Besides people from the UK, Russia, Sweden, the Netherlands, France, Greece, Ireland, China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, New Zealand, Kenya and Australia, these 50 also include Kim Jagtiani from Mumbai and Anjaan RJ of Bangalore.

The search to fill this position, which has been named as “The Best Job in the World”, is part of a tourism-promotion campaign initiated by the Queensland state government and the selected person would get 1,50,000 Australian dollars (about Rs 50 lakh) for six months for Island caretaker role.

The 50 short-listed candidates from 22 countries include dance instructor, physiotherapist, chef, radio jockey, scientist, actor, interpreters, adventurers, students, television journalists and photographers.

The candidates were selected from 34,684 applications from across the globe for becoming caretaker of Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef.

“Tourism Queenslands offices across the globe have been burning the midnight oil short-listing the 34,684 applications for Islands of the Great Barrier Reef caretaker,” Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said in a statement.

“Yesterday, a team of Tourism Queensland marketing and international staff along with a professional recruitment company made the very tough decisions necessary to cut the short-list to the Top 50, “ Boyle said.

These candidates would now have to create a video of 60 seconds or less in English, explaining why they are the best person for the job in an entertaining way.

The Top 50 will be narrowed down to a final 11, 10 of whom will be chosen by Tourism Queensland, and an 11th 'wild card' applicant chosen by popular vote.

The 50 videos are being put up at the website created for the campaign for voting. The 11 short-listed candidates would fly to Hamilton Island in early May to take part in the final selection process. The successful candidate would be announced on May 6 and would begin work on July 1.

Boyle said the campaign is “ the key for Tourism Queensland and the wider Queensland tourism industry is to convert this phenomenal global interest into visitors to Queensland”.