Be(a)ware of the Dog

The Changing Role of the Australian

Cattle Dog
The Australian Cattle Dog originated from
a breeding program undertaken by
George Hall on Dartbrook Station near
Muswellbrook in the Hunter Valley in the
1830s. On their unfenced runs, the Halls
and their stockmen were required to
muster semi-wild cattle, draft them into
groups, and move the chosen cattle
hundreds of miles to markets in Sydney
and Brisbane. The ACD was bred to assist
in this task. However in 2008 the
Australian Cattle Dog is primarily a city
dwelling pet whose primary task is to be a
companion to its owner, and a member of
The history of the cattle dog in many respects
reflects the changing symbols of Australia, and our
cultural move from a national association with the
bush. Understanding the change in the Cattle Dog
may help us understand the changing locus of
Australian cultural identification.
This research project will use a visual ethnography
to explore the characteristics of the Australian
Cattle Dog from 1919 to 2009.
It is hypothesized that images from 1919 to 2009
will progressively show more urban locations,
increased presence of family members, and a
change in the conformation of the ACD.
Fox, Rebekah (2006) Animal behaviours, post-
human lives Social & Cultural Geography V7 N4
525-537.
Katz, John (2004) The New Work of Dogs Toronto,
Random House.
Coppinger, R. and Schneider, R. (1995) Evolution
of Working Dogs in The domestic dog: its
evolution, behaviour and interactions New York,
Scribner.
Allen, Larry (2004) Canine Photography New York,
Allworth Press.
Clark, Noreen R (2003) A Dog called Blue Sydney,
WriteLight Publications.
Blackshaw, JK (2008) Behaviour Problems in
Australian Cattle Dogs Australian Veterinary
Journal V65 N12 393-394.
This project will be undertaken using a
visual ethnography approach to
analyze representative photographs
from the National Library Collection
available online and the contemporary
photo sharing website Flickr. Two or
three photographs will be selected as
representative of the available
photographs from each decade from
1919 to 2009, with a projected total
Following the procedure in the references
below, the research will tabulate the
features of each image and then identify
similarities and differences across the
decades with the aim of proving or
disproving the hypothesis.
Schwartz, Donna (1989) Visual
ethnography: Using photography in
qualitative research Qualitative Sociology
Volume 12, Number 2 119-154
Ball, Michael & Smith, Gregory (1992)
Analyzing Visual Data London, Sage.
An initial survey of images has been
carried out, confirming the availability of
sufficient images from each decade, and it
is anticipated that finalizing the selection
and printing will take an additional three
hours. Drawing up a table showing the
location, the presence of family members
and the appearance of the dogs will take
possibly a further five hours. Analysis of
the results and writing up of the project is
estimated to involve another eight hours.
As the images are freely available
online and I do not need to rely on
others for components of the research
the only difficulty I anticipated was that
there would be too few images showing
the details I wanted to investigate. A
check of the collections shows that this
will not be a problem.
The research results will be presented in
the form of a report with headings such
as:
Introduction
Using visual ethnography
Images of the ACD from 1919 to 2009
Rural and urban: Changes in the locations
depicted.
Furry families: Representations of dogs and
people
Form follows function: Changing appearance