A Brief History Of
The Development of the Australian Cattle Dog
By Peter Whitehead
Dogs have been essential to the Australian stockman from the earliest days of settlement to the present time. Originally these early settlers brought dogs out from their home areas but it was soon evident that the conditions prevailing in the new continent were far too harsh for the dogs of Europe.
To overcome this; the obvious solution was to cross these imported dogs with the local native dogs (the Dingo). From the many experimental crosses that must have taken place, two main branches of dogs emerged, those for working sheep and those for working cattle.
Initially the cattle work was primarily driving herds over the long distances involved from the stations to the markets and for this, a hard tough dog was required, intelligent enough to make decisions for himself, sufficiently courageous to take on the semi-wild cattle and to bring them under control and yet still be responsive to his handler’s commands.
Although record keeping was not a priority amongst these early stockmen, what was known is that among the early importations were the various collie breeds from England, Ireland and Wales, Smithfields and Blue Merles. From the Blue Merle and Smithfield crossings with the Dingos, produced the type of dog that these men required.
The harsh, arduous conditions prevailing in those days allowed little room for sentiment so that any dog that did not measure up was summararily disposed of leaving only the best workers to be bred from.
As settlement increased so the demand for a more refined dog than just a driving animal emerged and men like the drover, Timmins, (who developed the strain known as the Timmin's Biters), Thomas Hall, George Elliot from Southern Queensland, Alex Davis and the Bagust brothers from New South Wales, amongst many others, started refining and selecting superior working strains from which emerged the type of dog known as the Blue or Queensland Heeler. These dogs were originally found in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales and attributed mainly to George Elliot's use of the Blue merle in his Dingo/working dog crosses.
