Murray: Veterinarian
Murray grew up mostly in Melbourne and went to the University of Melbourne to study veterinary science. After graduating in 1988 (no that’s not a typo!) he spent several years working in and around Melbourne. He was a founding partner at Port Melbourne Veterinary Clinic, but decided another adventure was needed.
Chance then took Murray to Hong Kong with his partner Samantha. Samantha and Murray spent three years there working in several clinics. Working at Happy Valley Veterinary Clinic on Hong Kong Island was the highlight. They used to fly specialists in from Australia to help treat their patients.
At the end of three years Murray and Samantha married and decided a new home was required, as they did not want to raise a family in Hong Kong. Bendigo was Samantha’s hometown and by chance White Hills Animal Hospital had come up for sale. Newly married they moved to Bendigo (with their two Hong Kong cats) in 2001 and took up the challenge of running the White Hills Animal Hospital. Their aim was to run the White Hills Animal Hospital as a small animal only clinic to help the pet owners of Bendigo.
Bendigo has been great and after 10 years they have taken on a partner to share the workload. Samantha and Murray now have three children, Melana, Henry and Albert. They also have a menagerie of pets, Bert and Kitty the Hong Kong cats, Ollie the Pug who was a rescue dog, Leaf the green budgie, Jeff the galah, Eric the bearded dragon, several cockatiels, 2 lorikeets, 4 chooks, 3 stick insects, 2 ponies Rommy and Lilly and a new rescue dog called Jessie.
The kids are following in their parents footsteps and Melana and Henry have both adopted kittens of their own, Oscar and Josie. Last but not least, are the clinic cats, Ned, Wayne and Pussa. Ollie and Jessie usually go to work each day to laze around and do nothing … it’s a hard life!
Jack: Veterinarian
Jack grew up in South Australia, very close to the Victorian border - which almost makes him a Victorian. His early years were spent on an old dairy farm surrounded by cows, sheep, dogs and cats as well as the odd orphan lamb or calf that needed to be hand raised.
Jack's first career choice was as a chemical engineer and he spent 8 years working in the mining industry. With the support of his wife - Carla, Jack returned to university to pursue a long held ambition to be a vet. After graduating in 2002, Jack and Carla moved to Maleny in the Sunshine coast Hinterland where Jack worked in a mixed practice. Whilst in QLD their son Taine was added to the family.
After 1 1/2 years the urge to travel became too strong and so started a 3 year adventure traveling around Australia in a caravan and working as a locum vet in some fantastic locations. Towards the end of the traveling, their daughter Tully was added to the family. As the family grew and the caravan became too small they decided to settle in Townsville and Jack spent the next 3 years working in a small animal clinic. The sun and the tropics were great but as the kids got older it was time to move closer to extended family.
Jack joined WHAH in November 2009 and became a partner in the business in July 2011. In his spare time Jack enjoys camping and lots of time with his family. He passionately follows the Hawthorn football club, plays social tennis and enjoys running the streets of Bendigo. He completed the Melbourne marathon in October 2010.
Jack’s extensive non-human family consists of Zola the basset hound, Sally - birman cat, Molly - persian cat, Tinkerbell and Mango Lollypop - 2 very naughty bengal kittens, several fish, a few chooks and 1 silky chook called Kim. Jack is excited to be part of the WHAH team and looks forward to helping you take the best care possible of your furred and feathered friends - whether they go woof, meow, tweet, quack or say very little at all.
Dave – Veterinarian
Dave grew up in Canberra and is enjoying the move to Bendigo with a similar climate, relaxed lifestyle and easy access to the outdoors. After aspiring to be a Vet from a young age, he initially studied B Science / B Law in Wollongong and then returned to Canberra for three years to work as a lawyer for the Australian Government.
In 2006 Dave enjoyed the best part of a year in Latin America doing volunteer work and travelling. This included three months in Bolivia working at an animal refuge, Inti Wara Yassi, looking after Capuchin monkeys & pumas! This time re-inspired his dream of becoming a Vet. After returning to Canberra for another year in 2007, in which he worked and saved some money, he finally commenced B Veterinary Science at the University of Melbourne in 2008.
While studying Vet, Dave met and married Melbourne English teacher Deborah. Deb and Dave had their first child Anya soon after the completion of Dave's Vet degree in December 2011. Keen to avoid the trappings of a big city, they decided Bendigo would be a great place to raise a family and were excited when Dave joined the team at WHAH. They are loving life in Bendigo with their young daughter Anya and cat Amara.
Outside of work Dave enjoys the outdoors and loves to go hiking, camping and skiing when time allows. He has played soccer throughout his life and in recent years has taken up running, completing the Canberra marathon in 2010 and Melbourne half-marathon in 2009 and 2011. Dave looks forward to exploring Bendigo's running and riding tracks, both on and off road.
While enjoying working with all animals large and small throughout his course, Dave is most passionate about caring for the furred and feathered members of our client’s families and looks forward to meeting yours!
Sam: Vet Nurse
Vet Nurse Sam was born and raised in Cohuna. After finishing school she moved to Queensland with her family and started work as a barmaid. After 5 years with two legged animals Sam decided she would like to work with the four legged variety. She managed to get a job as a vet nurse at a clinic on Bribie Island where she worked for 9 months.
She then decided to move back to Bendigo to be closer to the ever-moving family. Soon after arriving in Bendigo Sam started working at White Hills Animal Hospital. Since starting in 2006 Sam has completed her Certificate 2 in animal care and is now studying for her certificate 4 in veterinary nursing.
Some of Sam's other interests include camping, fishing and movies. She is also in the process of starting up her own pet collar business in her spare time. Sam's immediate animal family includes Lix, Randy and Chairman Meow the cats. She is also step mother to Keeira and Burton (2 big boofy dogs) and a cat called Yasser Arracat.
Anna: Vet Nurse
Vet Nurse Anna was born and bred in the country Victorian town of Nathalia. She has been vet nursing for the best part of 10 years and completed a Diploma of Animal Technology in 2000.
Prior to joining White Hills Animal Hospital she worked in 2 veterinary clinics in Melbourne and also spent a year working in Perth. Anna is a keen traveler and has spent time in Africa, UK, Europe and the USA.
She loves the great outdoors and pretty much all sports, especially keeping a close eye on the mighty Richmond Tigers although yet to provide too many highlights! Anna has 2 mischievous terrier cross dogs called Moby and Pip, who she adores.
Tristen - Vet Nurse
Tristen was born and raised in Heathcote. She completed her secondary education at Catholic College Bendigo.
After high school she moved to Bathurst in NSW to study nursing / paramedics at CSU. After two years she decided she wanted to do something else and changed to veterinary nursing. While still in Bathurst she completed her certificate II in animal studies and started working as a veterinary nurse.
Tristen moved back to Bendigo in early 2011 for heart surgery and decided to stay. Once through surgery Tristen enrolled at Box Hill Tafe to continue her studies and is currently working towards her certificate IV in veterinary nursing.
Tristen started at the White Hills Animal Hospital at the end of 2011.
Besides work, Tristen has a great love of elephants, playing tennis and chilling out with her two dogs. Cosmo is a ruby Cavalier and Izzy a fun loving Kelpie. Tristen has recently added Iris, a little kitten to her animal family.
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