Doctor Barrie Wells was Kingston’s first veterinary surgeon, opening the Kingston Animal Hospital in 1973.
Wife Penny Carey-Wells shared some of Barrie’s history with the Kingborough Chronicle.
Barrie’s veterinary career began, quite literally, in a baptism of fire.
Newly graduated, his first day of work was on February 6, 1967 amidst Tasmania’s worst bushfires.
For the next week he was assigned the onerous task of assessing and shooting thousands of burnt sheep and cattle.
Penny reports that his voice still chokes when he speaks of it.
After working as the government vet in Oatlands, Barrie was ready to launch into private practice by 1973.
Kingston was the perfect place; the recent opening of the Southern Outlet meant it was primed for expansion.
Barrie purchased 1 Freeman Street, moved into the house and set up his brass plate.
Most days he was on the road covering farm calls as far as Cockle Creek, Bruny Island and the Huon.
Prior to the construction of a dedicated surgery he used the sunroom of the house as a makeshift clinic.
The kitchen table was carried in for consultations and back into the kitchen for meals.
Thankfully the new surgery building, Kingston Animal Hospital, was soon ready.
In 1988 the original surgery was extended, adding new consulting and operating rooms.
The old house was dismantled to make the car park.
While administering all the regular vet work, Barrie volunteered time to treat native animals.
His vet nurses became dedicated carers, often ‘wearing’ the tiniest marsupials in pouches round their necks.
Attracted by the chance to get wildlife experience, several young vets came to work with Barrie, some of whom now hold prominent positions in Australian zoos.
The Australian Antarctic Division formed a close association with Kingston Animal Hospital.
In 1986 Barrie embarked on the longest veterinary house call in the world when he left Hobart on MV Ice Bird to do a health check on the huskies.
The journey of several weeks became even longer when Ice Bird was trapped in fierce ice floes, saved only by a welcome weather change.
Undeterred, Barrie travelled to Antarctica a second time to escort 20 of the huskies back to Hobart on the vessel Aurora Australis.
Thick sea ice prevented the ship from getting closer than 70 kilometres.
This allowed one final sled run for the adult dogs as they traversed the ice to the ship.
Meanwhile Barrie was helicoptered back and forth cradling pups.
During the 1990s seals became part of Barrie’s routine work.
The male animals were attracted to the area by the new salmon industry and humane solutions for managing them had to be found.
They were trailered to Barrie’s surgery by Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment staff (formerly National Parks, now National Resources and Environment Tasmania), enroute for release into Bass Strait.
Almost weekly Barrie would be in the car park working to sedate a huge seal in order to collect blood samples and insert a microchip.
Barrie loved every minute of the 28 years he was principal of Kingston Animal Hospital, however it was time in 2000 to hand on the business to Dr Chris Lee and Barrie took up the position of Animal Welfare Officer at UTAS.
In 2002 he was involved with the identification of Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) and ongoing work with the Menzies Institute continued with the research in DFTD, including skin grafts, immunology, advising on quarantining and rescue populations.
Barrie’s healing hands and calm demeanour have helped thousands of creatures great and small.
