Biography published in 'Australian Veterinary History Record', July 2002, No. 34.
By H J Wirth BVSc Hon DVSc (Melb), 185 Whitehorse Road Balwyn 3103

ISABELLE BRUCE RElD
FIRST WOMAN VETERINARIAN REGlSTERED IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE

Isabelle Bruce Reid, known to all as Belle, was born on 21 December 1883 in Melbourne, the youngest of ten children of Robert Joseph Reid, a merchant from Scotland, and his Victorian-born wife Mary Jane, nee Clancy. The family owned a large property in Balwyn, bounded to the north by Whitehorse Road and to the south by Mont Albert Road. Growing up in a viticultural (Balwyn means "home of the vine"), market gardening and dairying district, Belle developed a passionate interest in animals, particularly horses. She was educated at Genazzano convent school, Kew, where she did well academically, became an accomplished needlewoman and showed potential as a soprano. She wanted to continue to study singing, but her parents considered a career on the stage unsuitable for a young woman of social standing.

They did, however, support her decision to enter the Melbourne Veterinary College, Fitzroy, in 1902. Completing the course in 1906, Belle Reid was one of five final-year students who were examined, and the only one to pass, graduating with second-class honours. When she was registered by the Veterinary Board of Victoria on 21 November she was said to be the first formally registered female veterinary surgeon in the British Empire. British female veterinary graduates were not admitted to registration by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons untiI 1924. Belle Reid immediately set up practice in a small cottage in Whitehorse Road that had formerly accommodated her family's chauffer. Driving to her calls by pony and trap, she became a familiar sight around Balwyn. In 1923, she retired and left the practice in the hands of Phillip T Kelynack BVSc, a 1916 Melbourne graduate, husband of her favourite niece Katherine Sylvia, nee Bates.

The original practice building, stables and kennels, and some of her instruments, can be seen at the Balwyn Veterinary Surgery. In 1911 Belle and her sister Mary, known as May, had bought one thousand acres (405 hecrares) of farmland at Bundoora, 20 kilometres from the Melbourne CBD, and named it Blossom Park. Belle later bought May out and commenced construction of a large home. She moved to the Farm in 1925. Edna WaIling was engaged to landscape the garden of her new home. Belle had stables built to accommodate both her own horses and others on agistment and supervised the construction of a large dairy. A keen breeder of animals, she imported an Irish cob stallion, Hafron Sensation, which provided the main bloodline for her stud. She also bred Jersey cattle using the Jubilee prefix. As a dog-breeder, she initially bred Pomeranians, but soon turned to Irish wolfhounds. A member of the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria, Belle regularly exhibited her cattle, dogs, pigs and harness horses with excellent results. She rode with the Findon Harriers Hunt, took in showjumping and played polo, often at Blossom Park.

Late in life Belle Reid still managed the farm with the assistance of Sylvia Kelynack. She died of a coronary thrombosis on 13 December I945 at Canterbury and was buried in Box Hill cemetery; her estate was sworn for probate at £101,603 pounds. A formidable woman, Belle only gained limited status in what was then a highly conservative male-dominated profession, partly because she retired from practice early. Nonetheless, Belle Reid is remembered in the historical records of the Victorian RSPCA, Melbourne Lost Dogs' Home and the Animal Welfare League of Victoria as having rendered a singular service to those organisations in the early development of veterinary services. Her veterinary practice has survived and is now the oldest continuing practice in the State, operating from the original site, although while the original premises and outbuildings have been maintained they have been greatly extended to meet modern requirements. The practice also continues the tradition established by Belle of involvement in the Australian RSPCA movement. In 1996 Belle Bruce Reid's name was included in the National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame, Alice Springs, Northern Territory. [1]

Isabelle was buried at Box Hill Cemetery, her Memorial designed by Bates Smart McCutcheon.

References:
1. Melbourne Sun News-Pictorial, 5 September 1924.
2. Records of the Royal College of Veserinary Surgeons, London.
3. Records of the Veterinary Practitioners Board of Victoria.
4. Records of the Melbourne Veterinary College (held by the Faculty of Veterinary Science, the University of Melbourne).
5. Information from the Trustees, Estate of the late Dr PT and Mrs KS Kelynack.
6. Rrs, Comm. Mrs J Taylor, Foster, Victoria.

[1] Box Hill Historical Society' Box Hill Cemetery, 395 Middleborough Rd. Online

Links:

National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame, Alice Springs, Northern Territory.

The Belle Bruce Reid Medal virtual Honour Roll, University of Melbourne.





Image above: 'Bundoora North "Blossom Park" gateway. Plenty road', May 7, 1974, Collins, John T. 1907-2001 , photographer. Reproduction rights owned by the State Library of Victoria.