Reynolds, John Thomas, LVSc 1917
JOHN T. REYNOLDS, B.V.Sc., Dip.Ag.Sc.
The death occurred in Melbourne during July of Dr. John Thomas Reynolds, who was born in Co. Tipparary, Eire, in 1889 and came to Australia with his family to settle in Oakleigh, Victoria, some eleven years later.
He received his secondary education at Xavier College and later went to Dookie Agricultural College where he gained his Diploma of Agricultural Science.
He graduated in Veterinary Science at the University of Melbourne in 1916 and immediately joined the army, serving with the rank of Captain in the Australian Army Veterinary Corps in France from 1917 until the end of the war.
Returning to Melbourne in 1919, he established a successful and mainly large animal practice in Brunswick, but as heavy transport converted from horses to modern methods, practice became less attractive and he therefore joined what is now the Commonwealth Department of Primary Industry, remaining there until his retirement in 1954. Most of his service with the Department was spent in Victoria, where he took a keen interest in all aspects of meat inspection.
Apart from his general supervision of inspection and hygiene standards for the Department, he conducted classes for aspiring meat inspectors, for many years privately but later at the William Angliss Food Trade School in association with the Victorian Education Department. He also lectured on meat inspection at several courses conducted by the Department of Primary Industry for members of the three armed services, while many veterinarians will remember him for his tuition during time spent when gaining experience in Melbourne meat works.
John Reynolds was a very capable judge of fat stock and carcase meat, and his services were much in demand in this connection by such bodies as the Australian Meat Board, rural agricultural societies and country show societies both in Victoria and interstate.
On his retirement he became associated with the family meat export and wholesale business and continued actively in these interests until shortly before his death.
Mrs. Reynolds predeceased her husband, but the sympathy of the veterinary profession and the Australian Veterinary Association members is extended to their three sons and their families.