Courier – August 2010. - Australian College of Veterinary Scientists

18
V I C M E N R A T H O R A T I O N
Victor Hans Menrath
Oration
Taken from Victor Hans
Menrath Oration, presented by
Dr Marcus Gunew FACVSc
(Feline Medicine)
Victor Hans Menrath was born to Dutch parents in
Indonesia, spending the first 3 years of his life in a
Japanese concentration camp. His family moved to
New Zealand, and here Vic attained a Bachelor in
Agriculture. Vic went on to a Veterinary degree
from University of Queensland in 1968. He did
time as a government vet in New Zealand, then
moved to Australia and worked in Sydney for a
year, before moving to Queensland.
Vic recognized early that cats don’t like dogs! It seems
elementary, but Vic was visionary for his time.
Establishing the first cat practice in Australia, and indeed
second only in the world, Vic was moving into new
territory in what may be considered a brave move in
Brisbane in 1982. Vic established the Creek Road Cat
Surgery, later renamed Creek Road Cat Clinic, which
today lives on as The Cat Clinic, expanded to 3 locations
in Brisbane.
Vic became a Member of the College in 1978, and
then attained Fellowship of the College by
examination in 1982. He was the first private
practice based veterinary specialist in Australia. He
has been a speaker at numerous conferences locally,
nationally and internationally. Vic was also an
external examiner for UQ, as well as serving on the
board of examiners for the College in Feline
Medicine from 1985 to 1991. Vic has been a
passionate teacher of both veterinary students and
practitioners. He has been published in journals
and textbook chapters. But
above and beyond his academic prowess, Vic
preferred to be at the coalface of his feline practice,
as happy to see a kitten vaccination as a
complicated medical referral, and equally equipped
for both.
True to his love of cats, Vic could not stand to see
so many cats dying of Chronic Kidney Disease. He
endeavoured to rectify this by establishing a kidney
transplant program, the first outside of the USA,
and notably the first in private practice. Powered
only by his own steam, Vic ventured to the USA to
learn the technique of kidney transplants,
performing the first clinical transplant in his
practice in 1995. Never driven by profits or glory,
Vic priced this procedure accordingly, making it
democratically available to his clients.
During the 70’s and early 80’s the wholesale supply
to the vet industry was a bit hit and miss. Provet, of
which Vic was a founding director, was established
to provide a reliable and fairly priced veterinary
wholesaler that returned its profits to the veterinary
community. Vic has been a director continuously.
Provet has now grown to be Australia’s largest
veterinary wholesaler and employs over 300 staff,
and is listed on the ASX.
Vic was first elected to the Veterinary Surgeons
Board of Queensland in 1986, and has served on the
board ever since. He has always strived to provide
fair assessment, giving much time to this thankless
task to serve the interests of the profession. Vic has
also been president and secretary of the Brisbane
Veterinary Practitioner's branch of the AVA.
An outstanding characteristic of Vic's is that he has
never forgotten the love of animals in general, and
cats in particular. He has stayed passionate and true
to this topic. A true gentleman, Vic has had the
tireless support of his wife Helen, very much a part
of his practice, and perhaps instrumental in stirring
his love of cats. Vic has also maintained over the
years that as veterinarians we should not lose our
clinical skills for technological advancements. Vic
has placed the interests of the cats first and
foremost. He is a visionary, a gentleman, and a
man of integrity.
Australian College of Veterinary Scientists – ACVSc – August 2010