1. With John Cann and
Nabour. We had just
caught our first Pig-
nosed Turtle.
2. A press clipping
showing the three-metre
crocodile that I brought
back from New Guinea.
3. My good friend
Werner Zureich.
4. Letter written by Mr
Hohnke, the original
purveyor of Cane Toads,
offering the princely sum
of two shillings and six-
pence (25 cents) for a
Brown Tree snake!
1.
Then on a trip to Melbourne, I applied for a job at
Melbourne Zoo. They said they didn’t have anything, but
gave me a job at CSL (Commonwealth Serum Laborato-
ries, then located within the zoo’s grounds) in what is
now the reptile house. After about a year, I was offered a
job in the zoo outside. Initially, I was working with birds.
We had dozens of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, many of
which had been given up as unwanted pets. You had to
watch it, as they would climb up to sit on your shoulder
in a very friendly fashion, and then bite your ear lobe! I
also worked with deer, but reptiles remained my main
interest. One day, we went to look for Tiger Snakes and
blue-tongues around the old rock walls in Altona. Our
driver said he had to make a quick stop to pick up
another passenger, who turned out to be a very young
Brian Barnett (he was 15 years old). Later, when Brian
was working at Marbuk Park in Port Macquarie, we used
his boss’s car to go on trips to the Gulf Country and
Northern Territory. I met some wonderful people in
Melbourne.
iH: Can you remember the first reptile you kept in
Australia?
2.
PK: We got off the boat in Melbourne and took a train to
Bonegilla migrant camp near Wodonga, where we stayed
for two or three months. We would do odd jobs for
farmers; the food was good and there were the most
amazing hot showers. One night we walked a number of
kilometres to have a look at a big black snake that some-
one had seen hanging over a gate. That was my first
experience with elapids in Australia.
PK: It was when I was working in the monkey house for
CSL. Sometimes on weekends we would return to
Bonegilla and explore the surrounding area. Once we
found a monstrous Red-bellied Black Snake in a gully,
and took it all the way back to Melbourne in a bag. It
used to go to work with me, where I would soak it in a
rubbish bin. At night I took it home in a bag and hung it
up in a cupboard.
iH: How long were you at Melbourne Zoo?
PK: About a year. We had heard that there was big
money to be made in north Queensland cutting sugar-
cane. My friend, Lothar Urban, who had travelled with
me to Australia, was working at Healesville Sanctuary.
We liked to socialise together but were too far apart. So
we set off for Queensland, but only got as far as Sydney.