Page 21 - VHSA - Onderstepoort 100 Years - Part 1

the rest of their careers with Alexander eventually becoming its sixth Director.
During his term of office the Minister of Agriculture, General Kemp, strongly emphasized im-
proved education for farmers. One of his
pet projects was a so-called information
ONDERSTEPOORT 100
which was effective and cheap and is still used essentially unchanged today. After the first definitive diagnosis of rabies by du Toit an experimental vaccine against this disease was al-
so introduced and in 1928 Viljoen, Curson and Fourie introduced a highly effective spore vaccine against anthrax. The growth of the poultry industry led to increased re- search on poultry diseases and the develop- ment of fowl typhoid and fowl pox vaccines. Both were issued free of charge to pro- ducers for a test period, as was the vaccine against paratyphoid in calves. In his report to the Minister, du Toit commented that the most important animal health problem in the country was internal parasites and that much effort was expended on the testing of new anthelmintic drugs.
The 1930s presented many challenges to the staff at Onderstepoort, most of them of external origin. The decade started off with the world- wide economic depression, which also seriously affected the South African economy. Its after-effects were compounded by one of the worst droughts in our history in 1933, which left
train. A train consisting of 14 carriages was
constructed, one of which was allocated to
veterinary services. Over a period of 3 years,
from 1926 to 1929, the train completed
22 tours, visiting every community in the
country, informing farmers of the latest
developments in research and promoting
the application of scientific methods to
improve their productivity and income.
Onderstepoort staff took turns to man the
veterinary carriage and were very successful
in promoting the use of existing and newly
developed vaccines and explaining the
necessity of restrictive measures in combating epidemic diseases such as East Coast fever. During this period several new vaccines were developed. One of the most successful ones was a formalized vaccine against blackquarter (sponssiekte),
“General Kemp, strongly emphasized improved education for farmers. One of his pet projects was a so-called information train, visiting every community in the country and informing farmers of the latest developments in research...”
21
Onderstepoort professional staff 1930. Front row, f.l.t.r.: A.I. Malan, E.M. Robinson, P.R.Viljoen, P.J. du Toit (Director),
G. van de W. de Kock, J.B. Quinlan, C.C. Curson. Middle row, f.l.t.r.: P.J.J. Fourie, J.R.S. Scheuber, G.A.H. Bedford, A.D. Thomas, J.D.W.A.Coles,I.P.Marais,B.S.Parkin,H.O.Mönnig.Back row,f.l.t.r.:H.Graf,R.A.Alexander,G.Pfaff,J.I.Quin, unidentified person, G. Martinaglia
Growth and expansion (1927-1948)
1908-2008
Years