CSIRO Division of Animal Health (1959 - 2000)

Summary

Established in November 1959, the Division of Animal Health conducted research and development activities in the area of animal health. In July 2000, the Division was replaced by Livestock Industries.

Details

From "CSIRO research for Australia" (1962):

" In the Division of Animal Health the study of bacterial diseases at the Parkville laboratory has followed an established pattern study of the diseased animal, isolation and identification of the responsible micro-organism, preparation of a vaccine. Pleuropneumonia of cattle was one of the first diseases to be tackled, and the laboratories have for many years supplied vaccine for use in the endemic areas in Australia and overseas. Some 1,300,000 doses are now prepared each year. Another disease successfully tackled was black disease of sheep, which was estimated to cost the industry £4,000,000 a year in pre-war days. Enterotoxaemia of sheep, or "pulpy kidney", was the next to be studied. The vaccines for black disease and pulpy kidney are now manufactured by the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, and their use is standard throughout large pastoral areas of Australia. Bovine mastitis was studied intensively, and control methods based on milking shed hygiene were worked out. A successful line of work developed at Parkville has been chemical pathology, particularly of the liver, due to alkaloids and the excessive uptake of the mineral elements, copper and molybdenum. This has led to means for the prevention of toxaemic jaundice and the notorious Kimberley horse disease.

Recently a virology unit has been established with the idea of anticipating future trouble from virus-borne diseases.

At the McMaster Laboratory, and at Armidale, the parasites of sheep have been studied in the laboratory and within the environment of the pasture. Research has been concentrated on both internal parasites (particularly stomach worms) and external parasites such as the blowfly, the tick, the louse, and the itch mite. At Yeerongpilly, the internal parasites of cattle, and "tick fever" in cattle infested with ticks, have been the principal topics of research."

Related entries

Timeline

 1927 - 1936 CSIR Division of Animal Nutrition
 1930 - 1936 CSIR Division of Animal Health
       1936 - 1944 CSIR Division of Animal Health and Nutrition
             1944 - 1959 CSIR/O Division of Animal Health and Production
                   1959 - 2000 CSIRO Division of Animal Health
                         2000 - CSIRO Livestock Industries

Published resources

Books

• Butcher, Barry, Of Vets, Viruses and Vaccines: the Story of CSIRO's Animal Health Research Laboratory, Parkville (Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing, 2000), 336 pp. Details
• CSIRO, CSIRO research for Australia: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (Canberra: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organisation, 1962), 64 pp, https://www.eoas.info/bib-pdf/ASBS15940.pdf. Details
• Schedvin, C.B; Trace, K., Historical Directory of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, 1926-1976 (Canberra: CSIRO, 1978), 101 pp. https://csiropedia.csiro.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/csiro_historical_directory_1926_1976.pdf. Details

Reports

• CSIRO Corporate Planning Office, Setting priorities for research purposes and research projects: A case study involving the CSIRO Division of Animal Health (Canberra, ACT: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organisation, 1993), 50 pp. https://eoas.info/bib-pdf/ASBS15628.pdf. Details

Resources

• Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-560015. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Primary description of agency CA 4540; CSIRO, Division of Animal Health [II]. Registration of entity: 1 October 1987', in RecordSearch, National Archives of Australia, 2000, https://RecordSearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?Number=CA%204540. Details

See also

• Whithear, Kevin and Ignjatovic, Jagoda, 'Trevor John Bagust 1944-2014', Australian Veterinary Journal, 92 (8) (2014), 312. Details