Smithfield Collies are said to be one of the founding compositions of Australian Cattle Dogs. There is a bit of a debate about what a Smithfield Collie actually was, whether it’s an English or Australian type, since there were numerous places in the English-speaking world named Smithfield.
One has to keep in mind, on the British Isles, the Smithfield Collies originally refer the working type of the Old English Sheepdog; rumoured to drive livestocks to the Smithfield meat markets in London. Of course, inspired by the extinct Smithfield Collies of England, several people, including Brian Plummer, set out to recreate the breed. Ironically enough, if they had bothered looking in Tasmania, they would had found something resembling the original Smithfields.
Here is Jack, exhibited as a cattle dog, at the Metropolitan Intercolonial Exhibition held in Sydney in 1898. Breed historians claim he is a Smithfield-type:
via http://stockdogsavvy.wordpress.com [Image: Unknown, 1898]
Smithfield Collies during the time of colonial Australia were said to be only useful as yard work with cattle as their shaggy long coat proved to be wrong for the climate and vegetations of the country. Something else was needed to transform these collies into dogs well-adapted to mustering livestocks from stations to stations over long distance in northern Australia. Unfortunately, the Smithfield-type survives only in the cooler, temperate parts of Australia resembling akin to the climates of the Isles they once hailed from.
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