Animal Liberation March 1978

 

In November 1978 Berenice agreed the society would participate in an Animal Liberation March.

Sydney Morning Herald headlines read: “Don’t shoot if you see a pack of dingoes marching from Martin Pace up Macquarie Street to Hyde Park tomorrow morning.”

This was the first ever animal rights march in Sydney and the dingoes were given the honour or leading the procession.

Arriving at the assembly point Berenice was impressed, if not a little apprehensive, by the quantity and quality of the police escort. 

A large police sergeant bore down on her, taking her arm in a vice like grip. “Are you marching?” Before she had a chance to reply a penny seemed to drop. “We’ve got our wires crossed. We were expecting gay liberationists not animal liberationists!”

Asked if they would like to march along the footpath or down the centre of the road they opted to march behind the waiting police car. “Well that will travel more comfortably down the middle of the road,” said the amiable officer.

Except for one police car, all signs of their body guards disappeared except for one lone police car. Leading the rest of the marchers they led the way up Martin Place without incident

They received had red carpet treatment from the police force and the press. 

 

 

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Berenice Walters Still Acknowledged as One of the Greatest Dog Women in Australia

Robert Kaleski was for a long time considered the expert on the history of the Australian Cattle Dog. Many of his theories have been proven wrong and the first person to question his ideas was Berenice Walters.

In his book, Dogs that made Australia, David Hull states: And it would be a dog man, but one of Australia’s great dog
women who smelled a rat and finally created the impetus for the real story to be told.

After summarising Thomas Hall’s role as the founding father of Australian Cattle dogs Hull quotes Berencie as saying: It’s a national disgrace for Mr Thomas Hall to be almost unknown while a lot of benchies [dog-show exhibitors] round Sydney claim the glory of founding the breed.

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The Moulting Season

I have been unable to verify who this was written about, but it appeared in Merigal Magazine in October 1977 and I suspect Berenice was the lady involved.

We are all no doubt busily brushing and combing our dogs to remove the dead hair from our moulting pets, not just from the point of view of
looks or convenience, but to assist our friend in this uncomfortably' itchy period. We have always believed in a good wash, lathering well with recommended dog soap or shampoo, and rubbing down well with a towel. Regular brushing and combing should then remove the loosened hair more easily.

Troublesome as loose hair might be the season is not devoid of its humour. The local washing machine serviceman had been called in to a non-functioning machine.

After several minutes close investigation, a voice demanded, "Do you wash your dogs in the washing machine?"

“No,” said a highly indignant housewife.

"Well, you would think so," said the mechanic, “the pump’s full of hair".

The Difference Between Cattle Dogs and Dingoes by Berenice Walters (c late 1990s)

In early 1970 I was speaking to Professor MacIntosh of Sydney University, who had carried out two decades of research on the Dingo.  He considered the Cattle Dog to be halfway to a Dingo.  However, after nearly fifty years’ experience, my opinion is that they are totally diffe
rent.  

On the one hand you have a bold and protective rural working dog specifically bred to work for man, with man;  on the other end of the scale we have the Dingo, a highly intelligent, sensitive, skilful and independent hunting breed, an opportunistic predator whose concentration is on hunt/kill.  Hardly the recipe for a herding dog.  I do of course speak generally.  One does occasionally hear of individuals and hybrids that have worked with stock just as there are individual Cattle Dogs that are not workers.
 

Snowdrift: Plug Thief (Extract from Merigal Dingoes by Pamela King)

Snowdrift (from the Berenice Walters' Collection)

Snowdrift was born in 1988 at Healesville Sanctuary, Victoria, the son of Boof and Merigal Snowbird (a daughter of Snowgoose). Snowbird was leased to Healesville Sanctuary as part of a joint breeding program. Snowgoose was a very famous Dingo as she and puppy Napilia featured on the Dogs of Australia series 20c stamp in 1980 and starred in the ABC documentary Trust a Dingo in 1977 along with other Merigal Dingoes Dora and Napoleon. 

He was 12 weeks old when he arrived at Merigal. He was always very friendly and outgoing, no doubt partly due to his breeding, and the excellent and varied handling he received at Healesville in the all-important first three months.

He was a tall dingo, brilliant chestnut in colour, and had a huge sense of humour but continually getting into strife. He was always terribly sorry afterwards but couldn’t help himself.

When Snowdrift was a pup, the kitchen plug disappeared. Berenice went to borrow the one from the bathroom, but it also had gone missing as had the plugs from her mother's granny flat. Further searching revealed all the plugs from the headquarters building no longer existed.

Berenice bought a new kitchen plug and wondered if the others would turn up. She heard Snowy's feet quickly, but quietly pattering out of the kitchen and flew after him. She was just in time to see him furtively slithering out the back door. In his mouth, protruding like a deformed tongue, was the new plug. Caught in the act, he coyly circled her, and then collapsed in a submissive heap. What could she say - what could she do but join him on the grass, laughing with him and telling him what a naughty boy he had been.

Once he was caught in the act, he never attempted to repeat the 'crime'.

His manners in the house were impeccable but, knowing dingoes have an unquenchable curiosity, Berenice frequently checked on him. She always found him laying quietly beside a bed unit she had just purchased. As she peeped in, he was resting innocently on a mat beside it. It was not until she noticed the sudden appearance of threads hanging from under the bed she discovered he had neatly chewed through the base!

One day, she couldn't find Snowy and noticed the door of her mother’s granny flat open. She was stunned when she looked inside. Cushions, dolls, doilies, mats had been flung all over the room. Snowy came to a sudden halt in the middle of the pandemonium when he saw her, unsure what to do at being caught out. Fortunately, no damage was done except for one doll's leg being dislocated.

On another occasion Snowy attacked a feather quilt. When he jumped on it, feathers squirted out. It was a great game. The walls, ceiling and furniture were covered with black pin feathers. Despite regular vacuuming, feathers were still appearing months later.

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