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Writer's pictureTameeka Stevens

The story of Kevin Clifford Budden.

Kevin was born September 27 1930.


After leaving school, Budden worked as a retail assistant in Randwick, New South Wales.

At that time he joined the Australian Reptile Club and began hunting snakes as a hobby.

He built his own snake pit and spent weekends in the bush collecting snakes.

Kevin was an amateur Australian herpetologist and snake hunter.



Despite having previously been bitten 5 times (by which species is not known), Kevin died after sustaining a bite from a taipan on 28 July 1950, He was aged 20.


On July 27, Budden captured a 6-foot (1.8 m) taipan near Cairns. He carried the snake by hand, caught a ride from a passing truck, and took the snake to another local snake catcher where it was identified as a taipan… He quite literally hitch-hiked with a snake in his hand!



While attempting to bag the snake, Budden was bitten on his left thumb but was successful in placing the captured snake in a bag. Extracting a promise from the truck driver that he would get the snake to someone who would transport it south to researchers, Budden was taken for medical treatment. Not having any antivenom for taipans, Budden was given tiger snake antivenom.



Although that helped counter the coagulating effect of taipan venom, it did not overcome the second effect of the taipan venom which paralyses the nervous system. He died the following afternoon.


Budden was the first person to capture a live taipan for research and died from a snakebite in the process of doing so. His work was instrumental in developing a taipan antivenom.


News of Budden's death inspired others to capture additional snake species, resulting in the development of five new antivenoms within 12 years of Budden's death.


Kevin was laid to rest at Cairns Cemetery, Queensland, Australia

PLOT Section MES, Row M5, Site 5946

MEMORIAL ID 188634817 · View Source




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