When s.s. Brisbane left the U.K. in 1963, a curly coated Cornish Rex called Senty Twix Crispuss (pictured) travelled in the captain's cabin.  The Rex was both rare and extremely difficult to get out of the country, and Crispuss was sent to Mrs G. Kaufman by Mrs Nancy Hardy, a member of the U.K. breeding team, who knew of the genetic work Mrs Kaufman had achieved.  He arrived in November 1963.  Crispuss, who had a lovely temperament, was mated to Bluemead Alpha and other selected hybrid Siamese queens to give the Rex a paw in this country.
     From the U.K. most of the few Rex that were produced went to the U.S., and it was not until five years later that more Cornish Rex were imported, this time into South Australia, by Mrs M.A. Key and her daughter, Mrs Brumby.  The male was Watermill Sambalina, both of whom went eventually to Mrs Lorna Nottingham in Victoria.  Mrs Valerie Norton's blue male, Gd.Ch. Annelida Tantan-Oola, had a six week passage to Victoria from the U.K.  Mrs Norton's next imports were a blue male, Hephzibah Pewteripple, and a brilliantly coloured black and gold tortoiseshell female, Hephzibah Starling.  Although the journeys were slow, imported cats travelled very comfortably as 'pets of the ships' officers.  In the early 1970s cats started travelling by air, and the time from the U.K. to Australia was dramatically reduced.