The 1957 BVSc graduates

Abstract

The photograph of the veterinary graduandi of 1957, in front of the Onderstepoort Library, is a formal black and white group photo. Lente van der Merwe was the 8th woman graduate of the Onderstepoort Faculty. As there were as yet no hostel facilities for women, she was accommodated with a lecturer, Dr Daan Smit and his wife, for the duration of her course. Having qualified in 1957, Lente was appointed as the first female state veterinarian in South Africa in 1958 at the Cape Town laboratory where she did mainly poultry and quarantine work.

The names of the graduates on the photo are Front (from left to right): LW Langlands, D Dixon, JW Rousseau, L van der Merwe, A Vogelnest, CJ Maré, BA Matson ; Second row: JG Pienaar, GC Steyn, RW Worthington, S J van Rensburg, F de St J van der Riet, RJH Howell ; Third row: JW van Niekerk, D Venter, TA Theron, HJ Venter, AM Day, EL Redelinghuys ; Absent: IG Horak. More information on some of the veterinarians can be read in: Past veterinarians in South Africa / Posthumus, P.J. URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2263/21238 or the website S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science URL: http://www.s2a3.org.za/bio/Main.php