When you talk about prominent Working Kelpies, the first one that comes to mind is of course the very first Kelpie, also called Gleeson´s Kelpie, because she was one of the founders of the breed, and also her daughter King´s Kelpie because it was her outstanding performance in the sheepdog trial at Forbes, New South Wales, that helped give name to the breed.

We have very little information about her. We know that she was probably born in the early 1870s and that her colour was black and tan. Some sources say that she was smooth haired and had prick ears, others claim that she was more like rough haired and had floppy ears. It is said that she was an outstanding sheepdog, she could for instance herd one single sheep several miles if need be.

She was mated several times to Moss, an all black male by Yarrawonga Clyde ex Rutherford Lassie, and among their progeny the following deserve to be mentioned: Keogh´s Swan, Lass also called Old Girl, Wylie, Clyde and Gay, which were all used for breeding.

Gleeson´s Kelpie also had a litter by Caesar (by Brutus ex Jenny) which above all is memorable because it contained a little black and tan bitch, that was going to give her name to the breed, King´s Kelpie

She was probably born in 1875 and when she was four years old she competed in the first sheepdog trial that was held at Forbes, NSW, (1879) where her excellent work was very much admired. She tied for the first place with Gibson´s Tweed, that was brought up from Tasmania especially for this competition.

She was also mated to Moss and produced several outstanding sons and daughters among others Gibson´s Clyde who tied for first in the trial at Forbes 1881 with King´s Clyde (by Moss out of a daughter to Gleeson´s Kelpie)

King´s Kelpie was once mated to Laddie (a litter brother to Caesar) and produced among others Sally , the dam of Barb, an all black dog whose progeny showed themselves to be particularly tough and forceful and therefore were called Barbs and were supposed to be a separate strain.

King and his partner McCleod went on breeding on these lines and on dogs they bought from John Quinn, but they also imported new dogs from New Zealand and Scotland. Among others the bitch Hindhope Jed who is stated to be a Border Collie in an ad about puppies. It seems to have been the first time ever that the breed name Border Collie was used, for in Great Britain they had not yet started to use it. The puppies that were advertised were sired by Coil and Wallace (both Kelpies) out of Biddy (Kelpie) and Hindhope Jed (Border Collie). As you can see in those days they didn´t hesitate to cross the breeds, the difference was not regarded as very great. But there were also those who were critical. John Quinn for example went on breeding solely within the original lines.

Quinn won the Sydney trial with Coil under very dramatic circumstances. After completing the first day with a perfect round and maximum points (100) the dog had an accident. He was run over by a cab and one foreleg was broken. Quinn worked hard setting the leg during the night, and since ha had qualified for the final he asked the judge and secretary for permission to compete in spite of the injury. Permission was given and Coil again made a perfect round with maximum points, in spite of the fact that he was working on three legs with the injured leg hanging. With that he won the trial and had set a record which no other dog could reach for a long time. After this feat he was honored with the title ‘The Immortal Coil’.

Coil was linebred to the first Kelpies. He was sired by Clyde (Wallis) out of Gay (Beveredge). Clyde´s sire Bland II is said to be by Moss out of Gleeson´s Kelpie and his dam was by Caesar ex Gleeson´s Kelpie. Coil´s dam, Gay, was a daughter to Luby (by Nero, full brother to Caesar). Many outstanding trial dogs have Coil at least once in their pedigree.

The partnership King & McCleod marketed their dogs aggressively, which was perhaps not very common in those days. In an ad about puppies in The Sydhey Morning Herald in September 1901 they promoted especially Biddy “Champion Puppy of 1901”, who had competed 7 times, won 4 and beaten among others Coil, Neede, Wallace and many other dogs.

Biddy also held the record of 7 minutes through the obstacles, the Maltese Cross and the pen. Some years later they stopped using the Maltese Cross because it was considered to be too difficult. The following year, 1902, Biddy also won the Sydney trial.

Biddy was sired by Rufus (by Boss ex Trilby, sister of Coil) out of Kelp and her colour was red. She was mated to several outstanding dogs, Coil among others, and came to have influence on the breed. One of the pups in this litter was Biddy´s Daughter, who won in Sydney 1905 (beating Wallace by attaining the record of her sire 200 points). Biddy was also mated to Tweed of Roxburgh, a big red Border Collie, imported by King & McCleod.

In the same manner they mated Coil to Hindhope Jad, another imported BC. These matings are interesting even though they did not influence the development of the Kelpie breed. They had after all a certain influence on the development of the Border Collies in Australasia.

Fact is they eventually produced Bantry Girl, who was extremely successful in the trial arena and also as a brood bitch, as she became the foundation bitch of Frank Whittington´s Border Collie stud and so many stud dogs and brood bitches trace to her. Some sources mention Bantry Girl as a Kelpie, but most of them consider her to be a Border Collie. She was sired by the Sydney winner Bantry, who with his earlier owner had competed under the name of Banshee. His sire Wallace was a Kelpie and the dam Ancrum Jed a Border Collie. Bantry Girl also had Kelpies on her dam´s side as well as on her sire´s side, as she was sired by Bereft (by Coil, Kelpie, ex Maudie, BC) out of Daughter of Biddy (by Tweed of Rogxburgh, BC, ex Biddy, Kelpie)

Another famous dog from the early 1900-s was Red Hope who is said to be by Quinns Nigger out of Quinns Nell

He was bought in 1919 by Arthur Kemp, a very wellknown breeder and trainer of Kelpies, for 50 pounds - which was a big sum at that time.

He won 19 trials and was placed in another 36, and competed in the Championship trials in Sydney twice, 1920 and 1926.

Photo wIth kind permission from Frank Scanlon

Mr Kemp owned him between 1919 and 1929, and during that decade he became on of the most famous Kelpies of the first half of that century. His progeny was also very good and he was much sought after as a stud dog.

He was the sire of, among others, Scanlons Dell, one of the brood bitches that are most talked about. He also sired Brown Hope, shich was later bred back to Scanlons Dell and produced Currawang Last Hope who inhis turn produced Currawang Wamba, probably Jack Goodfellow´s stud.

Currawang Wilga

Wilga was bred by Jack Goodfellow and given as a pup to Frank Scanlon. He won every trial he entered in at the end of the 1930-ies, and was regarded by Frank as an exceptionally intelligent dog. He had full cotrol of his sheep and great anticipation. No commands were needed, he knew what he had to do and could negotiate the obstacles on his own. But according to Franl he was mainly a trial dog.

Herb Morrice (whose prefix was Artesian) borrowed Wilga to compete in the Queensland Championship, as he wanted to win that trial which had  competitors from as far away as Victoria and New Zealand. Which he did. Later Wkilga was sold to Jack Forest  for 50 pounds which was a large sum in those days, and he went on  winning trials for his new owner.

Among Wilgas progeny were Artesian Mulga, Artesian Nulla and Scanlons Nigger, whose name we can find in the pedigrees of our Kelpies of today.

Scanlons Dell

One of the most influential brood bitches in the history of Working Kelpies is Scanlons Dell.

She was sired by Ring (Haynes), a dog that was described by contemporary breeder as the only true sheepdog he had ever seen. Ring who had got his name because he had a white collar all around his neck, was a third generation descendant of Red Hope and he impressed everyone at trials. At a trial in Sydney he was chosen among 60 others for a movie that was to be shown in the United States.

Dell´s dam was Nellie (Purcells) whose mother was said to be a forth generation descendant of Col (The Immortal Coil).

But although Dell won trials her real greatness lay not on the trial grounds but in her ability to produce outstanding progeny by a many different sires. According to Tony Parsons her importande can be compared to bitches like Biddy and Biddy´s Daughter, who laid the foundation to success of the breed. Dell was the dam of among othrs Artesian Mulga (by Currawang Wilga), Scanlons Don I (by Don 0´Currawang) Scanlons Flash (by Quinn´s Boy Blue) and Woombi Jill (by Kemp´s Badge).

Shanahans Loo

A bitch that has had a big influence on later generations of Kelpies is Shanahans Loo. Her sire was Inglewood Ned ( a fourth generation descendant of Red Hope) and heer dam wa Scanlons Tipy.

Therre has been dispute about who really was her breeder. Frank Scanlon has said that he was and in some pedigrees she is rererred to as Scanlons Loo, but Jack Shanahan who owned Tippy states that he bred her and delivered both her and her litter brother Shanahans Ben to Frank. When she was  seven months she was bought by Tony Parsons.

Anyway, Loo appears again and again in many - not to say mast - pedigrees if you go far enough back. Unfortunately she died young.

She had a superb outrun and a lot of style, but she also had force and a good walk up. She didn´t like working extremely close in rhe yards and probably would not be rough enough for the sheepowners of today.

But  she was easy to control and she passed on all  her good qualities to her progeny. Some of them that we can find in our pedigrees are Karrawarra Lulu, Karrawarra Pattie, Karrawarra Sergeant and Karrawarra Tammy.

Karrawarra Sergeant

Seargeant (by Kanimbla Darby ex Shanahans Loo) was a big red and tan och came as a pup  to Frank Scanlon who trained him.  Frank later sold Sergeant to Bert Bromham (Glenville Kelpies), who won many trials with him and he was best Kelpie at the trials in Canberra during the Centennial 1970.

Sergeant was a strong dog and he never retreated one inch if the sheep attacked him. As a stud he produced a row of excellent Glenvile dogs, but he was also widely used by other breeders, and we often find his name in pedigrees with the prefixes Whites and Wyreema.