Meet Murchison resident Rob Jones.
Dr Jones was Australia’s first aquarium vet (essentially creating the ‘aquarium vet’ title) and invented the ‘shark bag’ and the E-quarist online training course — and now he is Greater Shepparton’s Dr Dolittle.
Let me explain.
Dr Jones grew up in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.
At eight years of age, he told his mother he wanted to be one of those people “that helped fix animals”.
At 21, he had graduated as a vet and ended up at Dandenong Veterinary Hospital in 1979.
After 20 years as a vet, Dr Jones was looking for a career change, so he began a master’s in aquaculture (fish farming).
In 1999, while the Melbourne Aquarium was being built, he tracked down the curator.
“I offered my services and started one day a week,” Dr Jones said.
“At the time, there was no vet working with any of the large public aquariums in Australia, so there was no support network.
“In some ways, I created the role.
“It was not advertised.
“Many times, I flew by the seat of my pants, as the saying goes.”
Dr Jones said within a year, he realised he wanted to make it a full-time career, and he expanded to three days a week at the aquarium and found work elsewhere as well.
“I started travelling to consult at other aquariums in Australia and occasionally to Asia,” he said.
“From dogs, cats, birds, rabbits and guinea pigs, my patients became sharks, stingrays and other fish, penguins, sea turtles, crocodiles, seals and dugongs.”
Dr Jones’ career highlights:
– Two journeys to Japan, transporting sharks via cargo plane.
On one occasion, he had the unique opportunity to sit in the cockpit while landing at Narita Airport in Tokyo.
– Being integral to a team conducting several boat expeditions through Sydney Heads to Magic Point.
There, Dr Jones actively participated in rescuing wild grey nurse sharks entangled in fishing gear, witnessing their release and later recovery.
– Driving a 5m, 750kg saltwater crocodile named Pinjarra from Rockhampton to the Melbourne Aquarium.
The journey, spanning 30 hours, was conducted in a mini-bus.
– Flying into Sydney in the front seat of a small twin-propeller plane, with about 10 gentoo penguins in cages right behind him.
– More recently, managing the relocation of a 3m sawfish from Sydney Aquarium to Melbourne following repair works on the main tank.
This overnight journey involved tracking the truck with a ‘shark cam’ and monitoring water quality via an app, including the sedation of the sawfish for safe transport.
During this trip, a 120kg sea turtle was also moved.
In the early 2000s, he helped create the ‘Aquarium Vet Shark Bag’.
Dr Jones described the bag as a plastic sock with a large opening for the shark/stingray to swim into that opened into a narrower space, where it could then be sedated and transferred into a one-metre-deep pool.
This design has since been adapted internationally, allowing for safer handling of sharks and stingrays across the globe.
In 2010, Dr Jones began creating an online course for aquarists (professional fish keepers).
In 2011, the E-quarist course was launched, and it is now recognised as the “gold standard for education in the public aquarium industry globally”.
“We are an association of Zoos and Aquarium (United States based) recognised learning partner, and over the years have registered over 2000 students on six continents,” Dr Jones said.
“Oddly enough, there are not many public aquariums in the Antarctic.”
Over the years, Dr Jones and his wife, Katrina Jones, have expanded the Aquarium Vet business, employing other vets nationwide.
“We routinely consult about 16 public aquariums in Australia, New Zealand and Asia, and in 2024, we are expanding into the Middle East,” Dr Jones said.
“My role had very much changed to writing the course material, answering emails and phone advice and travelling to consult or audit aquariums.
“We also attended, and I spoke at many international conferences.
“In 2018, I did 18 trips to Tullamarine airport and spent 12 weeks out of Australia on seven overseas trips.
“So when the opportunity came up to move to this beautiful town, we jumped at it.”
Dr Jones’ brother regularly held an annual Australia Day celebration at Kirwans Bridge near Murchison before the historic bridge closed following the October floods in 2022.
In 2019, Dr Jones and Mrs Jones made the trip from their Melbourne home to stay with his brother for the weekend.
Dr Jones said there used to be a winery with a café near the bridge, but it had since been pulled down.
“We have a lovely morning, walk across the bridge, go to the restaurant and have a brunch,” Dr Jones said.
“So I go to pay the bill, and Katrina bumps into this lady.
“The lady says, ‘I saw you walking across the bridge; you’ve come a long way.’
“She says, ‘Oh no, we’re just staying up in Kirwans Bridge, we’re up from Melbourne for the weekend.’
“Katrina said, ‘Where do you live?’
“She says, ‘I live in Murchison.’
“Katrina said, ‘I love Murchison, I could live there.’
“She said, ‘I’ve got a property for sale.’
“True story.”
That afternoon, the couple visited the Murchison property.
The Joneses were both sold and eventually, the property was too.
“We hadn’t planned on moving,” Dr Jones said.
“But it just seemed so perfect.
“It was just meant to be.”
Dr Jones loves Murchison.
He’s involved in both the Murchison Historical Society and the Neighbourhood House.
These days, Dr Jones consults with aquariums across the globe remotely through video calls, emails and text messages.
He said as much as he was grateful for his incredible experiences, he did not miss the constant travel.
Dr Jones credits much of his success to written goal-setting, a process he describes as “transformative”.
“You are never too old to have a career change,” he said.
“I was in my mid-40s when I started down the path as an aquarium vet, and what an amazing journey it has been.
“Certainly nothing I would have ever thought possible in the mid-1990s.”