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 2019

“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 her more than the cold, dirty, often hazardous conditions of large animal practice, she hung up her wellies and moved to a small animal emergency hospital in Bedfordshire where she worked until June 2005.

Michelle and Harry have 2 daughters – Chloe and Amy – and in July 2005, Michelle and her family 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, Michelle loves the diversity of general practice but her main interests include surgery, orthopaedics, dentistry and rabbit medicine.

Michelle shares her house with her fun-loving labradors, Gus and Saffy, and 2 cheeky cats, Mango and Skittles.  She spends a lot of her spare time chauffeuring kids, managing netball teams and officiating at surf clubs.

Michelle and her family are now firmly entrenched here in Perth, and Michelle is now enjoying the new challenges that come with owning a veterinary practice.

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, an Investigative Steward with RWWA, and they have a daughter Madison.

Her outside interests include boating and fishing, scuba diving and snorkelling and she also plays the piano.  Much to Tony’s disappointment, she is an avid West Coast Eagles supporter!  To round off the household she shares her home with a Bengal cat Cooper and Jake the Beaglier.

Melanie is committed to providing a high quality of care to her patients, and is also enjoying the world of veterinary practice ownership.

Monica joined the practice in July 2011 and recently returned to work part time after becoming a mum to 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 Taiwan 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 and supervising the younger staff.

She took the plunge in April 2009 marrying Mark and they now have 2 children in tow – Mia and Zac.  They share their life with Storm the Staffie.  Kristy enjoys spending time with her family, and going camping and 4-wheel driving.  She is also a thermomix consultant, and enjoys cooking up a storm in her thermie.

Emma has recently joined the Nursing team at the Swanbourne Veterinary Centre, and has a Bachelor of Communications, whilst recently graduating as a Veterinary Nurse with a Certificate 4 from the Applied Vocational Training Centre.

A local Claremont girl, Emma was educated at MLC and attends the practice with her dog Otis, a 2 year old Griffon.

Along with her family and partner Alex, she enjoys travelling, having recently been to Hong Kong, and is also keen on tennis, boxing and netball.

Her recent employment includes traineeships at Vetwest and the Perth Cat Hospital and her aim is to achieve a diploma in Veterinary Nursing.

So, watch out for Emma when next you attend the practice as we welcome her to what we hope will be a long and successful career here at Swanbourne.

Gabriela was born in Brazil in a small town in San Paulo, called Santos. Incidentally a very famous town as it is also the birth place of iconic soccer legend Pele.

Whilst her parents still live in Santos for 6 months of the year (spending the rest of the year in Perth with Gabriela and her brother and his family), Gabriela moved to Australia 3 years ago to join her brother and she already speaks perfect English, along with Spanish and Portugese.

She worked with a mobile Dog Groomer initially when she moved here and was trained up as a dog washer which she still enjoys and does part time.

She commenced the Veterinary Nursing Cert 4 course at Bentley TAFE this year and whilst doing work experience here she impressed us with her work ethic so watch out for her on Mondays and Fridays.

Working in her mother’s costume shop in Santos from an early age she is no stranger to hard work as one can see given the variety of her jobs.

She shares her life between her nearby family in Nollamara, partner Richard from Wales and her refuge Aussie Terrier Rosie.