Dr Colin Walker of Pearcedale has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2025 Australia Day Honours List. The veterinarian talked to Star News on this special occasion to look back on his 30 years of service to avian veterinary science and pigeon racing.
Dr Walker went back to the university for his postgraduate qualifications in avian medicine and surgery in 1994 after 15 years of general practice.
He founded Melbourne Bird Veterinary Clinic and for the following years until his retirement in 2013, he worked there as a bird veterinarian. He has been an Honorary Veterinarian for the Victoria Homing Association and the Victorian Pigeon Racing Board.
Looking back, Dr Walker said he had been lucky enough to be in situations where he was able to do new things as an avian veterinarian.
He recalled the time when he worked with government agencies to develop vaccines for viral diseases to protect pigeons. He also went to a number of international conferences to present the achievements from home on an international stage.
Even into his retirement, Dr Walker didn’t stop and continued the veterinary work for various pigeon organisations, entirely on a pro bono basis.
The incentive has been his fascination with pigeons. Apart from his professional life, Dr Walker lives a recreational life of racing pigeons.
He started racing pigeons in 1968 as a schoolboy, a long way before his avian veterinary career.
“We had a guy who raised pigeons moved in where my parents used to live, about three doors away from us. After he was there, I started to see his racing pigeons flying around,” he recalled.
“I was just mesmerized, so I went down and introduced myself. He invited me around, so I got to know him.
“After he realised that I was genuinely interested, he offered to breed me a few babies after a period of time.”
Fast forward almost 60 years, Dr Walker is now living with 500 pigeons, mostly racing pigeons, on his big acres in Pearcedale. His lifelong fascination with pigeon racing has also produced a 600-page book on the topic and still motivates him to write for a national racing pigeon magazine after 40 years.
To be successful in racing, pigeons have to have the right genetic makeup, according to Dr Walker.
“People see a pigeon peeking in the street and they think, oh, I’m gonna catch that. That’s what a normal member of the public might think. But racing pigeons are thoroughbred and have been selected for endurance, speed, and orientation ability for centuries,” he said.
“And then they have to be fed correctly. They have to be exercised so that they’re fit.
“It’s important to create an environment that is motivational for the birds, so the birds want to get back.
“For most pigeons, they’re keen to get home. The loft represents a secure, safe, cozy place where their friends live, where there’s food and water available.
“So the natural instinct when they’re taken away from that is to, like a lot of humans, you just want to go home.”
One of the things that particularly appeals about pigeon racing to Dr Walker is the way that humans can let the birds out and let them fly free.
“They’re creatures of the sky. They’re not pet parrots that are always in an aviary,” he said.
“Each morning they’re let out, they fly free, they choose to come back, and I like that. “They don’t have to stay, but they do.”
Dr Walker also likes the way that pigeon racing is done at home.
“Pigeon racing is something you can do in your own backyard, with your family, rather than having to go somewhere else,” he said.
“If you want to race horses, you need stables and really significant infrastructure, whereas with pigeon racing, you can set your own little entrepreneurial.”
Even after a lifetime of knowing the creatures, Dr Walker has still been fascinated with them, how far away they come back from, and how quickly they do it.
He remembered that his last race was a 900-kilometre travel between south of the Queensland border and Pearcedale. Those pigeons were let go at 6.15am on the day and they came back at 8pm.
“And you think, wow, that pigeon is at the Queensland border. It’s come down through the red dirt country of central New South Wales, and then maybe after lunch, it starts to see the Murray River coming up,” Dr Walker said.
“On it comes and then down through Shepperton. Then they see Melbourne ahead and then over Melbourne and down to the Mornington Peninsula and they land.
“I think that’s just amazing when they do that.”
Pigeon fanciers don’t have to be home when the pigeons come back because they’re chipped, but Dr Walker loves to be there when the pigeons come back. He wants to look up and see his little group of pigeons coming, getting bigger and bigger in the sky.
“It’s really exciting,” he said.
“We know them all as individuals. We’re into those babies, see them grow up, mature, start their training, and, and then they’re mature race birds that are coming back from 100 miles to you.
“It’s very rewarding. It’s been a fascinating activity that I’ve enjoyed all my life.”
