Walter George Whittlestone

Dr Walter (Wattie) George Whittlestone was born in Abbotsford, New Zealand, on 2 April 1913. He was the son of Annie Ethel Lowe and Frederick Opawa Whittlestone (a miner), and he was also the husband of Shirley Stuart. Dr Whittlestone was a scientist, agricultural chemist, researcher and one of the instigators of the NZ Foundation for Peace Studies. He was educated at Gore High School and graduated from the University of Otago in 1936 (DSc, MSc, BSc, First Class Honours in Chemistry) and won the Sir George Grey Scholarship and the Duffus Lubecki Scholarship.

Dairying industry

He was employed by the New Zealand Co-operative Rennet Company in Eltham, Taranaki, to work with insulin, but his interests shifted to rennet starters and he was able to double the rennet production of the company. With the local farm veterinarian, Mr Lesley, he became involved with some of the earliest studies of mastitis, hygiene, and its association with the milking machine. He is considered the major developer of low-level milking systems (milk and vacuum lines) for his on-farm work in Taranaki.

In 1939 Dr Whittlestone moved to the Department of Agriculture's Wallaceville Animal Research Centre and was requested to increase the life of milking rubberware as rubber was in short supply during World War II. This led to his ongoing interest in milk ejection, lactational physiology, and the hormonal basis of lactation. In 1945 he transferred to the Ruakura Animal Research Station. He was largely responsible for the development of the Ruakura milking indicator and vacuum regulator, which were exported worldwide and formed part of the Ruakura milking machine developed with D.S.X. Phillips. Work with C.W. Turner, University of Missouri, provided insights into the hormonal basis of milk ejection. He received the D. Sc. from the University of New Zealand, was President of the New Zealand Dairy Science Association (1953), and was awarded the New Zealand Association of Scientists Research Medal in 1954. A visit from V.E. Petersen, University of Minnesota, helped to confirm his interest in physiology, cow behaviour, stress, and milking capacities.

In 1958, Dr Whittlestone moved to Australia to become the Reader in Dairy Husbandry and the University of Sydney and established and made famous the Camden Laboratory. Among other things he worked on detergents and sanitisers for -6leaning systems and set seven major dairy industry standards. He was awarded the gold medal of the Australian Association of Dairy Technology.

After six years in Australia, Dr Whittlestone returned to New Zealand to Ruakura where he worked as scientist and chairman of the Physiology and Hygiene Section until his retirement in 1979. He furthered his earlier work in cleaning systems, and the passage of bacteria within the milking system; and he developed the rolling ball viscometer to determine somatic cell counts Cleucocytes), and the first fully automated recirculating cleaning milk simulator (used to assess new cleaning systems and the effects of cleaning materials on milk equipment and rubberware). In 1969 he was made a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural Science. He served on the National Research Advisory Council, was active on the Board of the Dairy Research Institute (1964-70), became the President of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production in 1969, became a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry in 1966, and was honoured as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1974. After his retirement he worked as a consultant for Alfa-Laval CN.Z.) Ltd, in Hamilton.

Throughout his career, Dr Whittlestone worked in close association with colleagues overseas, in such varied locations as Israel, India, Britain, France, Sri Lanka, United States, Australia, China, East and West Germany, and the Soviet Union. He went around the world in 1949 to assess mastitis research and developments in machine milking. From the 1960s on, he spoke at many national and international conferences. He won a fellowship to work at Kiel, West Germany, in 1975. His worldwide travel continued after his retirement, and he was subpoenaed as an expert witness in a series of court cases involving milking machines in the United States.

Dr Whittlestone was keenly interested in translating scientific knowledge into practical application. Not only did he himself work to develop useful equipment from his research, but he promoted dairy-education programmes to ensure the widest dissemination of technical expertise. He inspired students and younger scientists to specialise in areas he saw as pioneering for future agriculture: behaviour and stress, dairy detergents, physiology of lactation, and bonding in the newborn.

Third-world development

Dr Whittlestone's familiarity with Asian issues and third-world development began in 1956, when he worked under the Colombo Plan auspices at the Aarey Milk Colony near Bombay, India. Later, he kept close contact with the Bharatiya AgroIndustries Foundation in Poona. In 1970, he worked for some months in Sri Lanka, examining reasons for low milk yield from buffalo. He pioneered the milking of buffalo by machine. He visited Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia and was conversant with their dairy problems. He worked to develop appropriate technology for third-world application, including wind-powered mills, methane two-stroke motors, and the New Zealand milk biscuit. For many years he was active in CORSO. Towards the end of his life, he developed a strong interest in and support for VITA (Volunteers in Technical Assistance).

Concern for justice, human dignity, and international understanding was reflected also in his involvement with the New Zealand Labour Party, Amnesty International and the New Zealand-China Friendship Society.

Human lactation, breast-feeding, and mental health

Human lactation and breast-feeding became of increasing interest to Dr Whittlestone as his research into dairying progressed, and tied in also with his concern for third-world development. In 1954, with Dawn Perrin, he wrote one of the early papers on human milk. He was a world technical adviser to the La Leche League and professional adviser to parents'-centre associations in New Zealand and Australia, and he developed an improved human breastmilker and the "rock-a-bye" for use in incubators for premature babies.

His growing interest in the physiological effects of stress for both humans and animals, and maternal-infant bonding, led naturally to increased interest in mental health in general, and he was a founder member of the New Zealand Mental Health Foundation. From 1970 to 1985 he was an honorary lecturer at the University of Waikato, in the Departments of Biological Science and Psychology.

Nuclear disarmament, and ethics of science

Dr Whittlestone was vitally interested in the ethics of science, and the relationship between science and society, and he wrote on a variety of related topics.

As part of this concern, he opposed nuclear weapons from the earliest stages of their development, and the effects of radiation in milk increased his concern.

Throughout his life he was an active campaigner for nuclear disarmament and peace studies, and he was one of the instigators of the New Zealand Foundation for Peace Studies.

Personal

Dr Whittlestone's personal interests were often demonstrated also in his professional work. His interest in electronics led both to new scientific equipment and to household applications, for instance, and his passion for photography produced records of his work as well as hundreds of travel slides. He had a keen appreciation for music and was himself an accomplished musician. His involvement with organisations on a national basis was complemented by active membership of local groups, ranging from the Hamilton Film Society to the Mental Health Association (Waikato), Corso (Waikato Regional Committee), Waikato WEA, Amnesty International (Hamilton Committee), and Hamilton peace groups. His abiding concern for justice and equity was attributable in part to his Methodist background, and he maintained an active Christian commitment throughout his life.

He married Shirley Stewart at Eltham in 1939. They had two children: Mary and Stewart.

Dr Whittlestone died suddenly at his Hamilton home on 26 December 1985.

In 1988 his wife Shirley Whittlestone presented to the University of Waikato Library 150 boxes of papers relating to his interests and work. The topics covered in the materials include the dairying industry, third-world development, human lactation, breastfeeding, nuclear disarmament and the ethics of science.