PK: Yes. I went to the Wilhelma Zoo in Stuttgart many
times, and volunteered for work in the school holidays.
There was a long waiting period to get a job as a zoo-
keeper, but because I had a foot in the door, I secured a
three-year apprenticeship after I finished school.
PK: About 1956. I did my final exams and got my
certificate, and then started to look for somewhere
different to work. Some of the keepers would hire a van
and visit zoos in other parts of the country, and on one of
those occasions we went to Munich, where we visited
Andreas Werner, a prominent dealer in tropical fish and
iH: What sort of things were you working with?
reptiles. A fellow in his fish house was leaving, so I
applied for the job and got it. This was an amazing time
PK: Tropical fish and elephants! I remember when I went for me because we received numerous consignments of
to Thailand for the first time, I pointed out to my friend
unusual fish and reptiles from all over the world. Once a
the terrible condition of the elephants’ feet. We had to
white lung fish came in from Africa, and all the top
give the elephants pedicures according to a strict set of
people in the German industry came to have a look. I met
rules, and it amazed me that in Thailand, where elephants Professor Robert Mertens and famous behavioural
are part of the culture, this is not done.
scientist and Nobel Prize winner Konrad Lorenz, amongst
others.
iH: Did you keep any reptiles in those days?
As fate would have it, one day my boss’s Russian wife
PK: When I was about ten years old I got some Greek
prepared me a lunch of rice with mutton sauce. I was busy
Land Tortoises - they were my first reptiles. As a
and it was cold by the time I ate it. That night I became
teenager, on weekends I used to catch a tram to the
violently ill; a doctor told me I had hepatitis and the best
outskirts of Stuttgart where there were a number of ponds. option was to return to my parents’ home so that my
I caught endemic lizards and snakes, and legless
mother could look after me whilst on a special diet.
lizards, as well as frogs to feed my snakes. I bought a
During my convalescence, I saw a poster advertising that
baby alligator from a pet shop and a juvenile African
Australia was looking for immigrants. I contacted a friend
Rock Python from a dealer who turned up at the zoo. I
who I had done my apprenticeship with, and we
think it cost me about 50 or 60 Deutsche Marks (the
convinced our parents, so in October 1958 the two of us
equivalent of about AUD 175).
got on the boat. I was 18 at the time.
iH: When did you complete your apprenticeship?
iH: Where did you first land in Australia?
Left: with a large monitor at the Australian
Reptile Park.
Below: cuddling up to a couple of
Perenties in Alice Springs.