It is with deep regret that we note the passing of Dr Tom Hungerford on Saturday September 29, 2007. Tom played a pivotal role in the development of the PGF, and his passing is a sad occasion for both the PGF and whole veterinary community. Dr Hungerford's funeral service was held at St James Anglican Church, King Street, Turramurra on October 9, 2007.

Dr Carlisle, President of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists, Dr T G Hungerford OBE; distinguished guests; Fellows and Members of the College, ladies and gentlemen;

We are gathered together tonight in this familiar hall in the University of Sydney to celebrate the achievements of new Members and Fellows and to honour and to pay tribute to a great Australian.

Dr T G Hungerford OBE BVSc FACVSc HDA Fellow of the University of Sydney

Roslyn Hungerford
In doing so we pay tribute also to Roslyn Hungerford, who as his life partner, guide and counsellor has played a part in all that has been achieved and in all which they have together accomplished. Roslyn Hungerford BA with Honours from the University of Sydney and a descendant of the Danish Royal Family, has through her talent made her own contributions to Australian society. We are sad that Roslyn is unable to be present with us tonight on this momentous occasion.

Friendship
The fun of humour shared
the joy of minds entwined
The fleeting thoughts, the smile within
which warms like summer wine

The lift of common threads unspoken
drawing us together from afar
through unknown channels circling the globe
The power of two, a bulwark for our souls

How sensitive the certain signals seem
so warm, so intimate and free
What miracles of mind ensue
with waves of friendship washing over me

The solace and the restlessness we feel
through magic senses well beyond our ken
two spirits joined in sacred synergy
Majestic, glowing, noble flame of love

Ireland and the Colony of New South Wales
In the 1600s Cromwell sent a Hungerford to Inchodony near Clonoquilty in southern Ireland. It was from here in 1825 that Captain Emanuel Hungerford emigrated to Australia and settled his family in the Wallace Plains area near Maitland. Later in 1827 he was given a grant of land at Baerami in the Hunter Valley. Here they prospered and eventually expanded their holdings to include great tracts of land through northern New South Wales, Southern Queensland and through to the Gulf country in the north. One of Emanuel Hungerford's sons, Thomas, grandfather of T G Hungerford, was three times a member of the New South Wales Parliament and a distinguished land owner and philanthropist in the early colony.

T G Hungerford; the early years
The history of the Hungerford family in Australia has not always been one of success, for their fortunes fluctuated between poverty and plenty with the years. Tom Hungerford was born in 1911 during one of these troughs of hardships which he and his family suffered during those early years, and which moulded his character and made him strong and resilient. Tom's family lived at Bankstown at that time where he went to school and even in those early days he showed the quality of his agile mind receiving the Gold Medal as dux of the primary school at Bankstown in two consecutive years. This was because he was too young to proceed to Hurlstone Agricultural High School. Tom's father had managed to accumulate one hundred acres in the area west of Sydney and it was partly through his time spent on the small farm where pigs and poultry and some cattle were raised, that he re-connected with the family ties with the land.

Hurlstone Agricultural High School
On entering Hurlstone Agricultural High School Tom continued to shine and he finished school at Hurlstone as dux of the school.

Hawkesbury Agricultural College
In order to consolidate his interest in rural activities Tom then won a scholarship and entered Hawkesbury Agricultural College where it seemed that the curriculum with its balance of theoretical and practical activity was made for him. Despite the fact that he competed there with many young men from the country he finished first in every practical and every theory subject, graduating with 1st Class Honours and dux of Hawkesbury. With such a background in his academic training Tom was eligible to apply for a cadetship with the Department of Agriculture.

Faculty of Veterinary Science
In that year four cadetships were being offered in Agriculture at the University of Sydney and one cadetship in Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney. To keep his options open Tom applied for cadetships in each faculty. Unfortunately for him the interviews and examinations for Agriculture finished first and he was required to make a decision on whether to take up the cadetship or not. He asked for permission to leave the decision until the next day when he would know the result of his interviews in Veterinary Science. This was not permitted and he was given several hours to come to a decision. He decided not to take up the cadetship in Agriculture. The next day he competed with a large number of applicants and won the Scholarship in Veterinary Science. This was a happy day for the veterinary profession and the community although it is certain that had he taken up the Agricultural Scholarship he would have been as distinguished in that field as he is in the veterinary profession and the community today. Tom entered the Sydney Veterinary School in 1930 and graduated BVSc in 1934.

Department of Agriculture
His career in the Department of Agriculture began as a Port Inspector at the Port of Sydney and a range of other work in the Sydney region. During these years there was an outbreak of Pullorum disease in the County of Cumberland and an outbreak of laryngotracheitis in poultry west of Sydney. Tom Hungerford was heavily involved in each of these outbreaks and played a significant role in the veterinary control measures which were implemented. In 1937 within a year of the outbreak of the laryngotracheitis a vaccine had been developed and had been used effectively to control the disease.

Tom was also heavily involved in the TB control programs which were being undertaken at the time and acquitted himself well in the rough and tumble of activity associated with the removal of positive testing cattle from major dairy herds around Sydney.

Tom Hungerford also worked extensively in New South Wales for the Department of Agriculture, being District Veterinary Officer at Armidale, Goulburn, Cootamundra and Grafton so gaining a broad experience in all the species relevant in rural production at that time.

Return to Hawkesbury Agricultural College
When war broke out in 1939 Tom enlisted but was immediately withdrawn from the armed forces and appointed to Hawkesbury Agricultural College where he remained as Veterinary Officer until 1945.

As an old boy of the College himself Tom thoroughly enjoyed his years with his family at Richmond and, in characteristic fashion, threw himself into the work which included lectures in elementary veterinary science, livestock, pigs and feeding. District veterinary work and field research work.

During these years there was an outbreak of anthrax, the first for 40 years, in the Country of Cumberland.

During his time in the Department of Agriculture, and particularly from his arrival at Hawkesbury College, Tom began his prolific writing career which was to provide so much valuable resource material to the practising veterinary profession and to the rural industries during the next sixty years. Tom provided lecture material, wrote articles and provided valuable contributions to the Agricultural Gazette and it was from these that the subsequent publications, 18 in all, were produced. These publications, 'Diseases of Poultry' first published in 1938, 'The Veterinary Physicians Index' and 'Diseases of Livestock', could be found in almost every farm and veterinary practice in Australia.

Lecturer at University of Sydney
Between 1937 and 1962 Tom Hungerford was Lecturer in Poultry Diseases at the University of Sydney Veterinary School. From 1962 to 1970 he lectured in Pig Diseases and Pharmacology and during this period of time was an External Examiner in Veterinary Medicine. From 1971 to 1972 Tom was Lecturer and Examiner in Preventive Medicine at the University of New South Wales.

Private Practice
At the end of the war in 1945 Tom Hungerford took the decision to leave the government and establish a veterinary practice. Tom was convinced that it was possible and desirable for private practices to develop where preventive medicine procedures were promoted to provide a more effective and complete service to the rural industries. From his base in Penrith he developed a busy practice which employed, on average, between eight and ten veterinarians providing specific and specialist poultry advice and therapy in addition to general veterinary services. During this period of time Tom escalated the pace of his writing to provide a resource which he found to be otherwise unavailable to the veterinarians in his practice. By 1968 when he became Technical Director of the Post Graduate Committee he had built the biggest veterinary practice in Australia, which operated poultry services over a wide area of New South Wales and with much advisory work from all over Australia.

Post Graduate Committee and Foundation
The Post Graduate Committee and the Post Graduate Foundation which supported it were formed in 1961 and 1965 respectively. In 1968 it was suggested that Tom Hungerford should be engaged as part-time Technical Director to move the organisation ahead. In characteristic fashion, and with all the finesse of a Sherman tank, Tom told the Foundation that everything that was being done was wrong and that he would only take up the position if he had the authority to implement his ideas. Unlike the situation with his ancestor in England the advice was taken and Tom began to put his ideas into practice in a way which we now know was to shape the future of the delivery of veterinary services in Australia and beyond. Tom recognised that it was undesirable to seek funds only from outside organisations, believing that it was more fitting for the veterinary profession if the Foundation could earn its own funds to pay its own way. He therefore devised a range of courses, led by eminent veterinarians from overseas, who were supported by Australian veterinarians who were leaders in the field in this country. These major refresher courses lasted for five days and a proceedings was produced before the course as resource material for those who attended, and for those unlucky enough to miss the course who would be able to purchase the proceedings later. Things began to move as Tom exerted his powerful influence in the running of these courses, keeping them on time and focused and insisting to those who made valuable comments during the course that they put these in writing for distribution to the profession later in the Control and Therapy Series.

The establishment of this Control and Therapy Series provided a forum for veterinarians and has continued to provide an interchange of ideas right up to this day.

Tom began to write a Director's Circular to every veterinarian in Australia who wished to receive it to keep us up to date with what the Post Graduate Foundation was doing and to tell us of the courses and publications which it was making available for us. It was not long before those responsible for administering the joint organisations recognised the great benefit of the work that Tom was doing and in 1974 he was appointed Director of the Post Graduate Foundation and the Post Graduate Committee. It was from this point that the organisations expanded rapidly. Courses were increased and new programs developed. Article Summaries were instituted to provide veterinarians with detailed summaries of articles in the increasing number of journals available. The C&T forum was expanded and workshops were begun. The reviews which Tom had begun in the late sixties also expanded and developed and provided a valuable resource of detailed and comprehensive information on specific topics during this time.

Goanna Track
Tom promoted the Goanna Track to success. A goanna, having conquered one tree, runs directly to the next and climbs it. Tom said we should take one area of veterinary practice and become thoroughly familiar with all aspects of it - to conquer it completely. Then we train others to run this aspect and proceed, like a goanna, to the next challenge and do the same again.

The Distance Education program is built on the Goanna Track principle. No wonder it has been so successful.

In the early eighties Tom conceived the idea of the Vade Mecum Series. This was a series of publications containing concise and easily accessible information on the therapeutics and control measures required in each species. Later he expanded this concept to include companion books which would tackle differential diagnosis in each species. During the eighties and nineties these books have become valuable ready references for veterinarians all over the world.

The production of text books began in the eighties under Tom's guidance and continues today.

Tom Hungerford made the Post Graduate Foundation an important resource for the busy practitioner. He championed vets who wanted to do it better. He seemed to direct the whole profession from the Pitt Street office of the Foundation.

Honours
Tom Hungerford has been honoured in many different ways. In 1967 he was awarded the Seddon Prize in clinical medicine by the New South Wales Division of the AVA. In 1971 the Australian Veterinary Association awarded him the Gilruth Prize, the highest award of that organisation. In 1977 he was awarded the Silver Jubilee Medal by her Majesty the Queen and in 1980 the Queen made him an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. In 1981 the Post Graduate Foundation honoured him by naming the Vade Mecum Series for him. In 1981 the Australian Small Animal Veterinary Association made an award to him for his significant contribution to Small Animal Medicine. In 1982 the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists honoured him with an Honorary Fellowship. In 1984 the North Queensland Branch of the AVA presented him with a bronze goanna in recognition of his contribution to the profession. In 1987 the Post Graduate Foundation honoured him with the naming of one course each year and in 1987 the Foundation also instituted the T G Hungerford Award for Excellence in Continuing Education and in 1988 he was made a Fellow of the University of Sydney.

Man of Vision
Tom Hungerford is a man of vision. A man who understands the need for change and who has the ability and capacity to adapt to the ever changing needs of the community. Tom Hungerford is a practical man, a man who gets things done.

His vision was to bring together veterinarians from Australia and overseas, from academia and research and from practice for the benefit of the community.

Tom is a giant within the profession. He will never allow himself to be deflected from his purpose.

It is impossible to overstate the enormous influence for good, which this man has had in Australia during the twentieth century. There is not one veterinary clinic or hospital, not one veterinary school, not one veterinary industry or government veterinary service which has not benefited from the Hungerford years. Tom Hungerford understands practice absolutely. He has enough common sense for all of us. He has abounding energy and enthusiasm. He is a man of compassion and a great orator. His writings cut through to the quick and touch our souls, he is a man of great strength and great faith.

It has been said of him:

• "The incisive impact of his words cuts deep into our complacency".
• "The rich full-blooded images of his writings stir our curiosity and colour and clarify what can be achieved".
• "The sheer power and energy of his enthusiasm lifts the whole profession into a new threshold of vitality and productivity".
• "His wisdom and his compassion bring hope, direction and new purpose to many veterinarians struggling to achieve their goals and bring to many the fulfilment of their professional aspirations ".
• "His genius lies not only in his ability to delineate the problem, but also in his incredible foresight and capacity to accomplish the task".
• "He began a revolution in veterinary post graduate education which will be recorded as one of the most significant developments within the veterinary profession worldwide".

Throughout the years Tom has been applauded by veterinarians everywhere reflecting the admiration, the respect, the gratitude, the friendship and the love we have for him.

It is entirely appropriate for us to honour him in this way today.

One of the benefits great people bring is often a new way of seeing and understanding. An example of how things can be done better.

To honour Tom Hungerford effectively it is not enough for us to thank him for his contribution.

We must look ahead, as he has done, and use our energy and enthusiasm as he has. We must focus on the relevant and important aspects of our services to the community and bring dedicated commitment to jobs we have to do.

Tom's focus and his vision
To distill Tom's focus; it was in two areas: Responsibility and Vision

His message is for us as individuals and for the profession as a whole.

Responsibility
We have a responsibility of care to the patient. A responsibility to apply our skill and knowledge effectively. A responsibility to be adequately equipped, both professionally and with our facilities. We have a responsibility to have respect for our patients and to guard the welfare of animals. We have a responsibility to serve the community with devotion.

We have a responsibility to the client. To show compassion and understanding, and to respect them. We have a responsibility to educate them and to provide them with high quality service. We have a responsibility to be honest in our relationships with our clients.

We have a responsibility to the community to fulfill our role selflessly. To lead and guide the community in animal welfare matters and in consideration of environmental protection and biosecurity. Our responsibilities extend to improving the quality of life of our communities and to foster the maintenance of open communications.

We have a responsibility to our colleagues to share our skills and knowledge with them. We should have respect for colleagues and where possible provide support for them. For our colleagues who work with us in practice we have a responsibility to provide a professional working environment for them, in good hospital facilities. To our undergraduate veterinarians we have an additional responsibility to nurture them through their early years when pressure on them can be great, and where there is so much for them to learn.

And we have responsibilities to ourselves to maintain self respect, and the lifestyle and personal goals which we have set for ourselves. Responsibility to continue our learning, both from our cases and in formal continuing education programs. Responsibilities to our families and to our community.

Vision
Tom often used the quotation, "where there is no vision, the people perish".

We need a vision of the big picture for the profession and its role in the community and in society. We need to be able to see the broad vista encompassing animal welfare and animal production, and the role of companion animals in society.

We need an effective focus on the day to day work we have to do and to be able to see it as a part of the whole. We need to recognise the link between what we do today and the effect this will have on the community tomorrow. We need to see the important integration between our work, our continued learning and the development of younger veterinarians and the schools in which they are trained.

We need the vision now to plan and build for the future and to anticipate the needs of the community many years ahead. Most of all we need the wisdom to think clearly and to act decisively.

Conclusion
The profession owes a great debt to Tom Hungerford: a debt which can best be repaid in kind.

There is so much to be done to accomplish all that he has challenged us to achieve. Our practices, our teaching institutions, our government departments and our industries hunger for the commitment, the energy, the dedication, the direction and the enthusiasm which Tom has given during his colourful career.

Let us rejoice in his achievements and respond to his example.

Let us follow this great man.

Douglas Bryden