Colin Murdoch

Incredibly, officials at the Ministry of Health initially rejected his idea, saying no one would be interested in being injected by something made of plastic. The energetic, self-taught engineer continued regardless, and was awarded a patent for his designs in 1956. The rest, as they say, is history.

Except Colin’s story doesn’t end there. Over the next 20 years, this quiet man, with a ferocious work ethic and an enquiring mind, earned 46 patents covering a wide range of inventions, including a child-proof bottle cap, the tranquilliser gun, an automated animal vaccine system and a silent burglar alarm which alerted emergency services by phone.

His ingenuity was evident early on. Born in Christchurch in 1929, he struggled with dyslexia but was brilliant with his hands. At 10 years of age, he made his own gunpowder and manufactured a pistol that actually fired. At 12, he was driving a car. At 14, Colin rescued a drowning man from an upturned yacht and received the Royal Humane Society Bronze Medal. As a young man he bred prize-winning horses and ponies.

His penchant for chemistry meant Colin followed his father’s footsteps into pharmacy and he set up a practice in the small town of Timaru. A shortage of trained veterinarians during World War II saw Colin adapt his services to look after animals as well, but he never completed any veterinary qualifications.

By the 1950s, he turned his attention to medicine. Undaunted by the initial scepticism of his syringe, he taught himself plastics engineering and made several prototypes as well as the moulding tools for mass production. The syringe was patented and marketed globally through Wellington-based company Tasman Vaccine Laboratories (TVL).

Patents are, of course, a mixed blessing. Overseas companies read the patent, copied the design, and produced their own versions. By the 1970s, some 2.5 billion disposable syringes had been made — with only a fraction created by TVL.

The patent infringement was the first of many that Colin endured, leaving him philosophical about the ability of inventors to defend their rights.

“Patents give you the right to sue, they don’t give you the money to sue,” he said.

Undeterred, Colin continued to invent with furious energy. In 1959, he developed the tranquilliser dart which could be shot from a modified gun to immobilise Himalayan tahr, a type of mountain goat that’s a pest in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Southern Alps.

In 1966, he developed (for TVL) the Vaxipak and Vaxigun, a fully automatic vaccination system which delivered at least 500 doses to farm animals. He also developed the drenching gun for Merck Sharpe and Dohme.

Colin also worked with pharmaceutical companies to develop safer drugs for animals. He discovered that administering electrolytes could mitigate heightened levels of adrenaline in frightened animals – a technique later adopted in human surgery.

Perhaps wise to the tricks of patent thieves he retained ownership of the tranquilliser gun by trademarking it with his own brand, Paxarms. He even successfully sued US gun maker Smith and Wesson for copying his designs, the only time he tried to legally prosecute an infringement.

The tranquilliser gun was a global success. He built two factories in New Zealand and by 1975 was exporting to more than 150 countries. The guns, with interchangeable barrels to accommodate different doses, were used to tranquillise animals ranging in size from dogs to polar bears and elephants, transforming the scientific understanding of wild animals, as they could be safely studied, tagged, or given veterinarian assistance and then released.

It was even used once on humans, when police subdued a man holding a woman hostage, with Colin on the phone, advising on dosage and where to aim the dart.

Colin travelled extensively throughout the 1970s promoting Paxarms products through Africa, Asia, and the Americas. He survived an elephant stampede and cheated death on several occasions by accidently missing planes that subsequently crashed or were hijacked.

Despite his prodigious output, Colin Murdoch received modest recognition. In 1976, he won three gold and a bronze medal at the World Inventors Fair in Brussels. The New Zealand Industrial Design Council recognised him for the Paxarms products.

It was not until the late 1990s, following his battles with cancer, that the world began to realise the contribution Colin had made to animal and human health. In 1999, Time magazine listed him as one of the most influential people in the South Pacific. In 2000, he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to inventing.

He died of oesophageal cancer in 2008, in Timaru. He was survived by his wife Marilyn and their four children – and a legacy of life-saving products.

Speaking in 1993, Colin reflected on the impact the disposable syringe had in eliminating cross-contamination:

“It is impossible to comprehend the catastrophic consequences of this situation if such practices were still occurring today.”

Indeed, it is. Thank you, Colin.