Trevor John Bagust (1944 to 2014)
Born in 1944 in Tauranga, New Zealand, Trevor John Bagust came from a family of farmers and builders. His schooling was at Mt Albert Grammar School Auckland, on completion of which he crossed the “ditch” to the University of Queensland, graduating in 1966 with the degree of Bachelor of Veterinary Science. This was followed by a PhD in animal virology (bovine and equine herpesviruses) at the same university, completed in 1970. Immediately following his PhD, Trevor was employed as a research scientist developing animal vaccines at the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, Victoria, and then in 1973 was recruited into the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Division of Animal Health, Parkville, Victoria to develop an avian diseases research programme.
Trevor was responsible early in his career for the design, establishment and operation of the National Specified Pathogen-Free Poultry Facility, opened in 1977, which provided a foundation for avian disease research, vaccine production and avian exotic disease diagnosis in Australia and other southern hemisphere countries for some 20 years.
From 1975 to 1985 Trevor developed and led a large CSIRO programme of research into a number of infectious diseases of major economic importance to the Australian poultry industry. These included avian leucosis, reticuloendotheliosis, infectious bursal disease, infectious bronchitis and infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT). His work improved our understanding of mechanisms of pathogenesis, transmission, diagnosis and control of these viral infections, and in the case of lymphoid leucosis virus led to its eradication from Australian commercial flocks. Of particular note was his discovery that the trigeminal ganglion becomes a major site for latency establishment by ILT viruses, including modified live virus vaccine strains, that later underwent reactivation and spread. His work also led to the development and commercial application of the A20 vaccine strain of ILT virus that is still used in Australia and overseas over 20 years after its discovery. In recognition of his knowledge and expertise, Trevor was invited to co-author the chapter on ILT in “Diseases of Poultry”, which he did for three editions between 1991 and 2003.
In 1985 Trevor was appointed Officer-in Charge of the CSIRO Animal Health Research Laboratory, and between 1987 and 1989 was acting Chief of the CSIRO Division of Animal Health. While Officer-in Charge, Trevor was appointed Director of Australia–China Poultry Projects (1988 to 1996) operated through AusAID, the Australian international development agency. Under his leadership, China's national specified pathogen-free poultry production facility at Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, the Poultry Diseases Diagnostic and Training Centre at Tianjin and the Beijing Laboratory Animals Research Centre were all established.
In 1997, Trevor was honoured for his work in China and in Viet Nam by the award of the Kesteven Medal by the Australian Veterinary Association in recognition of his outstanding achievements in international animal health development assistance.
Throughout his time in the CSIRO Trevor worked with and provided opportunities for many colleagues and was very supportive of, in particular, young scientists, including many from overseas countries for whom he provided crucial training and opportunities. Trevor hosted many distinguished scientists and visitors to the CSIRO Animal Health Research Laboratory and was tireless in promoting the individual and collective achievements of avian disease research in Australia.
In 1996, after the closure of the CSIRO Animal Health Research Laboratory in Parkville and translocation to the Australian Animal Health Laboratory site in Geelong, Victoria, Trevor departed CSIRO and was appointed Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Melbourne. In 1998 Trevor undertook the development of a Master of Veterinary Studies course for postgraduate specialization in avian health, and from 2004 to 2010 was pivotal in the establishment and development of Avian Health Online™ (AHO). This programme provides postgraduate education and training of avian veterinarians via online interactive learning and is an academic collaboration between the University of Melbourne and the University of Georgia, USA. Trevor's passion for education through AHO has resulted in training of more than 30 veterinarians from all over the world. Most of these currently serve as poultry specialists for major poultry breeding or pharmaceutical companies. At every World Veterinary Poultry Association (WVPA) meeting, Trevor planned a get-together lunch or breakfast with all the past and current students, as well as any AHO course contributors who were at the meeting. This made everyone feel part of a family—the AHO family.
Trevor authored some 70 peer-reviewed scientific articles and textbook chapters. In recognition of his scientific standing and his seminal contributions to AHO, in 2012 he was appointed an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Population Health at the University of Georgia and an honorary Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne. He was a Life Member of the Australian Veterinary Association and the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists, and was an editor and member of the Advisory Board of Avian Pathology. In 2013 he was admitted as a foundation member of the WVPA Hall of Honour. Trevor was twice a former President of the Australasian Veterinary Poultry Association and its representative within the Bureau of the WVPA for some 20 years to 2012. He was elected President of the WVPA in 2011; a position he was to continue until August 2015 but for his untimely and sudden death on 28 February 2014.
Trevor loved to play the piano, smoke his pipe and speak French, which he loved and used with flare. Friends and colleagues knew him by the sobriquet “T-Bags”, which is obviously a truncation of his name. He was a person possessing boundless energy and enthusiasm and was the eternal optimist. Trevor had a remarkable, full, and varied career of achievements.
Most recently he had been enjoying “semi-retirement” in coastal Victoria, devoting time to playing bridge, music, gardening, reading and furniture restoration. He is survived by his wife Joanne, daughters Fiona, Kathryn and Elizabeth, and grandchildren Jacob, Lachlan and Elise.
Kevin Whithear
Jagoda Ignjatovic
Amir Noormohammadi
Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Melbourne,
Parkville, VIC, Australia
From the World Veterinary Poultry Association
On the WVPA front, Trevor had been active for many years as the Bureau Representative of the Australasian Branch and he played his part in Sydney, successfully gaining and then hosting the 1993 WVPA Congress. Trevor became Vice President in 2005 at the Istanbul Congress in Turkey and assumed the Presidency six years later at the Cancun Congress in Mexico. Over the years Trevor had worked in various disciplines and countries, and this, coupled with his international interpersonal skills, gave him the ideal range of skills to take on the challenging role of WVPA President. He also had the great ability to delegate with responsibility, which allowed his fellow officers to successfully progress various WVPA projects. They always knew something needed his consideration and reflection when he adjourned a meeting to go into pensive mode with his beloved pipe!
During his time as President of WVPA Trevor oversaw various successes such as the revamping of the WVPA website, the inauguration of the WVPA Asia Congress in 2012 and the creation of the WVPA Young Poultry Veterinarian Award, which was awarded in both 2012 and 2013. But if you could ask Trevor what gave him most satisfaction, he would undoubtedly have answered the creation of the WVPA Hall of Honour, which he personally supervised and then launched at the Nantes Congress in 2013. It was a fitting tribute to Trevor that he himself was one of the founding intake of inductees into this Hall of Honour.
Trevor always had time for his professional colleagues, whether they were young veterinarians or scientists facing the daunting experience of their first Congress and presentation or whether they were senior colleagues in the latter stages of distinguished careers. Trevor was fortunate enough to have been blessed with a unique combination of professional, scientific and people skills, which meant that one could rightly say “Trevor's greatest attribute was that he was Trevor!”.
Nigel Horrox and Hafez M. Hafez
Vice Presidents, WVPA