Australian Dogs Unveiled

Australian Dogs Unveiled

'Australian Dogs Unveiled' offers a unique perspective of our Australian dogs from their earliest beginnings to their role in modern society. It also contains narratives featuring iconic Australian dogs that played central roles in founding Australia's wool and cattle industries.

Included is an extensive explanation about how an Australian Stud Book and governance system eventually evolved. All current and extinct varieties of Australian dogs are included, including the Dingo and its influence on our herding breeds. This is a modern approach to unveiling Australian Dogs.

This book and 310 pages long. Written by Jane Harvey, a well-respected dog expert, author and judge. Over the last ten years, her widely acclaimed website: JaneDogs.com, was used as a platform to attract material. These contributions, now refined and peer reviewed, are presented in this contemporary book.

Customer Comments

" The book is a great asset to any sincere dog collector's' library... is a labour of love, and very very well done."Lyn Watson, all breeds judge and , Dingo Discovery Centre.

"The background and research on each breed are years of painstaking labour and the best I have seen in any breed research."Duncan McAllister. All-breeds judge and book reviewer.

"It is wonderful that this record of so much of our dog history in Australia has been saved and is in print. The Australian dog world is forever in your debt Jane".

Celeste and John Bryson, Editors Dog News Australia

"The Australian breeds book is fabulous!  There were a couple of breeds I'd never heard of!  Thank you!"Michelle Scott, Canada

"Jane, you are a very good historian and your books are helping to preserve that history" Gwen Ford, Austria

"The detail you've gone through in your book is quite surprising, given how easy it is to read. It feels like I'm following along a journey, rather than being lectured to. Seriously, well done!" Simon Bobik, Victoria

Payment and Delivery

If practical, you are also welcome to ring Jane on my landline  (03) 98783284 and make an arrangement to pick up your book.

Book Contents

'Australian Dogs Unveiled' is a totally Australian hardcover book comprised of over 300 individual pages. Each breed page contains a well researched content including references in the form of footnotes. All of the 300+ photographs and diagrams have attributions printed underneath them.

For simplicity of navigation, the book begins with an easily referenced Table of Contents followed by a Table of Contents in 8 Chapters as follows:

Chapter 1 - Australian Dog Stories

"Down on his Luck' by McCubbin

This Chapter contains four stories of iconic Australian dogs are:

1. 'The Dog on the Tuckerbox' - chosen to illustrate our quintessential humour
2. 'Big Dogs Save Little Penguins' - the world's first conservation programme which developed the instinctive traits of Livestock Guarding Dogs
3. The Story of 'Red Dog' the famous Australian film about a Kelpie which became an iconic part of a developing mining industry
4. The Stock Route South - describing how cattle dogs used to drove cattle hundred of miles to market before Australia had trains, trucks and roads

Chapter 2 - Founding a British Australia

Hobart Town 1830

This Chapter, set in the early 1800s, describes:

1. The earliest settlements of the the Colony of New South Wales and how our sheep and cattle industries were founded and

2. State by State, how our current breeds of Australian Dogs first began developing.

Chapter 3 - Creating an Australian Stud Book

Purebred Japanese Chin with family of Lord Mayor of Melbourne (1879)

This chapter describes Australia's first dog show in 1863 in Hobart Town. From then, Australia's pure breed dog world then grew haphazardly. This previously untold unique story of the quest for an Australian National coordinated identification system (Stud Book) is then outlined in detail. It is important because while most of the rest of the world began their countries' identification systems (Stud Books) alongside the birth of their dogs shows, Australia's was not finalized until 1978 - more than one hundred years after our first dog show!

This chapter also describes the unique part Agricultural Societies and Sheep Dog Trials played in the development of our purebred dogs coordinated identification system (Stud Book) system. This story ends with the effective formation of the Australian National Kennel Council (ANKC) which today coordinates all formal purebred dog activities (except Sheep Dog Trials and Greyhound Racing).

Chapter 4 - Australia's Eight Separate Controlling Bodies

This chapter describes each State or Territory's controlling bodies which registers their dogs and administers the dog activities.These are:  

Murray River Retriever with Granddaughter of 8th Premier of South Australia (1869)

1. Dogs Victoria
2. Dogs New South Wales
3. Dogs Queensland
4. Dogs Tasmania
5. Dogs South Australia
6. Dogs Western Australia
7. Dogs Northern Territory
8. Dogs Australian Capital Territory

Chapter 5 -Terriers of Australia

Tenterfield Terrier

This chapter is based on the terrier's function and history. Consequently, it follows the formal classifications used by the ANKC (see Chapter 3.1). This section includes:

1. The Rough Coated Terrier (now extinct)
2. The Australian Terrier
3. The Australian Silky Terrier
4. Australian Terrier and Australian Silky Terrier Comparison
5. The Old English White Terrier (now extinct)
6. The Tenterfield Terrier
7. The Jack Russell Terrier
8. The Tenterfield and Jack Russell Terrier Comparison

Murray River Retriever

Chapter 6 - Hunting Dogs of Australia

This chapter covers dogs whose basic instincts are those of  hunting dogs. These are

1. The Kangaroo Dog (now extinct)
2. The Dingo - Australia's unique wild dog
3. The Murray River Retriever - our most recently ANKC recognised  pure breed.

Because this Murray River Retriever is now classified as a pure breed as described in Section 3.1, it is described by an ANKC recognised Breed Standard. However, because the Kangaroo Dog is now extinct and the Dingo is a wild dog, they are described in this section by Word Pictures.

Chapter 7 - Sheep and Cattle Dogs of Australia

Working Dogs c 1800

This chapter describes how British Sheep and Cattle dogs of the shape and types illustrated, played a vital role in the sheep and cattle industries of Australia. Because Australia is such a vast country, this chapter then relates how how our sheep and cattle dogs had to developed by combining the physical attributes of the Dingo combined with the herding instincts of British breeds.

This large chapter on our sheep and cattle dogs begins with an explanation of how herding dogs and Livestock Guardian Dogs work. It then goes on to elaborate upon:

1. The Australian Kelpie
2. The Australian Cattle Dog
3. The Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog
4. Australian Cattle Dog and Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog Comparison
5. The Border Collie
6. The Smithfield (unrecognised)
7. The Australian Shepherd

Head terminology

Chapter 8 - Dog Terminology

Dog Terminology is a language all of its own and underpins most aspects of how dogs are constructed. Consequently, this last chapter, with its simple unique graphics, illustrates the most commonly used terms in this book. The graphics as illustrated  are entirely original and have been admired by enthusiasts for decades.