AUSTRALIAN VETERINARY HISTORY RECORD February 2014 – NUMBER 67 The Australian Veterinary History Record is published by the Australian Veterinary History Group in the months of March, July and November. Please take the opportunity to visit the AVHS web page www.vetsci.usyd.au/avhs also the Australian Veterinary History Record when you log onto http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/222 Hon Editor: Dr AJ Turner, 25 Garton Street, Princes Hill Vic, 3054 Email: [email protected]; Tel. (03) 9380 1652. OFFICE BEARERS OF THE HISTORY GROUP President: Professor Mary Barton Secretary/Treasurer: Dr J Brady 58 Derrimut Road Hoppers Crossing, Vic. 3029 Phone 03 9749 3011 MHML Librarian: Dr AT Hart Committee Members: Dr Paul Canfield Dr Helen Fairnie Dr Keith Hughes Dr Patricia Mcwhirter Dr Dick Roe Dr Tony Davidson The Australian Veterinary History Group is a Special Interest Group of the AVA [AVHG]. All who are interested in any aspect of veterinary history may join. Annual subscription is $55. Please direct enquiries and correspondence to the President, Professor Mary Barton, University of South Australia, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, SA 5001, Tel. + 61 8 8302 2933. Email: [email protected] . All comments and opinions expressed in the Australian Veterinary History Record are those comments and opinions of the individual writers and not of the Editor, nor do they represent any official policy of the Australian Veterinary History Group or its Committee.. CONTENTS Page Notice of Meeting: Australian Veterinary History SIG AGM, 26 May 2014 1 Scientific Program: AVA Annual Conference, Perth, 26 May 2014 2 Historical articles 3 History and observations of Brunette Downs NT J Armstrong 3 Australia’s bid for the 1983 World Veterinary Congress E Malcolm ? Australian Veterinary History Society A Special Interest Group of the Australian Veterinary Association Ltd Notice is hereby given that the 23st Annual Meeting will be held in Perth on 26 May 2014 at 5.45 pm at the AVA AGM and Conference, Perth Convention Centre. AGENDA 1. Present: 2. Apologies: 3. Minutes of 22th AGM of AVHS These minutes were published in the Australian Veterinary History Record No 65, July 2013. 4. Business arising from the Minutes 5. Report of the President: Prof. Mary Barton AO 6. Report on Membership & Financial Report of the Honorary Secretary/Treasurer: Dr J Brady 7. Report of the Honorary Librarian: Dr AT Hart 8. Report of the Honorary AVA Archivist: Dr F Doughty 9. Report of the Honorary Editor of the Australian Veterinary History Record: Dr AJ Turner 10. Election of Office Bearers: [current appointments in brackets] President: [Mary Barton] Secretary/Treasurer: [Jeff Brady] Librarian: [Tom Hart] Editor: [Andrew Turner] Committee: [Paul Canfield, Keith Hughes, Helen Fairnie, Dick Roe, Patricia MacWhirter, Tony Davidson] 11. General Business 11.1 Long History of Veterinary Science 11.2 Women in Veterinary Science 12. Location of next meeting of AVHS [The next AVA Conference is in May 2015] An Annual Dinner will be held at at 7.00 pm. Please indicate intention to attend the dinner on the AVA Annual Conference 2013 Registration Form; pay on the night. Nominations for any of the Officer positions should be made in writing to the Secretary with the names of the members proposing and seconding the nomination and an affirmation that the nominee will stand for election and accept the position nominated for. Members with any items of business for the Annual Meeting should send that information to either the President or the Secretary at least one week before the meeting. Scientific Program: History stream Monday 27 May 2013 1.30-2.20 pm Resistance Issues in Australia: what’s super bugging the humans? Prof John Turnidge 2.30-3.20 pm Uncovering the past: discovering the history of two notable women veterinarians. Dr Helen Fairnie 4.00-4.50 pm Harold William Bennetts: a remarkable pioneer veterinary pathologist. Prof Mal Nairn 5.00-5.45 pm JL Burns & EA Weston Two pioneering veterinary surgeons in Western Australia. Prof Bill Clark . 5.45 AVHS Annual General Meeting. 7.30 pm Annual Dinner 2 HISTORICAL ARTICLES This article was the basis of a presentation to the Annual and Scientific Meeting of the AVH SIG in Towsville on Monday 20 May 2013. A History and Observations of Brunette Downs Station, Northern Territory. John Armstrong [email protected] The Property Brunette Downs Station is located on the Barkly Tableland in the north eastern part of the Northern Territory (NT) some 600 km northwest of Mt Isa and 200 km northeast of Tennant Creek. It currently comprises an area of 12,000 km2 [4,730 miles2]. The Station is located on black soil plains that support the Mitchell and Flinders grasses that are productive following the annual summer rainfalls. The flat plains are interspersed with whitewood ridges and lakes. The lakes, draining an area of 20,000 mile2 of Brunette and neighboring properties, cover approximately 20% of the property in wet years. Bluebush swamps, along the rivers and lakes, add balance to the landscape that is otherwise treeless. Figure 1. Vast treeless plain of Brunette Downs Figure 2. Bluebush occurring along the rivers and swamps 3 Settlement In 1861-2, William Landsborough was sent by the Victorian and Queensland (Qld) governments in search of the Burke and Wills expedition. The party discovered the area and named it the Barkly Tableland, after Sir Henry Barkly, Governor of Victoria. After his return to Melbourne with Burke and Wills’s horses and other mementoes, Landsborough published the memoirs of his journeys. This sparked interest in the Barkly Tableland and Sutherland drove 7000 sheep from Burketown to Rocklands in 1862. Also in 1862, Ranken and Lorne took 4000 sheep from Hughenden to Avon Downs. Both ventures failed demonstrating that it was not sheep country! This lesson was not easily learnt until much later but it must be borne in mind that sheep had the advantage of producing a non-perishable product able to withstand transport to market with potentially greater profitability than cattle. In 1877, Nathaniel Buchanan and a small party crossed the Barkly Tableland from Camooweal in Qld to Powell Creek in NT traversing Brunette Downs to the north of the lakes. Buchanan telegraphed the South Australian Government from Powell Creek, on the transcontinental telegraph, to secure leases just released only to find he had been beaten to the leases by city speculators. Tenure The NT was initially under the jurisdiction of the South Australian Government. In 1876-7, the SA Government offered 400 mile2 blocks with the condition that they were to be stocked within a time limit. Speculators took multiple blocks mostly sight unseen and, when seen, many were surrendered. Those interested in settlement preferred the Qld lease system for land tenure compared with the SA Government offering outright ownership. The SA administration was not subject to persuasion on lease arrangements and by regulation offered outright sale to prospective settlers. It was believed that leasehold tenure would discourage development of the properties. Ownership In 1878, Kilgour and Woodhouse were the first to purchase the land around Brunette Downs and in 1881 sold the purchase to Walter Douglas for £4000 ($8,000), who then sold it to McDonald, Smith and MacAnsh for £10,000 in 1883. Cattle were introduced to the Brunette Downs in 1884 and 1885. The White Brothers purchased the property in the name of the Gulf Cattle Company in 1903 and started the process of establishing sub-artesian bores across the property. Brunette Downs was put up to auction in 1918 valued at £45 000 but no bid was received. In 1926, AJ Cotton took an option for subdivision of the station for sheep whereby an entity would be floated on the stock market. The option was not exercised. A copy of the prospectus is shown in Figure 3. Of colorful characters associated with the property, Harry Redford, an accused but acquitted cattle duffer, managed Brunette Downs from 1884 to circa 1888 and then established Corella Station, now part of Brunette, where he drowned in 1891. In 1958, King Ranch Australia purchased the lease of Brunette Downs for £1 million in the middle of a severe drought and set about establishing further improvements to the property. In 1978, the Australian Agricultural Company purchased the property for $3.5 million. 4 Figure 3. The 1926 prospectus for the sale of shares in Brunette Downs The Seasons at Brunette Downs Good records of rainfall have been kept for over a Century. The average annual rainfall from 1893 to 1970 has been 369 mm. From 1971 to 2012, average rainfall was 528 mm, from 1893- 2012, 455mm. Being in Northern Australia, the distribution is monsoonal with wet summers and dry winters. Droughts have occurred frequently. There was no escape for stock, until road transport was developed post World War 2 (WW2). Road transport offered some options for rapidly moving cattle facing drought conditions. 5 Table 1. Average monthly rainfall (mm) Brunette Downs 1893-1967 200 100 0 Jul Jan Jun Oct Apr Sep Feb Dec Aug Nov Mar May Cattle Shorthorns were the dominant cattle breed in the district until the 1950s and the Brunette Downs herd was well regarded. However, Bos taurus cattle were not well adapted to the environment and the local endemic diseases and consequently, productivity was poor. For improved productivity, Bos indicus blood was required at 40-60%. King Ranch established a Santa Gertrudis Stud at Brunette Downs. However, with only 37.5% Bos indicus blood, pure breed cattle were at the lower limit needed to achieve the best benefit of increased productivity. First cross cattle had only 18% Bos indicus genotype and their calves at 9% had little impact!! Productivity The early station records are not sufficiently accurate to measure the customary indicators.