Tony English graduated in veterinary science with First Class Honours from the University of Queensland in 1966.  He was awarded a university Half-Blue for Rifle, as a member of the UQ Rifle Club for 5 years.After graduation he spent the next 7 years in private practice in Kingaroy and South Gippsland, working mostly with cattle. After returning to Queensland in 1974 he completed a PhD on equine strongylosis in 1976. He joined the staff of the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney in 1977, where he worked until he retired from full-time employment in December 2005.  He was Acting Head of the Department of Animal Health from 1999-2000, and Sub-Dean Camden from 2000-2005. He has just completed a 4 year term  as an Honorary Associate Professor  in the Faculty of Veterinary Science, with renewal for a further 3 years.
While being responsible for teaching in cattle health and production for some 20 years he also worked with others to develop a strong focus on wildlife within the Faculty. He was Chairman of the Faculty Wildlife Studies Committee from 1980 to 2005. One of the major tasks of this committee was to administer the Master of Veterinary Studies (Wildlife Medicine and Husbandry), a very successful program that has been part of the training of many of Australia’s zoo veterinarians.  Tony was also a co-Program Chair of a Master of Applied Science (Wildlife Health and Population Management) program, from 2000 to 2006.  The program is presented jointly by the Faculty of Veterinary Science and the School of Biological Sciences, and it is proving to be very attractive to both local and international students.  He remained actively involved in assisting in Units of Study in this program to 2010.

Tony English is probably best known as a deer veterinarian, and he established the University’s Deer Research Unit at Camden in 1979.  While retaining a strong interest in the deer farming industry he is also involved in the management of Australia’s wild deer populations.   For over 15 years he has been DIAA’s Q and A deer vet on the Association’s website, fielding many questions from all over the world.(http://diaa.org).

He set up a Deer Research Centre in Nepal in 1993 to work with the endangered musk deer, and more recently he has worked as a wildlife consultant in Bhutan.

He has actively promoted the potential roles for veterinarians in a new discipline called “veterinary conservation biology”, which stresses the need for the development of effective multidisciplinary teams when working with biodiversity conservation problems.  He  also developed and until the year 2006 coordinated a new Unit of Study in the veterinary science undergraduate curriculum called Veterinary Conservation Biology (VETS2015). This Unit has been presented to Second Year students since 2001.

He prepared 4 reports in 2000-2001on feral horses in Guy Fawkes River National Park and other pest animal management in NSW national parks for the Minister for the Environment. He has a special interest in the capture and handling of wild animals and conducts training courses for veterinarians and staff from agencies such as local councils, RSPCA, NSW DECCW and RLPBs. He is an acknowledged authority in the use of dart systems for animal capture, and has conducted training in UK, Canada, Nepal, Bhutan and Mexico.  He has also conducted Injured Fauna training courses for over 50 staff from the same agencies. Some 10 years ago he conducted a training course on animal euthanasia for instructors from the NSW Police Academy at Goulburn, and he has addressed a national conference of the RSPCA on the same topic. Most of the RSPCA inspectors in NSW have attended his course on the capture and handling of wild animals.

He established a private consulting company (A.W. English & Associates) in 1992.  A current major consultancy is a position as Senior Veterinary Consultant to the ADI site macropod management program, and more recently for the kangaroo program at Belconnen in ACT.  This latter program was completed successfully in May 2008.

Tony has been Leader (with Shelley as Deputy Leader) of 5 international veterinary wildlife delegations for the American organisation People to People Citizen Ambassador Programs.  Between 1994 and 2003 he led delegations to China, Nepal, Bhutan, Galapagos Islands and South Africa.

Military service
Tony enlisted in Queensland University Regiment in 1962 and was commissioned in 1964. As an infantry lieutenant he spent 3 months in 1965 -1966 in Papua New Guina on full time duty with the Pacific Islands Regiment. He transferred to the Royal Australian Artillery (RAA) in 1968 and retired with the rank of Colonel in 2000 after 38 years service in the Army Reserve, mostly spent in the RAA. His last RAA posting was Commander Land Command Artillery (CLCA), based at Land Headquarters in Sydney.  He commanded two Field Batteries, 133 Div Loc Bty, was CO 23 Fd Regt 1981-84, CDA Second Division 1985-86 and CLCA 1987-98.  In his book The Gunners. A History of Australian Artillery David Horner (1995) writes (p.516):

In September 1987 Headquarters Land Command Artillery was raised from Field Force Artillery, and command went to a  Reserve officer, Colonel Tony English  As with previous Commanders Field Force Artillery, his task was to advise the Land Commander on offensive fire support issues,, to command assigned units, to exercise technical control over all Land Command artillery units, to set training standards, assess training and plan and conduct Land Command exercises. The only Direct Command unit was the 16th Air Defence Regiment,

Colonel English has been the only Reserve officer to hold this position, which he did for an unprecedented 9 years. All of his staff were Regular soldiers, and as CLCA he was also a Principal Staff Officer (PSO) on Land Headquarters alongside 5 Regular PSOs. During the first Gulf War (1990-91) HQ LC Artillery deployed 2 RBS-70 anti aircraft missile detachments on HMAS Success at very short notice.

In 1998 he had the opportunity to combine his military and veterinary careers in the ATSIC-Army Community Assistane Program (AACAP), with the development and delivery of dog health and population control programs in remote Aboriginal communities.  He was a cofounder of a group that was called Biglick, which aims to better coordinate and manage dog health programs in those indigenous communities that seek them.  Biglick has recently received Federal funding and has become Animal Management in Rural and Remote Indigenous Communities (AMRRIC), of which group Tony was Senior Vice President until recently.  On retiring from the Board of AMRRIC he was given the inaugural Life Membership of the organisation. The group has appointed  a full-time Executive Officer based in Darwin, with an active Website (www.amrric.org).  It conducted a very successful major international conference (Dog People) in Darwin in July 2006 (www.dogpeople.com.au)

In the Faculty of Veterinary Science Tony was Warden of Nepean Hall from 2000 to 2005 and was inaugural Director of the Wildlife Health and Conservation Centre (WHCC) which has been established at Camden with $2.2 million of Federal funding raised by Tony English with support from the Veterinary Science Foundation..  This magnificent new facility was officially opened in May 2007.

In November 2008 he was invited to present a lecture at Nihon University in Japan by the Australia Japan Foundation..  The topic was “Conservation Biology and the Sustainable Use of Wildlife in Australia”. He has been invited to do so again in 2010, with a paper on deer and deer farming in Australia
In March 2009 he was reappointed to the Taronga Conservation Society Australia Board for a third term to 30 June 2012.

Tony’s publication list includes over 130 books, book chapters, papers and articles.  He successfully supervised 7 University of Sydney PhD students, was Associate Supervisor of 5 PhD  students from other universities, 2 MVSc, 4 MVetStud students, 2 BScVet) students, and some 30 students undertaking the Master of Applied Science (Wildlife Health and Population Management). All this academic activity was done over the first 18 years from his appointment as a full-time clinician and clinical teacher in the cattle practice conducted at Camden by the then Rural Veterinary Centre (RVC), and coordinator of the Unit of Study on Ruminant Health and Production. For a number of years he provided training in the safe use of firearms (including tranquilliser firearms) for senior veterinary science students at the University of Sydney

NSW Police Firearms Registry permits held in 2010
A, B and H #  405379963
Tranquilliser firearms # 409774298 ,Instructor’s permit # 409027671

Last updated 02 August 2010.

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