Leader ends long term at Wallaceville

Tu Tangata, Issue 24, 1 June 1985, Page 43

Leader ends long term at Wallaceville

Te iwi

In Dr Wally Te Punga’s time at the Wallaceville Animal Research Centre, dating back to 1953, it has doubled in size.

Dr Te Punga, 61, began work there as a diagnostic officer. Halcombe-born he went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree at Victoria University followed by a verterinary science degree from the University of Sydney. He practiced as a vet in Eltham and Waipukurau for a few years before joining Wallaceville the oldest veterinary institute in the South Hemisphere.

After his send-off at the centre the long-serving director the Leader he will be settling down for a quiet life at his Upper Hutt home.

The cut from the demanding administration of the centre will be complete. Dr Te Punga said he would not presume to leave any messages to staff

leave the future to my successor (Dr Jack Park),” he said.

His retiring manner belied years of being at the forefront of research what he called a “funny sort of game”.

He qualified for a postgraduate diploma in bacteriology from the University of Manchester in 1955 and in the 1960 s studied for his doctorate at the University of London.

His PhD work had nothing to do with the world of a vet he helped pioneer techniques for curing infant diarrhoea and whooping cough.

Specialised

He has specialised in study into infectious infertility in sheep and cattle, and in vibriosis. His work led to a new and practical method of treating dairy cows, novel and more satisfactory tests and vaccination.

Dr Te Punga’s findings have appeared regularly in scientific periodicals, part of the “continual interchange of information’’, and he has attended many overseas conferences which were always more hard work than holiday.