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It had
long been a dream and ambition of the then Chairman of the
Consultative Committee, Harry Wynne, that a national council of all
cat control bodies in Australia would be established along the lines
of the Australian National Kennel Council. He felt that only when
such a council was in operation would the Australian cat fancy
progress to having uniform breeding and show rules, thus making it
easier for exhibitors to show their cats Australia wide. As it was,
each State and even different control bodies within the one state,
had varying rules.
Many attempts at establishing a National body had been made by the
control bodies in other States since the early days of the cat fancy
in Australia, the most recent being the Australian Cat Federation
Inc. formed in 1972. However, the organisation did not enjoy the
full support of all the Australian control bodies, notably the two
largest: the Feline Control Council of Victoria and the RAS Cat Club
of NSW.
Because of the unsettling influence this division was having on the
Australian cat fancy generally, It was felt that the time was right
for the RAS Cat Club (Control) to take the initiative and call all
the control bodies together in an endeavour to establish a national
council acceptable to all.
Accordingly, in 1974, with the support of the Governing Council of
the dog and cat section of the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (RASCC),
invitations were issued to all control bodies in Australia to attend
a meeting to take place during the course of the Royal Easter Show
on March 27 1975.
Although all control bodies sent representatives to this meeting,
that was chaired by Mr Wynne, nothing conclusive was achieved
Then, in 1978, in response to requests from cat control bodies in
other States, it was felt that a further attempt should be made to
establish a national council.
After discussions by the consultative committee, a recommendation
was made through the minutes that the RASCC supported the calling of
a meeting of all the cat control bodies in Australia, with a view to
forming a national council that would be a recommendatory body only.
Accordingly, the chairman of the Governing Council, A Howie and the
director of the RAS of NSW, Major General CMI Pearson, met with the
consultative committee on December 5th 1978, to discuss the
feasibility of calling such a meeting to decide what controls would
be invited , and to work out how it would be conducted and what
would be proposed for discussion.
Mr Wynne had drafted a proposed constitution, tentatively named the
Australian Cat Council, with the view and suggestion that this would
provide a basis from which to work. It was agreed that a copy of the
proposed constitution should be sent with a letter of invitation to
the various cat control bodies.
Council approved of the proposals and pledged the society a support
in regard to venue, catering and financial assistance in connection
with air fares for delegates from the Northern Territory and Western
Australia.
The meeting was set for February 17th 1979. Nearly all control
bodies in Australia responded and sent delegates or observers.
Because of his long association with the Cat Fancy in Australia and
his knowledge of the personalities involved, Harry Wynne was chair
at this meeting.
Full attendance list and matters discussed are contained in the
official minutes of that meeting. The proposal to establish a
national recommendatory body, to be known as The Co-ordinating Cat
Council of Australia was carried. It was established that only those
controls with a firm commitment to CCCA would send delegates to the
next meeting and that such controls would be foundation members.
The next meeting, to be known as the Second Inaugural Meeting of the
Co-ordinating Cat Council of Australia, was held in Sydney at the
RAS showgrounds on August 11th 1979, and was attended by delegates
representing 5 control bodies. They were: the RAS Cat Club of NSW,
the Council of Federated Cat Clubs of Queensland, the Queensland
Independent Cat Council, the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy in
Victoria and the Murray Valley Cat Authority.
At varying times in the succeeding years the above were joined by
other controls including the Feline Association of South Australia,
the RNCAS Cat Council (Canberra), the Feline Control Council of
Queensland, the Feline Control Council of Victoria and the
Independent Cat Association of Victoria.
The first few meetings were, in the main, taken up with revising the
original proposed constitution, the final draft which was ratified
at the meeting held on August 2nd 1980. From that point to the
present time, delegates from the various member controls have met
twice a year, usually in February and August and gradual progress
has been made , particularly in the area of registrations and
pedigrees. Hopefully in the future the dream will become reality and
the ultimate goal of its initiators will come to pass through the
Co-ordinating Cat Council of Australia - a uniform policy for the
conduct of shows, appointment of judges, registration of cats,
definition of classes and the awarding of championships, to make
life easier for the exhibitors and breeders of cats in Australia
(Information supplies by Dawn Newman) |
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