Government databases and telephone calls, using snowballing techniques to saturation. Providers were then confirmed by direct contact. Results. A community comprising 4 towns in the Darling Downs region was selected for study, based on descriptive data and preliminary health services data. Eight health service search engines supplemented direct contact with health providers. A list of 30 types of health and allied health providers was generated. The towns were serviced by 23-51 full- and part-time health-care providers and affiliated organisations. Discussion. Further refinement will identify providers aligned with medication services, which will be coded to identify overlap between the towns. Further providers may be identified during data collection in the community exploring specific roles. Acknowledgements. Pharmacists Board of Queensland funding.