Alfred Lionel Rose

Lieutenant-Colonel Alfred Lionel Rose, (21 March 1898 – 2 May 1980), better known as Lionel Rose or Colonel Rose, was an Australian Army officer and veterinarian who served in both World War I and II. He is best known for pioneering the live cattle trade from the Northern Territory to Asia and curing cattle disease.

Early life Lionel Rose was born in Strathfield, New South Wales. He was the fifth child of Herbert John Rose, a member of the Anglican clergy, and John's spouse Harriett Ethel (née Priddle) Rose. In his formative years, Rose attended Sydney Grammar School.

Military career Rose enlisted in the First Australian Imperial Force in Sydney on 15 May 1916 soon after his 18th birthday. By September he was promoted to sergeant. He embarked at Sydney on 30 September with the 117th Howitzer Battery on the HMAT Aeneas. He served in France and was wounded in the Second Battle of Arras. He was not seriously affected by his war injuries. Over the years, fragments of shrapnel "worked their way" through his skin at the back of his neck". He later served in New Guinea and Borneo. His postings included the 7th Divisional Cavalry Regiment and I Corps headquarters. He regained his rank of lieutenant colonel in 1943, and retired from military service in May 1946. In June 1947, he set up the Animal Industry Branch (AIB) in Alice Springs. As director, he was the most senior public servant in the region at the time allowing him to select his own staff and live at The Residency, the Government House of Central Australia. The incident made the front page of newspapers across Australia the next day. Queen Elizabeth was quoted as saying "it was the shortest and most effective speech" she had ever heard.

Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia cure During this period, the contagious bovine pleuropneumonia disease was rampant in the Northern Territory. Rose established a diagnostic and research laboratory at the AIB in Alice Springs and worked to develop a cure.

Based on its success, a national program was established by a newly established National Committee for the Control and Eradication of Pleuropneumonia in 1959, under the Chief of the CSIRO Division of Animal Health and Production, DA Gill. It defined further infected, protected and disease-free areas. Once these were established, there were restrictions on the movement of cattle between zones. The national program was enforced by veterinary officers, stock inspectors and police across Australia. Rose was defeated in Alice Springs by 17 votes. He publicly alleged that 50 votes had been "wrongfully and fraudulently" recorded and that the ALP candidate Charles Orr had bribed Indigenous constituents with alcohol. He petitioned the Court of Disputed Returns to overturn the result, but was unsuccessful. Rose married his third wife Carmel Mary Kerrison in Adelaide on 4 May 1955. He had three more children with Kerrison, two sons and a daughter. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1978 and awarded the Gilruth Prize for Meritorious Service to Veterinary Science in 1961.

Colonel Rose Drive, a road in the Alice Springs suburbs of Kilgariff and Connellan, was named in Rose's memory in 1983.