Dr Hugh Wirth: Former RSPCA president’s vet clinic sold in $7m estate
Three Deepdene properties that formed part of the estate of animal advocate and longtime RSPCA Victoria president Hugh Wirth have sold for a combined $7.025 million.
And it’s understood the proceeds from the hefty off-market sales will go to the animal welfare organisation Dr Wirth served for decades.
The trio included Dr Wirth’s home of about 36 years at 3 May St, which he shared with dozens of dogs, cats, fish, geese and other animals until his death in 2018 at 78, following a battle with Parkinson’s disease.
The three-bedroom house on an 820sqm block sold for $2.425 million to a local developer, who is expected to knock it down and replace it with one or two new dwellings.
The current owners of Dr Wirth’s old clinic, the Balwyn Veterinary Surgery, have bought the Whitehorse Rd and May St properties they’ve rented for several years.
CoreLogic records show the property’s previous sale was worth $61,000 in 1982.
The other two properties at 185 Whitehorse Rd and 1 May St had been leased to Balwyn Veterinary Surgery, which Dr Wirth bought in 1967 and ran his vet practice from until he sold the business in 2006.
It’s understood the current owners of the clinic bought the properties, which occupy a 1856sqm corner site, for $4.6 million.
The property trio also included Dr Wirth’s longtime home at 3 May St.
Fitzroys agents Chris Kombi and Ervin Niyaz inked the deals, Mr Kombi declined to comment.
Dr Wirth joined RSPCA Victoria as a junior member in 1949 and served as president from 1972 to 2015, when he retired and became a patron of the organisation.
During that time, he led the establishment of RSPCA shelters and vet clinics, and spearheaded several crusades against animal cruelty.
Dr Wirth in the kitchen of his May St home in 2015 with Jock the blind whippet. Picture: Nicole Cleary
The RSPCA credits Dr Wirth with playing an instrumental role in the banning of horses being exported to Japan for slaughter and the surgical removal of puppies’ tails for cosmetic purposes, as well as leading the humane foods movement with the launch of RSPCA barn-laid eggs in 1997.
Dr Wirth told the Herald Sun in 2015, fighting for the rights of animals was part of his responsibility as a vet.
Dr Wirth served as RSPCA Victoria president for 43 years. Picture: Nicole Cleary
“Who’s going to talk for the animals if not me?” he says.
He also served as president of RSPCA Australia and the World Society for the Protection of Animals, was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1985, named Victorian of the Year in 1997 and won the prestigious George T Angell Humanitarian Award in 1998.
This article from The Herald Sun originally appeared as “Dr Hugh Wirth: Former RSPCA Victoria president’s Deepdene estate sold”.
