Page 47 - Chiron Calling Autum 2021/Spring 2022

The Australian Army Veterinary Corps
The spirit of the AAVC is kept alive by a re-enactment troop in Queensland Australia. Initially started by members of the Australian War Animal Memorial Organization (AWAMO).
No Australian war could have been undertaken without animals and the men who worked with them. Namely the outstanding work of the Australian Army Veterinary Corps (AAVC). Although the Corps only existed for 37 years it played a vital military role. One of the army’s smallest and least recognised corps the significant contribution of the Australian Army Veterinary Corps out way its size. From the Sudan Contingent, the South Africa war, World War One and through to the end of World War II, veterinarians
and their assistants have provided professional care for horses and other animals of the Australian Army. The Veterinary Corps reached its peak during the Great War, its role did not end when the guns
the Corps laboured to ensure that horses and mules, camels and dogs and pigeons all played their part in bringing victory in two world wars. While many diggers were as proud of their Horse, camel or mule as
fell silent in
1918 however.
The Corps
continued to
support military
activities across
Australia until
horsepower finally gave way to mechanisation towards the end of World War II.
Animals have always been an important part of warfare and
like the soldiers they carried or supported, they too had to be cared for when sick. The members of
any mate, not every soldier necessarily loved the animal he was assigned to. Indeed, the
mass of the soldiery in the 1st AIF was the despair of the veterinary corps for their ignorance of basic horsemanship and mistreatment of animals was the bane of senior veterinary officers and the military police alike.
Before 1897 all veterinary
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Animals have always been an important part of warfare