By KATH GANNAWAY
A DIXONS Creek veterinarian and a community leader from Narbethong are among the 582 remarkable Australians recognised in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Dr Patricia Ellis has been made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to veterinary science, and Jennifer Wood has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community of Narbethong.
The women are representative of the diversity of the awards which for the past 38 years have celebrated the outstanding contributions and achievements of Australian men and women.
Dr Ellis is recognised particularly for her work in the development of quarantine and biosecurity protocols in the equine industry … but her achievements are many.
Veterinary science was still a male-dominated career when she graduated in 1986.
The general expectation then was that women vets would go into laboratory work, or small animal practice.
Dr Ellis, however, started in the same way she intended to proceed – challenging the ’norm’ and going into dairy practice and later teaching.
Dr Ellis summarises her career as two stages, the first half in practice, then in regulatory work in racing and in the quarantine service.
In a career which has spanned more than four decades she has served on numerous Australian and international committees and boards and received a raft of prestigious awards.
She was the first female president of Equine Veterinarians Australia and held principal veterinary roles with government and industry organisations including the Australian Racing Board, International Federation of Horseracing authorities, Australian Horse Industry Council, Australian Quarantine Inspection Service, Natural Resources and Environment, United Arab Emirates Equestrian and Racing Federation and Emirates Racing Association.
She has had, as she describes it, had two tours of duty in the middle east. The first was in the late ’70s when she worked for the King of Bahrain, where she also met her husband, and again in 1983 when she worked in Abu Dhabi prior to the start of international racing in the Arab Emirates.
“Part of that was to ascertain the health status of the horses and to let the world know they didn’t have terrible diseases that would be a threat to visiting horses,” she says of what were “interesting times”.
The many awards also reflect the breadth and depth of Dr Ellis’s contribution to equine interests and include the University of Melbourne’s Belle Bruce Reid Medal and a place on the Belle Bruce Reid Honour Roll of 100 Outstanding Women Veterinary Science Graduates.
“I was fortunate to have entered a profession where there were many opportunities open to people, perhaps not highly paid, but enjoyable and fulfilling if you wanted to try to make a difference,” she said from the farm property she shares with husband Gary Smith.
Dr Ellis made a difference, and in many cases it was ground-breaking stuff.
She said while quarantine work was certainly about protecting Australian livestock and plants, it was also about facilitating international trade.
She rates seeing Vintage Crop win the Melbourne Cup in 1993, the first overseas-trained horse to do so, as one of the most satisfying achievements. It was a team effort as Dr Ellis points out was the case in much of her work.
A highlight of Dr Ellis’s work in recent times has been with equine influenza in her role as the primary authority of the vet plan that led to its eradication in Australia.
“No-one thought we could do it … it was an amazing effort by a team of people,” she said.
Another was doing a written examination for membership of the Australian and New Zealand College of Endemiology, something she says requires a person to look at things with a completely fresh set of eyes.
Dr Ellis and her husband have lived in the Yarra Valley since 1981 and her contribution to the equine industry continues.
Among other things, she is on the board of directors of Racing Services Analytical Services – the laboratory which tests samples for prohibited substances, and NFP a private company representing each of the three racing codes, plus international and national consultancies on quarantine and biosecurity matters.
There is enormous satisfaction in her voice when she says she believes the Australian system of regulation is the best in the world.
To have her life’s work recognised with a Queen’s Birthday Honour is daunting.
“For someone who has been mostly behind the scenes, I am obviously very honoured, but I find it also a bit embarrassing,” Dr Ellis said.
Her husband is having none of that.
“He is over the moon,” she said, pleased to see her many years of hard work and dedication recognised and appreciated.
