Tony joined the practice in January 1969 after spending 2 months as a student in the Christmas of 1967/68. He was employed to allow the fledgling Doubleview practice to increase its hours and apart from a period 1973-76 spent in the UK has been here ever since. He joined Ian Miller in partnership in 1976 and became the sole owner in 1988 on the tragic death of Ian in that year.

A past president of the WA Division of the Australian Veterinary Association (1984), he was inaugural chairman of the Australian Veterinary Boards Council (1999-2001) and was a member of the Veterinary Surgeons’ Board in WA from 1988-2003 and chairman from 2001-2003.

He remains active within the AVA and is currently a co-organiser of the WA State Conference held in September concurrently with the AVA/Murdoch/Trade Fair that he has convened since 1981.

He also holds a regular weekly time slot on talk back radio (6PR) since 2001 and is currently a senior sessional member of the State Administrative Tribunal since 2005.

Since the sale of the Doubleview practice in March 2004 he has assumed a more active hands on role at the Swanbourne practice and completes 50 years in practice at the end of 2018.

To say he is enjoying the success of his beloved Cats (Geelong Football Club) is an understatement. An active supporter since 1955 he has been ecstatic with their current success.

GO CATS 2018

“Simply the greatest team of all”

Michelle joined the practice in September 2005 not long after she and her family arrived in Australia from England.

Born in Scotland, she was brought up on the tea plantations of India and Malawi.  She later returned to Scotland, attended university in Glasgow, and qualified as a vet in 1995.

She spent the next 2 years in the Welsh hills treating anything from hamsters to bulls.  It was here she met her husband, Harry, and together they then moved to the Cambridgeshire Fens where she spent a further 2 years in mixed practice.

Realising that the safe, warm, clean confines of surgery appealed to me more than the cold, dirty, often hazardous conditions of large animal practice, I hung up my wellies and moved to a small animal emergency hospital in Bedfordshire where I worked until June this year.

During this time our dogs, Murphy and Alex, and cat, Zulu, endured the arrival of our two daughters, Chloe (three and a half years old) and Amy (17 months). In July 2005 all of us, including the animals, arrived in Perth to start a new life in the sun with the emphasis on spending more quality time as a family.

On the vet front, I love the diversity of general practice but my main interests include surgery, orthopaedics, dentistry and rabbit medicine.

Now 5 years on she is a real Aussie and she and her family are firmly entrenched here in Perth.

Melanie joined us in March 2011, having previously worked in a mixed animal practice in Geraldton, and in small animal practice in Perth.

A 2001 Murdoch graduate, she completed her membership of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists in small animal medicine in 2007 and has a special interest in this field and cancer care.

A local girl, having been educated at St Hildas, Melanie is married to Paul, a thoroughbred racing steward, and they have two children, Jordan and Madison.

Her outside interests include boating, scuba diving and snorkelling and she also plays the piano.  To round off the household they share their home with a Bengal cat Cooper and Jake the Beaglier .

Melanie is committed to providing a high quality of care to her patients.

Monica joined the practice in July 2011 and recently returned to work part time after becoming a mum to baby Freya. She is definitely a super-mum and continues to run her kelpie Cherry everyday and is hoping little Freya will join the run in the near future.

Monica also has 3 cats at home (Luna, Ashlee and Silver) which she describes as the destructive indoor variety honing her house keeping skills on a regular basis!
Originally from Taipei where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Zoology, she decided to follow the pathway of becoming a veterinarian after her own dog had an unsuccessful procedure and joined a practice working part time before she came to Perth.
Once in Perth she applied to the Veterinary course at Murdoch University and subsequently met her husband Joshua, so all the pieces started to fall into place.

A real pocket rocket Monica feels her size limits her in sports but loves dancing, swimming, scuba diving and table tennis and from what I can see her determination more than makes up for her small stature.  Soccer and tennis absorb her as a spectator though Tony has been trying to sell her the benefits of following the Mighty Cats!

She has completed an acupuncture certificate and she now offers acupuncture services within the clinic and also as home visits.

Kristy is one of our success stories joining the practice fresh from school 20 years ago as the kennel hand. At the same time she enrolled in the part time Veterinary nursing course at Bentley TAFE which she completed with ease and then joined the full time nursing staff at Swanbourne.

Her reliability and unflappable nature have made her an integral part of the practice and she ensures the back half of the practice functions efficiently organising the vets, monitoring anaesthetics and supervising the younger staff.

Most clients will know Kristy as the admitting nurse in the mornings when animals are booked in for surgery and she also conducts the Wellness checks that have become a feature here at Swanbourne as part of our commitment to preventative medicine.

Kristy also plays an enormous role in the practice coordinating school visits to the practice, attending career sessions with Tony at secondary schools, and mentoring work experience students when they spend time with us either as part of the Instep programme or as part of school curriculum.

This part of veterinary practice goes largely unnoticed by the general public but in view of the immense career popularity of our work we are constantly trying to cater to all the enquiries we get from budding vets and nurses.

Currently we have a trainee veterinary nurse at the practice full time under Kristy’s supervision. All this plus ordering the daily supplies from the wholesalers, does she ever sleep?

She took the plunge in April 2009 marrying Mark and they share their life with Storm the Staffie.

Courtney joined us as part of the School based traineeship program. This means Courtney continued at St Hilda’s to finish year 12 but also joined our team on Fridays.

She has now commenced her Certificate 4 in veterinary nursing at TAFE, and attends Bentley TAFE on Thursdays.

Together with her two sisters and two brothers, she grew up in Pingrup 400km south of Perth where her parents have a wheat and sheep farm.

She has two horses, Justin and James at home and Blossum the cat, plus two Alpacas Jory and Kero. Currently she is a school prefect at St Hilda’s and Sports Captain of the school.

She has travelled to Nepal with the school and was selected in the State Show Jumping team.

Her aim is to become a veterinary nurse in a large animal practice closer to home.

Well done Courtney we look forward to supporting you in your endeavour.

Another of our ‘sea changers’ having worked as a consultant in a commercial hospitality equipment firm, Melissa has joined us as a casual receptionist.

Melissa is a Perth girl having grown up in Kingsley and now lives in Baldivis with her partner Sam.  They have 2 dogs – Cooper the Beagle, and Kolsch the blue Staffy, and Stella the cheeky cat.

She completed an apprenticeship in Commercial Cookery in 2010 and has also recently completed a Bachelor of Nursing with the hopes of looking after less hairy patients!