Burmese appeared in the Antipodes at about the same time as they arrived in South Africa. And the subsequent development appears to have run a parallel course to their South African cousins. The first three Burmese reached New Zealand from the UK in April 1957. They were Merrick Apollo, Paquita and Nilgris Buru Kaihu imported by Mrs. B.A. Sedcole and her son, Mr. H.C. Pollock, whose joint cattery name was Ransein. Paquita was bred by Miss A.M. Dunn who wrote to Australia offering a promising brown Burmese male known simply as Tomahawk (it would appear that Miss Dunn reserved the use of her prefix for only certain kittens bred by herself). A syndicate was formed by four breeders for his purchase and he eventually arrived in Sydney in August 1957. His arrival was followed shortly thereafter, in November 1957, by Calypso Pallas Athene. Charki, as you may recall, made his appearance in South Africa in October 1957.

As New Zealand Burmese were better established, a further three cats were imported to Australia from their "near neighbour" in 1960. No doubt, it was far cheaper and relatively close in comparison to bringing cats from England. Also, the cats were better acclimatised to the Australasian weather conditions and suffered less ill effects on their immigration. The exchange of breeding stock between the two countries continues to this day.

It is interesting to note that the Australians were forced by circumstance, due to a very limited gene pool such as the Americans encountered in their early breeding programmes, to resort to cross-breeding with Siamese in the late 50s and early 60s. In order to have the hybrids accepted, permission had first to be obtained from and granted by R.A.S.C.C. Very definite conditions had to be met by the breeders involved in these programmes. Before the progeny were even recognised as Burmese, three generations of pure breeding Burmese had to be bred before they could be registered as Burmese. In the book "Burmese Cats", written by Grace Burgess and published by Price Milburn in New Zealand in 1970, the forerunner of the book entitled "THE BURMESE CAT", Miss Burgess speculates that possibly Burmese had appeared in New Zealand, possibly as early as 1891.

A portrait of a Brown cat called Dhu was shown to her at a Wellington cat show in 1973. In the late 19th century, professional portrait photography was mostly reserved for celebrities and weddings. Miss Burgess quotes the following conversation with Mrs. Culshaw in her book:

"The cat's name was Dhu. Captain Wade, her uncle, owned a ship that traded around the Far East and used to bring back unusual gifts for his daughters and niece. On one occasion he arrived with a BROWN cat. Many people who lived in the Hutt Valley area, had naturally never seen a brown cat, and thought it was some sort of monkey!"

Mrs. Culshaw is reported to have told Miss Burgess that her mother had described Dhu as 'a great lump of a cat" and said once it had settled in their home - it simply took over the house! (present-day owners of Burmese will be familiar with that statement).

Conclusion! : A most intelligent, superior, sophistiCATed and loveable feline companion. The magnetism and appeal of this enchanting breed has to be experienced!

Why not adopt a Burmese today?!