Australia has a love-hate relationship with cats – but under all the emotion is a fascinating history | Jodie Stewart
In 1872, the city of Melbourne hosted its first cat show one year after London’s Crystal Palace debuted its first show. By 1885, “cats were seldom treated very well” in Australia, according to a writer in the Victorian Almanac that year – but they were pleased to report that Australians were starting to appreciate them more.
The colonial newspapers were also beginning to report on a curious fad: “the cult of the cat”, which saw the humble moggie, once viewed as a back-alley scavenger or nondescript companion of women and children, transformed into a fashionable commodity in places like London. Cat breeding became a popular and lucrative pastime for mainly upper- and middle-class women and men, with fancy breeds, like Persians, selling for hefty sums. As the cat economy picked up, British newspapers were filled with “pages of cat business” as cat-loving contributors shared regular updates on litters, feline purchases and ribbons acquired at prestigious shows.
The British zeal for felines eventually reached Australian shores. One of Australia’s first catteries, Waratah Catteries, opened in Victoria’s Christmas Hills in 1897; the owner was inspired by a growing demand for pedigree cats and reports that breeders could make upwards of £700 a year raising fancy felines. Soon Australian newspapers were running pages of cat business, with regular “cat chat” columns popping up in city newspapers.
Fast forward to 2026. These days, many mainstream media outlets are publishing articles about making cat ownership illegal in Australia, or opinion pieces highlighting the ecological villainy of domestic cats. Online commenters are emboldened to exclaim things like “the only good cat is a dead cat”. The counterarguments are just as emotive. “If you want my cat you’ll have to pry her from my cold dead hands,” one commenter wrote on a Facebook post about banning cats.
How did we get here? And why do cats continue to provoke such oversized reactions?
Historically, Australians have loathed and loved cats. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, pedigree cats were highly coveted but so too was the back-yard moggie – prized for her ability to keep the lurking dangers of the bush at bay. In 1934 Harold Morgan said of his late cat and “snake slayer”, Humpy-Kai-Kai, that he was more valuable than the fattest steer on his cattle run at Murringo in central New South Wales.
In the late 19th century, hundreds of domestic cats were released on large pastoral runs to rid the country of wild rabbits. With cat numbers rising, the ornithologist AJ Campbell proclaimed in 1905 that wild cats were an evil that needed to be done away with. In our cities, stray cat numbers were also rising, with municipal and city councils scrambling to control the problem. Organisations like the Victorian Cat Protection Society, established in 1947, stepped into the breach, providing food and medical care to many of Melbourne’s unhomed felines.
Cats, once thought to be the country’s saviour from wild rabbits, found themselves homeless and hated by the turn of the century. Yet – paradoxically – Australia’s anglophone cat obsession continued apace. Newspapers and magazines continued to run story after story about the antics of cats, while cat boarding and cat breeding rose in popularity in the 1930s and 40s, becoming a career option for women. Over the ensuing decades, cat shows and breeders’ associations continued to grow, as did cat ownership. In 1971, Australia got its first feline hero when Stephen Murray-Smith discovered Matthew Flinders’ heartfelt tribute to his cat Trim buried with his papers at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London.
By 1988, there were more than 3 million domestic cats in Australia. But the fortunes of the cats and their owners were about to change. In the 1990s, in response to rising concerns about cat predation and native species decline, city and municipal councils across the country proposed domestic cat management bylaws including curfews, containment, mandatory desexing and caps on cats per household. City and regional newspapers reported on a nation divided between cat lovers and conservationists. These debates would continue into the new century and we are still grappling with how to control the moggies among us.
Australians have loved cats for more than two centuries – even longer, if you consider the deep intergenerational and cultural love of cats that came across the seas with migrants. Many of us continue long familial traditions of cat companionship and cat love. Yet even with this long, rich and interconnected history, we are still reluctant to allow cats a place in our national story. It is because of this that cats continue to bear real-world consequences of being considered un-Australian.
For good or ill, cats have shaped us as a nation. They have not been mere bystanders in our national story but active participants – in our homes, our workplaces, our farms and factories, our ships and hospitals and theatres of war.
We should embrace them as a vital, albeit complex part of the Australian identity – and, with more and more Australians choosing a cat companion, we must do so soon.
Dr Jodie Stewart is a historian and the author of The Cats of Australia (HarperCollins, $36.99)
Read the full story at The Guardian ↗
We got our first feline hero in 1971 when Matthew Flinders’ heartfelt tribute to his pet Trim was discovered. In 1872, the city of Melbourne hosted its first cat show one year…
This lens runs the verified story through Cinnamon's AI — wired in the next step.
In 1872, the city of Melbourne hosted its first cat show one year after London’s Crystal Palace debuted its first show. By 1885, “cats were seldom treated very well” in Australia, according to a writer in the Victorian Almanac that year – but they were pleased to report that Australians were starting to appreciate them more.
The colonial newspapers were also beginning to report on a curious fad: “the cult of the cat”, which saw the humble moggie, once viewed as a back-alley scavenger or nondescript companion of women and children, transformed into a fashionable commodity in places like London. Cat breeding became a popular and lucrative pastime for mainly upper- and middle-class women and men, with fancy breeds, like Persians, selling for hefty sums. As the cat economy picked up, British newspapers were filled with “pages of cat business” as cat-loving contributors shared regular updates on litters, feline purchases and ribbons acquired at prestigious shows.
The British zeal for felines eventually reached Australian shores. One of Australia’s first catteries, Waratah Catteries, opened in Victoria’s Christmas Hills in 1897; the owner was inspired by a growing demand for pedigree cats and reports that breeders could make upwards of £700 a year raising fancy felines. Soon Australian newspapers were running pages of cat business, with regular “cat chat” columns popping up in city newspapers.
Fast forward to 2026. These days, many mainstream media outlets are publishing articles about making cat ownership illegal in Australia, or opinion pieces highlighting the ecological villainy of domestic cats. Online commenters are emboldened to exclaim things like “the only good cat is a dead cat”. The counterarguments are just as emotive. “If you want my cat you’ll have to pry her from my cold dead hands,” one commenter wrote on a Facebook post about banning cats.
How did we get here? And why do cats continue to provoke such oversized reactions?
Historically, Australians have loathed and loved cats. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, pedigree cats were highly coveted but so too was the back-yard moggie – prized for her ability to keep the lurking dangers of the bush at bay. In 1934 Harold Morgan said of his late cat and “snake slayer”, Humpy-Kai-Kai, that he was more valuable than the fattest steer on his cattle run at Murringo in central New South Wales.
In the late 19th century, hundreds of domestic cats were released on large pastoral runs to rid the country of wild rabbits. With cat numbers rising, the ornithologist AJ Campbell proclaimed in 1905 that wild cats were an evil that needed to be done away with. In our cities, stray cat numbers were also rising, with municipal and city councils scrambling to control the problem. Organisations like the Victorian Cat Protection Society, established in 1947, stepped into the breach, providing food and medical care to many of Melbourne’s unhomed felines.
Cats, once thought to be the country’s saviour from wild rabbits, found themselves homeless and hated by the turn of the century. Yet – paradoxically – Australia’s anglophone cat obsession continued apace. Newspapers and magazines continued to run story after story about the antics of cats, while cat boarding and cat breeding rose in popularity in the 1930s and 40s, becoming a career option for women. Over the ensuing decades, cat shows and breeders’ associations continued to grow, as did cat ownership. In 1971, Australia got its first feline hero when Stephen Murray-Smith discovered Matthew Flinders’ heartfelt tribute to his cat Trim buried with his papers at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London.
By 1988, there were more than 3 million domestic cats in Australia. But the fortunes of the cats and their owners were about to change. In the 1990s, in response to rising concerns about cat predation and native species decline, city and municipal councils across the country proposed domestic cat management bylaws including curfews, containment, mandatory desexing and caps on cats per household. City and regional newspapers reported on a nation divided between cat lovers and conservationists. These debates would continue into the new century and we are still grappling with how to control the moggies among us.
Australians have loved cats for more than two centuries – even longer, if you consider the deep intergenerational and cultural love of cats that came across the seas with migrants. Many of us continue long familial traditions of cat companionship and cat love. Yet even with this long, rich and interconnected history, we are still reluctant to allow cats a place in our national story. It is because of this that cats continue to bear real-world consequences of being considered un-Australian.
For good or ill, cats have shaped us as a nation. They have not been mere bystanders in our national story but active participants – in our homes, our workplaces, our farms and factories, our ships and hospitals and theatres of war.
We should embrace them as a vital, albeit complex part of the Australian identity – and, with more and more Australians choosing a cat companion, we must do so soon.
Dr Jodie Stewart is a historian and the author of The Cats of Australia (HarperCollins, $36.99)
Read the full story at The Guardian ↗
In 1872, the city of Melbourne hosted its first cat show one year after London’s Crystal Palace debuted its first show. By 1885, “cats were seldom treated very well” in Australia, according to a writer in the Victorian Almanac that year – but they were pleased to report that Australians were starting to appreciate them more.
The colonial newspapers were also beginning to report on a curious fad: “the cult of the cat”, which saw the humble moggie, once viewed as a back-alley scavenger or nondescript companion of women and children, transformed into a fashionable commodity in places like London. Cat breeding became a popular and lucrative pastime for mainly upper- and middle-class women and men, with fancy breeds, like Persians, selling for hefty sums. As the cat economy picked up, British newspapers were filled with “pages of cat business” as cat-loving contributors shared regular updates on litters, feline purchases and ribbons acquired at prestigious shows.
The British zeal for felines eventually reached Australian shores. One of Australia’s first catteries, Waratah Catteries, opened in Victoria’s Christmas Hills in 1897; the owner was inspired by a growing demand for pedigree cats and reports that breeders could make upwards of £700 a year raising fancy felines. Soon Australian newspapers were running pages of cat business, with regular “cat chat” columns popping up in city newspapers.
Fast forward to 2026. These days, many mainstream media outlets are publishing articles about making cat ownership illegal in Australia, or opinion pieces highlighting the ecological villainy of domestic cats. Online commenters are emboldened to exclaim things like “the only good cat is a dead cat”. The counterarguments are just as emotive. “If you want my cat you’ll have to pry her from my cold dead hands,” one commenter wrote on a Facebook post about banning cats.
How did we get here? And why do cats continue to provoke such oversized reactions?
Historically, Australians have loathed and loved cats. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, pedigree cats were highly coveted but so too was the back-yard moggie – prized for her ability to keep the lurking dangers of the bush at bay. In 1934 Harold Morgan said of his late cat and “snake slayer”, Humpy-Kai-Kai, that he was more valuable than the fattest steer on his cattle run at Murringo in central New South Wales.
In the late 19th century, hundreds of domestic cats were released on large pastoral runs to rid the country of wild rabbits. With cat numbers rising, the ornithologist AJ Campbell proclaimed in 1905 that wild cats were an evil that needed to be done away with. In our cities, stray cat numbers were also rising, with municipal and city councils scrambling to control the problem. Organisations like the Victorian Cat Protection Society, established in 1947, stepped into the breach, providing food and medical care to many of Melbourne’s unhomed felines.
Cats, once thought to be the country’s saviour from wild rabbits, found themselves homeless and hated by the turn of the century. Yet – paradoxically – Australia’s anglophone cat obsession continued apace. Newspapers and magazines continued to run story after story about the antics of cats, while cat boarding and cat breeding rose in popularity in the 1930s and 40s, becoming a career option for women. Over the ensuing decades, cat shows and breeders’ associations continued to grow, as did cat ownership. In 1971, Australia got its first feline hero when Stephen Murray-Smith discovered Matthew Flinders’ heartfelt tribute to his cat Trim buried with his papers at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London.
By 1988, there were more than 3 million domestic cats in Australia. But the fortunes of the cats and their owners were about to change. In the 1990s, in response to rising concerns about cat predation and native species decline, city and municipal councils across the country proposed domestic cat management bylaws including curfews, containment, mandatory desexing and caps on cats per household. City and regional newspapers reported on a nation divided between cat lovers and conservationists. These debates would continue into the new century and we are still grappling with how to control the moggies among us.
Australians have loved cats for more than two centuries – even longer, if you consider the deep intergenerational and cultural love of cats that came across the seas with migrants. Many of us continue long familial traditions of cat companionship and cat love. Yet even with this long, rich and interconnected history, we are still reluctant to allow cats a place in our national story. It is because of this that cats continue to bear real-world consequences of being considered un-Australian.
For good or ill, cats have shaped us as a nation. They have not been mere bystanders in our national story but active participants – in our homes, our workplaces, our farms and factories, our ships and hospitals and theatres of war.
We should embrace them as a vital, albeit complex part of the Australian identity – and, with more and more Australians choosing a cat companion, we must do so soon.
Dr Jodie Stewart is a historian and the author of The Cats of Australia (HarperCollins, $36.99)
Read the full story at The Guardian ↗
This lens runs the verified story through Cinnamon's AI — wired in the next step.
- We got our first feline hero in 1971 when Matthew Flinders’ heartfelt tribute to his pet Trim was discovered.
- In 1872, the city of Melbourne hosted its first cat show one year…