I think that in fact a great many chapters of that world wide union do indeed unite in the small country village of Dondingalong.

The one with the most members is the Aussie Mossies . Naturally , they grow in great numbers after a bit of a wet spell , but then they have to , as the local frog population waxes fat on their pre-winged offspring , and they also have to compete for space , particularly on humans , with the annoying but mostly harmless bush fly .

Insect repellent , sprayed , rolled on , or in that most primitive of fashions , the little buzzers being dealt a smart blow of the palm also decimates the numbers . The old fairy story of Seven at a Blow is exemplary in this . Such expertise is desirable as Ross River Fever is moving south from the wilds of Queensland , carried by the mossies .

Still with the insect kingdom , there is the Tick. They too can be fought off to a degree with the use of chemical repellents , but they have a nasty habit of sneaking into the clothes while one is digging out lantana , or even merely walking though the bush . Unlike the mosquito , these subversives can infiltrate the epidermis without being felt by the victim , and swell themselves with blood till , replete , they drop off.

Minute grass ticks or seed ticks ( I have had up to thirty at a time ) are annoying wherever one gets them . My wife picked up a neat two hundred once ( not , I hasten to add , at Dondingalong ) and was the subject of much excitement as two lady doctors plucked them from her fair body over a space of two hours , with accompanying exclamations of wonder and triumph .

For those living alone , it is sometimes difficult to either find or reach ticks for removal . The oft told tale is that if the head , buried deep in the flesh that swells around it is not removed at the same time as the body , a nasty kind of poisoning is the result.

I am now reassured that this is not true , but I do have a scar in one armpit where one large tick was totally removed .

Dogs are at risk from tick paralysis , and the creature does carry some unpleasant diseases.

Once , having returned to my Sydney home after some time up north , I found that I was developing a strange rash . I betook myself to the nearby large hospital , where various dermatologists hummed and hah-ed , until a young trainee of Indian ethnicity solved their problem , and mine , with the pronouncement -- Rickettsia Australis -- so unusual in Sydney that I was begged to bare my body for photographing as part of the hospital medical records.

Easy fame , I thought , but they left my handsome visage out of the photos .

The least common bloodsucker at Dondingalong was the leech . In the wet times , or often just by being down near the dam , one could look down and find one clinging tenaciously to any exposed part of the body , Unlike the annoying mosquito or the positively sickening tick , leeches never worried me . In fact , they should be regarded a welcome relief from high blood pressure , or so I am told . They were not painful to remove , though damnably difficult to kill once removed , their leathery toughness defying all but the heaviest blow .

They are medically useful-- great for removing bad bruising , especially black eyes -- and my doctor daughter once rang me to ask me to bring a few down in a bottle , as the Med School needed some .

Ever willing to oblige , I tramped down through the bush to the dam , stood in the shallows for quite some time , stirred the reeds , walked back up the watercourse leading to it , all with absolutely no success . Wrong season ? I don't know , but very typical of what happens when I am asked to carry out some special task , one at any other time easy to fulfill

So there are the main bloodsuckers of Dondingalong .

Sorry . I forgot the worst one of all . The taxman .