Originally from western Sydney, Rowan has taken an extraordinary path that bridges the worlds of animal health and aviation. With family roots tracing back to sugar cane farming in Far North Queensland, Rowan moved into the academic fast lane early, studying Veterinary Science while living at St Andrew’s College.
After graduating, Rowan launched his career in the most Australian of ways – as a “flying vet” in the remote Kimberley and Northern Territory, helping eradicate bovine tuberculosis. From TB testing thousands of cattle a day to running a small animal clinic from an aircraft hangar, the experience was as rugged as it was formative. While aviation began as a side interest, Rowan’s pilot licences eventually opened the door to a second career with Qantas. Now a commercial airline pilot, he still occasionally returns to veterinary work – a professional hobby that fits around his flying roster.
Tell us a little bit about yourself, where are you originally from and where did you grow up?
I grew up in Western Sydney, although the earlier generations of my family were sugar cane farmers in Far North Queensland.
What made you choose St Andrew’s College? What about St Andrew’s appealed to you the most?
I kind of fell into St Andrew’s by accident whilst looking for somewhere to live near university – it was all a bit of a rush after the offers came out, and St Andrew’s seemed a good fit.
During your time at St Andrew’s, what parts of College life did you get involved in, and do you have a favourite memory you’d like to share?
I can’t say that there was a lot of time to get too involved in the minutiae of College life – the Vet Science course load was spectacularly high compared to most degrees, but I certainly enjoyed the camaraderie, and there was always someone hanging around the front steps or the JCR looking for a chat, whatever the time of day. Walkabout was always a highlight!
How do you feel your time at St Andrew’s influenced your post-college life?
Having entered College as a 17-year-old, it was in many ways a crash course in how to “adult”. I owe a lot of who I am to some of my experiences at St Andrew’s and at Vet School.
You are both a qualified airline pilot and a vet surgeon – what inspired you to pursue two careers in such different fields? How do you feel your time studying prepared you for this dual career?
I pursued my Private and subsequently my Commercial pilot licences whilst at College – mostly out of interest rather than any particular career aspirations – never contemplating an airline career. I was very lucky to snag my first vet job in Kununurra as a “flying vet”, however after we had largely eradicated tuberculosis from the northern cattle herds, this job was no longer viable. After a couple of years in small and mixed animal practice in Sydney, Canberra and the UK, it became apparent that the long hours and relatively poor recompense were a surefire path to burnout (this is a common theme for young vets – especially 30 years ago when each practice did their own after-hours, so we ended up carrying a pager home every second or third night and working every second or third weekend as well as ten or 12 hour days). Casting around for other options, I was able to apply to Qantas – oddly enough, I had never particularly planned it this way, but it was all incredibly fortuitous and possibly meant to be.
Currently, you primarily work as a pilot, with the occasional locum vet shift in between your roster. How do you manage the balance between your primary role as a pilot and more casual work as a vet? Is it ever difficult?
I don’t do a lot of vet work anymore, and it has to fit into my flying roster. Having said that, I am home approximately half the time, so I have the flexibility to fit in as much or as little vet work as seems appropriate. I see the veterinary caper as pretty much a professional hobby these days.
What’s the best part of being a commercial pilot working for a big airline, and are there any downsides to the role?
The camaraderie and the travel are the obvious advantages. The downsides are the time away from family and missing some of the events that you would really want to be home for.
Early in your flying career, you worked with the Australian Government as a ‘flying vet’ to eradicate bovine tuberculosis from Australia, flying in and out of Kununurra to TB test herds of cattle. This role combined both your careers! Could you share with us more about this time and what this work involved? And, are there many opportunities to work as a flying vet still?
This role was based in Kununurra, and we would fly out to some of the iconic cattle stations of the Kimberley and Northern Territory. The cattle numbers were immense – my personal record was TB testing 3600 cattle in one day – hard work. In retrospect, it was a great experience – not that many people actually get to experience and actively participate in the quintessential Australian outback. We also had a small animal clinic based in the aircraft hangar in Kununurra, so we got to do a bit of everything, albeit with fairly rudimentary equipment by today’s standards.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, international and domestic travel almost completely ceased, and you returned to the veterinary profession – how did you manage this shift? What was it like for you and your colleagues to deal with the uncertainty around if and when flying would continue again?
It was a bit of a shock to the system working 10-hour days, 5 days a week again, but I was one of the lucky ones who had another professional qualification to fall back on. Everyone had a different experience, a lot of Qantas people ended up working in COVID-19 testing centres, Woollies, Coles or Bunnings, if at all. It was certainly a trying time for the airline industry.
What guidance would you offer to those aspiring to become pilots or work within the aviation industry?
Aviation is an unpredictable industry with boom or bust phases, exposed to economic cycles and crises, and there is a lot of luck involved in being in the right place at the right time. If it’s what you want to do, gather your licences and ratings as soon as possible so as to have a better chance of being in the right place at the right time.
What do you do outside of work? Do you have a favourite hobby? How do you unwind and switch off?
We have a small acreage that keeps me pretty busy!
Looking ahead – what’s next? What are you hoping to achieve this year?
My daughter finished high school last year and has just started at Sydney Uni and is now at Women’s College, so we are largely child-free, anticipating more travel and maybe getting out on the golf course or buying a boat. Also looking forward to the introduction of the A350 and direct flights from Sydney to Europe and New York.