In 1948, a weekend at Lort Smith earned you $4, and it cost $1.25 to spey a cat. That's when Pat Jarratt started work.
Raised on a farm, Pat had always looked out for strays. After the war, she read about Lort Smith in the paper. "I rang and enquired about volunteer work. They told me they didn't offer volunteer work but they did have weekend work available. I started, on my own, the next Saturday and I didn't know the blunt end from the sharp end of the hospital. The phone used to ring non-stop!"
The animal ambulance
Pat did a bit of everything: answering the phone, feeding and exercising animals, cleaning cat cages, and driving the ambulance. For collecting several animals, she took the English Bedford. "It had paintings of little critters with bandages all over it. And compartments for the cats and dogs."
"I could count on one hand the number of vet clinics in Melbourne in those days. There were only two or three in the metropolitan area, and none were open on weekends – so we just had to do the best we could."
Her most memorable patient was an old dog found by workmen demolishing a house in Essendon. "When I got there, the two 'heroes' were drinking a cup of tea and one of them asked 'haven't you got a man with you?' and I replied 'no, I don't need a fella!'" Inside was a filthy, battle-scarred dog whose feet "looked like swollen red footballs". His family had moved to Bendigo, and he'd escaped and walked all the way home. When they were contacted, they said he was too old for them. "I responded with 'he's not too old to walk 200 miles in your name!'" says Pat.
They were two pioneers in animal care. Both marvellous women.
Pat Jarratt
Mrs Lort
Louisa Lort Smith phoned the hospital every Sunday morning without fail. "She would ask me my name, how much I enjoyed working there and then always say 'Keep the Flag Flying' before slamming down the phone," laughs Pat.
"Obviously I have enormous affection and respect for them [Louisa Lort Smith and Lady Lyle] for being so brave. Because people didn't do that kind of thing for animals back then. Animals were secondary. They were two pioneers in animal care. Both marvellous women."
Rowing up the Maribyrnong
When Pat found draught horses kept in terrible conditions before slaughter in Footscray, committee member Joan Richmond, an aviator and racing driver, came with her to investigate. Refused entry, they hired a rowing boat and paddled up the Maribyrnong River so Miss Richmond could photograph the horses. Days later, the story was in The Herald.
"She had a real impact on me, she inspired me. I just loved the style of the woman – eccentric!"
Lort Smith still relies on the generosity of the community, just as it did in Pat's day.