Veterinary Surgeons in Geelong.

In the records of the veterinary profession in Australia some of the early members came here with consignments of horses, others traded in horses for India and other countries, and many ran or were associated with livery stables in the colony. Of course, they worked with other animals, especially those veterinarians appointed to government posts concerned with the control of introduced diseases such as sheep scab, and perhaps foot and mouth; but the horse was the most valuable animal, and to owners and dealers worth skilled attention.

In Geelong the same situation was evident, since in the excellent sets of copies of early newspaper and commercial advertisements provided at our Historical Records Centre, references to “veterinary surgeons” are usually linked with those of “farriers”, “livery stable keepers” and even “horse doctor”. Many of these people seem to have worked well together, keeping to their particular fields. In fact, until the 1930s, the veterinary surgeons of Geelong all operated from livery stables, owned by themselves or other people. In the earliest advertisements there was a politeness and pride that suggested the growth of a profession.

Veterinary surgeons listed in early editions of the Geelong & Western District Directory were: 1843, William CARROLL at the Corio Hotel; 1846, Lewis ROBERTSON at the Fyansford Inn; 1849, James KELLY was listed as “Farrier and Veterinary Surgeon”; and, in 1845, G. J. FRENCH was a farrier with an address at Scott’s Druggist, Corio Terrace, so there would have been horse remedies available there. In 1851, J. MOBBS was listed as a “Horse Doctor” at Antony Murray’s livery stable at the Market Square, rear Rock o’ Cashel. In the same Register for 1854 was a sizeable advertisement:

HORSE BAZAAR AND VETERINARY STABLES

Great & Little Malop Streets, East.
JOHN SOOLEY Horse Dealer & Veterinary Surgeon

Begs to acquaint the inhabitants of Geelong and its vicinity that having secured the above spacious premises, he is prepared to practise his profession in all its branches, in which he has been extensively engaged in England for upwards of twenty five years, and assures those who may entrust him with their business, that the strictest attention will be paid to their interest, and it is his determination to spare no exertion to merit the patronage which he now respectfully solicits.

HORSES BOUGHT AND SOLD ON COMMISSION.

Also in the 1854 list was R. T. WALLIS of 58 Villamanta Street; but in 1855 he had become Dr. WALLIS, Homeopathic Medical Practitioner and Veterinary Surgeon. There were J. TOOLEY of Britannia Street; Angel CENTANZI of Little Ryrie Street, West; and Samuel HAWKES of Aberdeen Street, all in the Veterinary Surgeons’ category.

In the 1858 Register was another display advertisement of interest:

S. LAMBLE’S

Veterinary and Shoeing Forge Ryrie Street East.

Conducted under his own Personal Superintendence, assisted by Practical Men of experience and ability. S.L.’s attention to the anatomy of the foot of the horse enables him to guarantee carrying out the Latest Discoveries and Improvements in Scientific Shoeing and that on terms indisputably moderate.

So, from these two interesting advertisements we see one, a horse dealer, livery stable keeper and veterinary surgeon; and the other, a farrier and veterinary surgeon. And following these, in the 1861 list, the heading is Veterinary Surgeons and Farriers, and there are eight: Robert CURTIS of Little Ryrie Street West; James CAMERON of Kardinia Street; James HINDMARSH of Autumn Street; S. LAMBLE of Ryrie Street East; J. MORKHAM of Ryrie Street East; William MOORE of Clarence Street; R. PRIMES of Little Malop Street; and J. SOOLEY of Ryrie Street.

There were schools of Veterinary Surgery in some European countries, and the early qualified veterinary surgeons in Australia had trained at the Royal Veterinary College in London, Edinburgh University, Copenhagen, Lyons or Paris. Those who had trained, or practised, in Britain were generally Members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (M.R.C.V.S.), and there were about thirty of them in Victoria from the 1840s to 1880s; but I can find no evidence of any in Geelong. The veterinary surgeons of Geelong of that period were farriers, livery stable keepers and other horse handlers, who, by experience and interest, had taken on the work of horse doctoring, more than general animal care that we assume today.

As with professions where training by studies was available, those veterinary surgeons who had qualifications sought to safeguard their training and their status as professionals by forming an association and seeking limits on people practising in veterinary surgery. Although there were several men who contributed much to the veterinary profession in Victoria there were two whose efforts stood out and affected the nature of veterinary practices in Geelong. Graham Mitchell came to Victoria in 1854, practised privately at Kirk’s Bazaar in Bourke Street, Melbourne, just up the hill from Elizabeth Street, and then, as probably the first government veterinarian, he reported on Foot and Mouth disease, and introduced inoculation against pleuropneumonia. William T. Kendall came to Victoria in 1880, and also was in practice at Kirk’s Bazaar. He was responsible for purchasing most of the horses for the Victorian contingent of troops in the Boer War, and made many reports to the Government on animal diseases, including one on “cripples” in cattle on the You Yangs.

Graham Mitchell and W. T. Kendall established the first Australian Veterinary Association, and were active in pressing Governments to legislate for the regulation and registration of veterinary surgeons in Victoria, and to establish a veterinary college. After many rebuffs Kendall himself opened a private college at 38 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. The building still stands, with its original facade, the name MELBOURNE VETERINARY COLLEGE on it, and some of the old stalls inside. W. T. Kendall ran a private practice at the college, no doubt to help finance the work of teaching a small number of students. Probably the students gained a good training in practical animal handling in the stalls and loose boxes of the practice, along with lectures from British trained veterinary surgeons, medical practitioners and pharmacists, many of whom were then leaders in their professions, or became such.

Victoria was the first colony to pass an act giving protection to veterinary surgeons, and a board, The Veterinary Board of Victoria, was formed in 1888, amid much wrangling between veterinary surgeons who supported Kendall in his efforts to found a colonial veterinary college and those who did not, and between those who supported a wide range of applicants and those who favoured more limited recognition. Eventually the Board began work and agreed to register veterinary surgeons from a number of overseas institutions and Kendall’s Melbourne Veterinary College; it set out the subjects that had to have been studied, and here again the bias towards the understanding and care of the horse was noticeable.

In addition to these requirements there was a clause in the Act that required the Board to register a person if “he has been continuously practising in Victoria as a veterinary surgeon throughout the seven years immediately preceding the commencement of The Veterinary Surgeons Act 1887”. In Geelong this clause left the way open for those who met the requirement to seek registration; all other people had to remove the word “veterinary” from their names, advertisements and from anything else that suggested that they were registered practitioners.

Samuel Lamble, who advertised his “Veterinary and Shoeing Forge” in 1858, was one of the first “existing practitioners” registered as a veterinary surgeon: at Great Ryrie Street, Geelong, on November 14, 1888. Other Geelong “existing practitioners” registered were: Henry Hudson of Myers Street, on January 21, 1889; George Montgomery Haygarth of Inverleigh, on June 19, 1889; and, on this same date, Robert Fairlie Baird of Little Malop Street. These continued to practise; but all had given up practice or died by 1900, except R. F. Baird, who was still listed in the Veterinary Board’s register in 1902, and may have continued for a few years after this.

While this registration of practising veterinary surgeons was taking place in Victoria, the four year training of students at W. T. Kendall’s Melbourne Veterinary College was proceeding and, in December, 1891, the first three were passed and graduated. They were W. J. Cother, who became the first veterinary graduate appointed to a government stock inspector’s position; his address was given as “Geelong” in the register, so it is possible that his area of …possible that his area of responsibility at first was Geelong and surrounding districts. The next was H. H. Edwards, who took up a similar position in Western Australia; and the third was John Black Leitch, who, after a period assisting at the College in Fitzroy, became a veterinary surgeon in Geelong in 1894, and became well known over twenty years here. His first address was given as “Saleyards, Ryrie Street”; but within a few years, certainly by 1898, he had moved to 46 Kilgour Street, and his new advertisement read:

VETERINARY HOSPITAL

Horses Admitted and Treated Skilfully
At all hours.
VET. SURGEON J. B. LEITCH, M.M.C.V.S
46 Kilgour Street
Agent for YORKSHIRE LIVE STOCK INSURANCE COMPANY.
Telephone — 303

J. B. Leitch was a well known member of Geelong’s society and appeared in various groups. He was a member of some of the science and hobby societies founded at the Gordon Technical College (it did not become The Gordon Institute of Technology until 1921) by the noted principal, George R. King. In the report of the Gordon Photographic Club for 1899 I was interested to read “our old friend, veterinary surgeon Mr. J. B. Leitch, is away at the Boer War”. And to quote further on this I found, from the records of the War Memorial in Canberra, that John B. Leitch was listed as a Veterinary Lieutenant with the 4th Victorian Imperial Bushmen, and then a Veterinary Captain with the 3rd Australian Commonwealth Horse, and that he was awarded the Queen’s Medal with four clasps, and the King’s Medal with two clasps. This suggests that he was away from his practice in 1899, 1900 and at least half of 1901. As a veterinary surgeon he may have been kept there later, and the King’s Medal with two clasps shows service in the reign of Edward VII.

J. B. Leitch also contributed to the courses at The Gordon, and in the notice of courses for the new term in 1894 the Advertiser reported: “Mr. Leitch, the well known veterinary surgeon, begins a course of lectures on veterinary science for farmers, stock breeders and others.” Mr. Neil Campbell, the stock and station agent, had given lectures to the woolclassing students on sheep husbandry; but Leitch’s lectures were a new subject for The Gordon, and they were continued by two of his successors in the veterinary practice.

For a second time Leitch left his practice in Geelong to serve as a veterinary surgeon in a war — World War I. Captain J. B. Leitch was a member of the Australian Army Veterinary Corps and served in France for much of the war. His name is in the War Memorial in Johnstone Park. Perhaps he had had enough of war and horses, because on his return to Australia Leitch decided to take up a fruit block at Irymple, no doubt under the Soldier Settlement scheme. As he was still registered as a veterinary surgeon at that address in 1935, we can hope that he was one of the successful “blockies”, and that his forty years of veterinary experience were still being applied in practice.

It was interesting to note that Leitch increased his veterinary qualifications over his years of practice: first, G.M.V.C., a graduate of the Melbourne Veterinary College; but when he set up his “Veterinary Hospital” in Kilgour Street, he used the letters M.M.C.V.S., which was probably as a Member of the Melbourne College of Veterinary Surgeons, and looks like an attempt to compete with veterinary surgeons who claimed M.R.C.V.S.; but in Irymple he had collected this overseas membership as well. In the 1935 register he had a B.V.Sc., presumably from the University of Melbourne, which had agreed to have the Melbourne Veterinary College’s activities transferred there; and the Veterinary School was set up in Story Street, Parkville, in 1908, in buildings which are still there behind the present School on Flemington Road.

Reading the lists of registered veterinary surgeons from the first, 1889, to the present edition, No. 90, there are names that appear with Geelong addresses; but they do not appear to have been in practice here, according to other evidence. Someone whose home address during the period of veterinary studies was in Geelong, or someone who came to fill in for a resident practitioner could have given the Registrar a temporary Geelong address; and that does not help a researcher!

One such person who may come under this heading is Herbert Seton Stewart Kyle, whose address in the 1896–98 and 1900 lists is “Allington House”, La Trobe Terrace, Geelong. Herbert Kyle was the son of William Kyle, a retired stock inspector from the New South Wales service at the border crossing at Echuca, although he may have been involved later in the frozen meat trade in Geelong or Melbourne. Herbert Kyle went to school in Geelong and enrolled at the Melbourne Veterinary College, from which he graduated (G.M.V.C.) in 1896. I wondered if he had set up in practice, acted as a locum for John Leitch when Leitch was at the Boer War, or just used his parents’ address for registration but, when looking through the Records Centre’s folios of photographs, I had a lucky find — No. 256, “A Group of Well Known Dog Trainers” published in the Melbourne Tatler in the late 1890s. The men in the group were named (and so was the greyhound!): the last two named were J. B. Leitch and H. S. S. Kyle! So Herbert Kyle was possibly Leitch’s assistant for some of that time: he was at Ballarat in 1899; and in Geelong in 1900, perhaps while John Leitch was at the Boer War, and then in 1901 he went to New Zealand, in abattoir inspection, farming, and later entered Parliament.

Another veterinary surgeon of that period with a Geelong address was William Henry Finney, who had graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1914, may have been away at the war, and certainly spent most of his working life in the meat inspection service in Brisbane.

In 1914 Robert Norman Wardle, my father, came from Ballarat Agricultural High School to enrol at the University of Melbourne in the Veterinary School. At some stage of the studies he, and other students, were offered accelerated courses if they would continue as students, and then on graduation, accept commissions in the Light Horse Brigades of the A.I.F. He graduated in 1916 and, after training and duties at the Maribyrnong Remount Depot and Veterinary Hospital, he was sent to Egypt first and then to Palestine, as O.C. of H.Q. Divisional Trains, and the 8th Mobile Veterinary Section of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade. Veterinary officers and their staffs were late returning from the war zones because of Australian quarantine regulations prohibiting the importation of animals from all countries except Great Britain and New Zealand; and, while some animals were sold to suitable local sources, most of the treasured horses were destroyed — a harrowing task.

When Robert Wardle returned to Australia in November, 1919, he heard that J. B. Leitch had left Geelong for the fruit block at Irymple and, after being assured by Leitch that he would not be returning to Geelong, my father set up a new practice at Moore’s stables in Kardinia Street.

It is possible that there were graduate veterinary surgeons practising in Geelong during J. B. Leitch’s two periods of absence, although I have yet to find evidence in the newspapers; but there were none when Robert Wardle started here. He told me that Leitch’s absence had allowed at least two farriers, unregistered as veterinary surgeons, to become known as “vets”, because of their skills at handling horses. As the Veterinary Act required individuals to take the action before the Veterinary Board against unregistered practitioners, the new veterinary surgeon faced them himself, but it took him some time to establish his own reputation and to overcome all of them.

Robert Wardle took up the lecturing at The Gordon that Leitch had started nearly twenty years before, and continued it for his six years in practice in Geelong. He was pleased to be classed as a “visiting instructor” of the Wool Department, and appeared in the handbook as such. He was also veterinary surgeon to the Geelong Agricultural and Pastoral Society, the Geelong Racing Club, the Geelong Trotting Club, the Victoria Coursing Club, and The Gordon Wool Advisory Committee; and when he left Geelong to take a position with the Department of Agriculture he was given a farewell at The Gordon Institute of Technology by all these organisations. It must have been a long evening at The Gordon, because in the manner of the times, everyone, including my father’s father and father in law, was toasted, and all the organisations mentioned above had representatives who spoke.

I have often speculated about my father leaving his interesting practice in Geelong; but the times and the nature of the practice were changing. He himself had changed from driving one of Mr. Moore’s horse drawn buggies to an “Improved A model Ford”, especially for calls among the farming communities out of Geelong, and he saw that the future of the Geelong practice would involve a lot more small animal work. He was still a “horse” man after his war experiences! After some years as a district veterinary officer he was involved in administration and legislation, and later he became Director of Veterinary Hygiene in the Commonwealth Service, concerned particularly with quarantine. An interesting extension of his work after World War I with the horses that could not be returned to Australia occurred when he refused entry to the horses of overseas competitors in the 1956 Olympic Games, and eventually was backed up by farmers’ leaders!

At his farewell at The Gordon Robert Wardle introduced the veterinary surgeon whom he had found to take over his practice, and all the honorary and consultant work that he had collected. This was Douglas Just Sefton, who had graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1919 and had been in practice at Wangaratta for six years. He came from a farming family at Tungamah in north eastern Victoria, but had a connection with Geelong through his mother’s parents, Rosina and Jacob Just, vignerons, of Steiglitz and Geelong, so he knew the town and the farming communities that he would serve. Douglas Sefton was also trained in horse and other large animal practice, and continued working from Moore’s stables in Kardinia Street. After a few years he did move to stables next to the Corio Hotel in Yarra Street (Burns’?) but he made an even greater move in 1940 when he bought a property at 172 Malop Street, and had built there a modern veterinary surgery, complete with animal holding stalls and cages, an operating room with specialised equipment and a reception room and business office. It was the first of such specialist veterinary surgeries in provincial Victoria, and allowed him to treat small animals, and also large animals brought in from sheep and cattle studs.

His practice continued right through the Second World War with him as one of the few, if not the only, veterinary surgeon available in western Victoria. And if the decline in the numbers of his much favoured horses was not bad enough, the car in which he visited his clients had to be powered by a gas producer!

In 1950 Douglas Sefton was joined in his practice by his elder son, Daryl Ralph Sefton, who had graduated from Sydney University, after having studied the first year at Melbourne, which had closed the Veterinary School. Douglas Sefton had carried a busy and extensive practice on his own for twenty five years and just when the assistance of his son, Daryl, was taking some of the long hours of work from him, Douglas Just Sefton suffered a stroke and died in 1952.

Daryl Sefton, with administrative and client assistance from his wife, continued the practice at Malop Street, coping with a noticeable increase in small animal treatment. Daryl also became a visiting lecturer at the new Veterinary Clinical Centre of the re opened Veterinary School of the University of Melbourne, teaching students Veterinary Practice, a subject well suited to a veterinarian from Geelong! In 1966 Daryl and Nini Sefton opened a new era as the founders of a rebirth of the Geelong wine industry with the planting of grape vines at Moorabool, an interest that they had had for many years, and in the tradition of their Just ancestors. The practice at 172 Malop Street was sold in 1979 to John Hole, M.R.C.V.S., from the Royal Veterinary College, London, who continued there for three years and then moved to the developing suburb of Grovedale.

In 1950, when Douglas Just Sefton was the sole practitioner in Geelong, a newly graduated veterinary surgeon from Sydney University, Gerald Robert Swinburn, set up a new practice at Newcomb in conjunction with the Lost Dogs Home in Wilsons Road. In 1958 he moved to new premises at 355 Moorabool Street with modern facilities for animal treatment and care. As his practice grew, he took in partners, eventually forming the Kardinia Veterinary Clinic with four partners. Gerald Swinburn has retired from this clinic, which is still functioning, and he is engaged in farming, horse care and locum work at Wallington.

In the 1975 Veterinary list there were eleven people with Geelong and district addresses, and ten of them were in private practice: a great increase from a few years earlier. But ten years later there are thirty five veterinary surgeons listed with Geelong and district addresses! Twenty of them are in private practice, and the others are in government service, in abattoirs, in meat inspection, and in other related fields. This shows the growth of veterinary practice in Geelong over the last thirty years, from one practitioner in 1950 to thirty five in 1985.

This growth reflects the changing nature of veterinary work. The horse, once the most valuable animal in Geelong, had declined in importance, and small animal practice had increased. The veterinary surgeons of Geelong had adapted to this change, and their practices had become more varied and more specialised. The establishment of modern surgeries, with facilities for small animals as well as large, was a significant development, and the growth of partnerships and clinics showed the increasing demand for veterinary services in the community.

The veterinary surgeons of Geelong have also contributed to the profession in wider ways. Several have lectured at the University of Melbourne Veterinary School, and others have been involved in professional associations and committees. Their work has extended beyond Geelong to the state and national levels, and their contributions have been recognised in the profession.

The story of veterinary surgeons in Geelong is thus one of adaptation and growth. From the early days when farriers and livery stable keepers took on the work of horse doctoring, through the establishment of registered practitioners and the founding of the Melbourne Veterinary College, to the modern practices and clinics of today, the profession has developed and expanded. The veterinary surgeons of Geelong have played their part in this story, and their work has been important to the community and to the profession.