The history of man’s involvement in the maintenance of the health of domesticated animals in Africa can probably be traced back as far as the domestication of animals such as dogs, sheep, goats, cattle, horses, and pigs. In the case of the aurochs, Bos primegenius, the ancestor of cattle, for example, domestication is thought to have taken place in the Near East and probably also independently in North Africa circa 8000 years ago. Penetration of southern Africa by migrants with domesticated animals probably dates from about 2000 years ago. There is good evidence that the first pastoral immigrants practised the treatment of their sick animals with ethno-veterinary remedies made from plants and other natural products. Surgical intervention in some animal ailments was apparently first practised in the Near East and the remarkable progress made in veterinary medicine by Greek and Roman ‘veterinarians’ is on record. The first qualified, non-military veterinarians only started arriving on the South African scene in the middle 1800’s but they used their scientific knowledge, which had been vastly improved from those early beginnings over the centuries, to very good effect. The subsequent local achievements of veterinarians and other scientists involved in the veterinary discipline are remarkably impressive. The sparsely recorded extension of veterinary medicine to wild animals in recent years has become world-renowned.

The recording of veterinary history in South Africa began with the publications of HH Curson and was later followed by the biographical information collected by PJ Posthumus and eventually by the creation of the South African Veterinary Association History Committee (VHC) in 1995 under the chairmanship of Dr Basil Pappin. Due to ill health, Dr Pappin resigned in 1996 and was succeeded by Dr Rudolph Bigalke (1996-2008) and Dr Daan Verwoerd (2008-2018). Prof Gareth Bath served as chairman from 2018-2019 after Dr Daan Verwoerd resigned. The Veterinary History Society of South Africa (VHS) replaced the Veterinary History Committee (VHC) in 2019 under the chairmanship of Prof Gareth Bath.

Presentation of the veterinary history of southern Africa in book format entitled “Onderstepoort 1908-2008” was published by the VHC as part of the centenary celebrations of the ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute. It contains information on the history of the Veterinary Research Institute at Onderstepoort and the establishment and history of the Onderstepoort Veterinary Faculty up to 2008. An electronic version of the book was made available on the website “Veterinary History of Southern Africa” now maintained by the Veterinary History Society of South Africa.
The creation of the South African National Veterinary Museum at Onderstepoort was another project of the VHC completed for the centenary celebrations of the OVI in 2008.

The “Historical articles” division on the website consists of papers on historical subjects presented at either the centenary conference in 2008 or the History Session of the World Veterinary Congress of 2011 in Cape Town and subsequently published in veterinary journals. Also included are diverse relevant, published peer-reviewed papers.

In 2006 the University of Pretoria launched its Institutional Repository UPSpace, an open-access electronic archive of digital research material. The library of the Faculty of Veterinary Science saw this as an opportunity to populate the repository with relevant digitised collections of historical veterinary material for preservation. This material can be found in mainly two collections in UPSpace, namely “Veterinary Science” and the “South African National Veterinary Repository”. Selections of content from these two collections in UPSpace are presented on the website.