Australia has a love-hate relationship with cats – but under all the emotion is a fascinating history | Jodie Stewart

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 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 catter