University faculties of agriculture and veterinary science (continued)

This decision, coming at a time when universities were about to enter a decade of rapid expansion, led to a remarkable growth of research in Faculties of Agricultural and Rural Science, and Veterinary Science, much of it funded by the Rural Industry Research Funds and the Rural Credits Fund of the Reserve Bank, although private donations and bequests from the agricultural community remained an important and welcome additional support.

Parallel to the establishment of the Faculties of Agriculture came the equally important development of Veterinary Schools in the Universities of Melbourne and Sydney during the early years of the present century. Indeed this development has been described as 'the initial step of major significance in planning the attack on problems of the Australian Livestock Industries'.[40] Just as agricultural graduates were mainly responsible for the increasing flow of research results which expanded our understanding of soil and plant science, the graduates in veterinary science pioneered studies on animal diseases. Graduates from both disciplines were to make important contributions in animal production (i.e. nutrition, genetics, reproduction, behaviour and management).

During the post-First World War depression, the value of livestock fell drastically and it was often not economic to seek the help of a veterinarian. With the consequent fall in employment opportunities for veterinary graduates there was a decline in student numbers which, at the University of Melbourne, was so severe that the Faculty of Veterinary Science ceased its undergraduate teaching functions altogether in 1928. With the return of prosperity in the sheep and cattle industries after the Second World War came a demand for more veterinary support and, following a successful public appeal for funds organized by the Victorian Graziers' Association, the University of Melbourne re-opened its undergraduate programs in veterinary science in 1963.

Meanwhile, the veterinary needs of northern Australia were met by the establishment of a Faculty of Veterinary Science in the University of Queensland in 1935, and a post-graduate Department of Tropical Veterinary Medicine at James Cook University of North Queensland in 1970. A School of Veterinary Science was established in Western Australia in 1973 as a foundation Faculty in Murdoch University, the State's second university.

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering