The Accidental Chook Vet
I was both delighted and surprised to get the phone call from Julie advising that I
had been awarded the 2011 Australian Poultry Award.
The surprise to some extent is because I have regarded myself as a bit more of a
generalist than a specifically dedicated poultry scientist. However, obviously I
am delighted to be recognized by peers for any contributions that I may have
made to poultry science.
In fact, my initial involvement with poultry as a career choice was accidental, or
more precisely the result of a tragic accident, rather than a considered decision.
Early in my career I was working as a Veterinary Research Officer in the
bacteriology section at the NSW government vet labs at Glenfield – the
forerunner of the EMAI. The bacteriology section was not involved with poultry
– that was done ‘over there’ in a separate building. The 2 poultry vets on staff
were – Clive Jackson who would be known to many of you – he is a previous
recipient of this award – and Miran Lindtner. Clive had just been given leave of
absence to do a PhD at Houghton. Dr Lindtner was in Europe. He attempted to
board a train that was starting to leave a station, slipped and fell and was
tragically killed. This of course came as a great shock to all the staff at Glenfield
and it meant that here were no vets to service the Poultry Section.
A short time later I was called into the Director’s office and he asked me whether
I would like to become a poultry pathologist. I said – not particularly – I was
very happy with what I was doing in mammalian bacteriology. His response was
– well you had better get used to it because that is what you are going to do. I
said I knew bugger all about poultry pathology – probably phrased it a bit
differently – but he just told me I had better learn.
So, I became a self-taught poultry pathologist. I was aided in this by a plentiful
supply of dead birds from the Department’s Poultry Research Station at Seven
Hills. There was scientist working there called Bob Pym who seemed to be able
to supply them, in various stages of decomposition, on a regular basis. I think I
may have been uniquely fortunate in having a future global President of WPSA
assisting me so practically in learning how to post mortem a chook.
Some time later I got a job at Tegels looking after their chicken breeder and
turkey flocks. This was a pivotal point in my career because one of my roles was
to assist in eradicating Mycoplasma gallisepticum and M. synoviae from their
grandparent and elite flocks. Mycoplasmas, of course, became a focus for the
rest of my career. However, I also treasure the experience of actually working in
the industry that we, as poultry scientists, serve. If there is a take home message
in this short speech, it is for young scientists to take whatever opportunity you
can to get out of the lab and get some experience about how the industry
operates. You will be surprised what you learn and how you can apply it.
In research you don’t exist as an island and the reality is that you are probably
only as good as the people around you. I have been very fortunate to work with
some very good people, both colleagues and students. There are too many to
name individually but I would just like to highlight a couple of them. Professor
Glenn Browning took over from me as the Director of APCAH the Asia Pacific
Centre for Animal Health at the University of Melbourne. He has built it into a
much larger and stronger group than I left it and they are doing world-class
research over a diverse range of topics. The second person I would like to
mention is Professor Mingan Choct. As Julie mentioned, I was involved with the
Poultry CRC during its early days, perhaps not from conception, but certainly
from mid gestation through to birth and early childhood. The Poultry CRC under
Mingan’s stewardship has been a fantastic success – the CRC is a source of
genuine national pride. Having retired out to pasture it provides great
satisfaction and pleasure for me to see how successful these two research
centres have become.
Finally, where would any of us be without the love and support of our families?
My wife Deb has been my soul mate through 45 years of marriage – thanks Deb.
And finally, finally, I would like to thank the WPSA Awards Committee for
thinking me worthy of this prestigious award and to whoever it was that kindly
nominated me. It is a privilege and an honour to have received the Australian
Poultry Award.
Thank you.