WFA Committee

After reading Peter Singer’s book, Animal Liberation, Christine founded Animal Liberation in Australia in l976. She became Joint Managing Trustee of Help in Suffering animal shelter in l990.

Christine Townend holds a Doctorate from the University of Sydney.

She is a writer and poet with ten published books. She is also an artist and has held many successful solo art exhibitions – see: www.animalstories.com.au

Jeremy Townend is a lawyer, who retired in l992 from the Sydney city law firm of which he was a partner, and, with wife Christine went to live and work as a volunteer at Help in Suffering Animal Shelter in Jaipur, Rajasthan. In 2007 they retired from this position and returned to Australia.

Retired to live in Australia maintaining regular visits to the shelters in India.

Ace Bourke was born in Sydney in 1946. Ace is one of Australia’s leading art curators; a pioneer in the field of Aboriginal art and a colonial art specialist. After school and university in Australia he travelled to London where he and a friend John Rendall purchased a lion they named Christian, and returned to the wild in Africa. He lives in Sydney with his two cats.

His blog can be read at:

http://acebourke.wordpress.com

Dr Julie Tolhurst is the veterinary advisor in charge of KAS and DAS.

She practices as a vet in Brisbane, and spends part of every year at the two shelters.

Dr. John Holt, pictured here with his wife Mary, advisory veterinarian and long-time supporter of DAS,KAS and HIS, died in July 2013. We were honoured to know such a modest, talented and gentle person. He and Mary donated generously to KAS and DAS. The British Small Animal Association has written: ‘the global veterinary community has lost an inspiring figure with the death of John Holt, founder of the Australian Small Animal Veterinary Association. See here for more info.

The Dr John Holt Scholarship for Animal Welfare

Jeannette Lloyd-Jones is a yoga teacher in Sydney, and also a professional photographer. Her interest in animal protection work inspired her to become involved in WFA. She visited Help In Suffering in Jaipur 2 years ago.

When Suzi was twenty two years old she read Animal Liberation by Peter Singer and it changed her life. She became a vegan and served actively on the committee of Animal Liberation (NSW) for about 7 years, during three of these years holding the position of President. . She now lives on the south Coast of NSW, running a retail business (Valley Organics) with her partner Peg, delivering Organic produce and groceries. She is an artist working on images of animals and insects to highlight the beauty and fragility of the natural world.

Peg has been a vegetarian and surfer since he was 17yrs old. He loves being part of the ocean and often shares the waves with dolphins and whales and other inhabitants. He spent several years in the 1980’s working on campaigns for Animal Liberation. His most memorable time was collecting ducks and swans shot by duck hunters in the campaign that was eventually successful in banning duck hunting in NSW. He runs Valley Organics with his partner Suzi, providing Organic food to the Shoalhaven area. He has spent several years building the family home, reducing the Carbon footprint with passive solar design and the installation of solar hot water and photovoltaic panels that generate most of the electricity for the household. He still surfs in nearby Jervis Bay and plays saxophone and clarinet.

Brenda was born and educated in London, UK. In wartime she remembers being evacuated to a farm in Devon, where a love of animals and nature developed in her. She remembers especially rescuing the baby rabbits and field-mice at harvest-time.

Concern for the cruel treatment of farm animals continued to grow and Brenda joined the committee of Animal Liberation and followed a vegan lifestyle.

Living now in Nana Glen with Richard and an assortment of animals, she remains on the committee of HIS (now Working for Animals). She is also a founding member of Cheeta – a group established to campaign for the ethical treatment of all animals.

Richard is a civil engineer who has worked overseas and in Australia on a variety of projects covering many aspects of the profession. He is married to Brenda and after retiring in 2003 they moved from Sydney to Nana Glen. In 1980 Richard and Brenda joined the committee of Animal Liberation, and in 1995 joined the committee of Working for Animals. They have, along with others, recently established a group in the Coffs Harbour area which campaigns for the ethical treatment of animals.