About Us
He is the Principal Veterinarian and practice owner. Owen has a Degree in Science (Zoology and Philosophy) and a degree in Veterinary Science. Owen grew up in Toowoomba in south east Queensland but spent some memorable holiday time in Cairns in the 1960’s with his uncle Don, who was the first university qualified vet to practice in Cairns.
Owen and his wife, Rosemarie, moved to Cairns in 1981 to establish the Earlville Veterinary Surgery. Prior to that, Owen worked in private practice in Brisbane, as a research assistant and tutor at the University of Queensland, and in mixed practice in Warwick. Owen has kept up to date by attending many post graduate training courses and conferences, and has built up a close network of contacts who are specialists in all fields of veterinary practice.
She is our practice manager. Rosie has one of the toughest jobs working to keep everything ticking over smoothly and making sure we are all working together towards the same goals.
She came to work for us as a locum veterinary nurse on a working holiday from the UK in 1996. Clare fell in love with Australia and we wanted her to stay. Sponsored migration, residency and naturalization followed, not to mention, marriage, home ownership and motherhood; and Clare has been our senior nurse/nurse supervisor since.
He graduated from the University of Queensland and moved to Katherine, NT before studying for a Masters in Pathology at the University of Melbourne. Taffy returned to the NT, but this time as veterinary pathologist in Alice Springs and later became Regional Veterinary Officer at the Arid Zone Research Institute. It was there that Taffy was mainly involved with cattle, horses and camels, but also dog health programs on communities.
Taffy moved to Cairns in the late 1990s for a lifestyle change and took the opportunity for a career change as the Solomon’s Carpet franchise owner (and even installed the vinyl on the floor of this clinic). Taffy returned to private veterinary practice in Cairns for 6 years before being contracted for 2 years to Qatar, in the Middle East, to develop a privately owned camel health facility.
On returning to Australia he jumped at the opportunity to join Owen and Rosie at Earlville Vets.
She is our main front counter receptionist. She came to us with extensive experience in a real estate office and at a medical specialty private practice. It is often a tougher job being out the front rather than working with the animals in the clinic. But Diane takes great pride in keeping things running smoothly and helps
everyone get the most from the services we provide. Diane also keeps us all entertained at our staff functions or get-togethers.
She is our nurses’ assistant. Janina looks after our equipment and helps everyone get on with their tasks. We all thank Janina for keeping our instruments in order and cleaning up the mess. Janina is also very skilled with the clippers and scissors and does most of our professional grooming of dogs.
He grew up in England but moved to Australia in 2000 to study Veterinary Science at Sydney University. After completing his veterinary degree in 2005 he moved up to Townsville where he practised for 4 years before moving further north to Darwin. He has always been interested in exotic animal practice and particularly reptile medicine. His passion for wildlife took him to Nigeria where he worked as a volunteer veterinarian at a primate sanctuary for 18 months. It was there that Graham met his wife and they are now keen to settle down to life in Cairns.
She started with us in early 2009 as qualified and experienced Veterinary Nurse, after having a break from the profession for a while. She has fitted into the team very well and brings a wealth of experience as a Veterinary Nurse and animal groomer.