First Dingo to Join the Army

Boorooma (left) with his father Napoleon

Berenice received many requests for a dingo but unless people were members of the society with facilities and experience to foster a Merigal dingo there was little chance of them achieving their wish.

One of the calls she received was from Major Terry Boyce Commanding Officer of the 3rd Field Regiment, Royal Australian Engineers seeking a regimental mascot.

It was agreed Napoleon’s son, 13-month-old son Boorooma would be suitable for the first dingo to become the mascot of an Australian Army regiment.Before they let him join the army he was taken rabbiting to familiarise him with gun shots. He then spent a couple of weeks in Sydney to test his adaptability. He took everything in his stride.

His official name was Wooleston Boorooma, but the 350 men of the 3rd Field Regiment, Royal Australian Engineers, called him Bruiser. His army number was MAO117 and he was given the rank of Sapper. He proudly marched at the head of the regiment when on ceremonial parades.

Problems arose when the Queensland Government would not give permission for Boorooma to be with his regiment n Townsville but finally, with the help of Dr Norman Scott-Young, the local State MP, approval was received.

Boorooma settled easily into army. To avoid problems if he became a one-man dog he had four handlers. He flew in aircraft, rode in armoured vehicles and had rifles fired over his head. The soldiers welcomed him into their home where he was popular with the children.

But dingoes will be dingoes and he got black marks for chewing towels, boots and mattresses as well as running off with the hats of the duty picket.

He became the pride of the 3^rd Field Regiment, who felt the full force of prejudice against him when the Canine Control Council refused to allow him to attend a local dog obedience club.

Major Boyce was quoted as saying, “Still the army looks after its own. I am not quite sure why they did that but we will be going to work on the problem whatever it is.

The Power of a Dingo Experience and the Internet

Bargo Dingo Sanctuary photo by George Petrovsky (c)

I met George Petrovsky when I joined my local branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers and we became friends.

He regularly shares this blog and recently he joined a Google+ Community called Dog of the Day. It is a Russian language page. George not only shared his photo on the page but translated the Humane Society International article “5 Reasons to Love Dingoes” into Russian and included it in his post. In less than a day his post received 59 likes. George is helping to spread the word on the other side of the globe. Thank you George.

It is important that the dingo situation is promoted overseas; not just here at home. The power of quality, personal interactions with dingoes combined with the power of the internet is vital to the dingo cause.

An education program that included guided information tours of Merigal Dingo Sanctuary and attending functions, events and schools with dingoes was something that Berenice Walters always advocated as being essential to convert the public to understanding and supporting our dingo.

Every little positive experience retold on social media and websites and the sharing of knowledge worldwide is so much easier today than in Berenice’s time. it is vital we keep sharing and reposting these moments. I am both surprised and delighted at the number of overseas supporters the Dingo Lady Facebook page has.

Some of sanctuaries and organisations across Australia that actively encourage dingo experiences are the West Australian Dingo Association, the Dingo Care Network, the Dingo Discovery Centre, Bushland Dingo Haven, Potoroo Palace Native Animal Sanctuary, Bargo Dingo Sanctuary, Durong Dingo Sanctuary and Fraser Coast Wildlife Sanctuary.

There are others but I know that those listed are quality, knowledgeable experiences. Any I have omitted to list is because I have not experienced them, I have not heard any positive comment or a poor quality/uninformed experience was reported. I have no objection to anyone adding their experiences providing you can confirm the quality of the experience and accuracy of information.

Three books on the Dingo by Berenice Walters.

Berenice’s first book, published in 1980, was titled Dingo: Dog of Australia was. It was a simple little book but the first of its type; that is, a positive book about the dingo written in simple terms by a layperson.

Her second book, Dingo: Getting a Good Dog a Better Name, published in 1984 with a revised edition in 1990, was more in-depth and included a chapter on the results of Berenice’s research into the relationship between the Dingo and the Aborigines at the time of white settlement. It also included a selection of poems that had been printed in the Society’s magazine, Merigal.

Her third publication, the Company of Dingoes: Two decades with our native dog native dog was published in 1995.

It contained much of the information from Dingo: Getting a Good Dog a Better Name. However, the section on biology and ecology based largely on research undertaken by Corbett, Whitehouse and Harden was replaced with detailed information based on observations of the Dingoes at the Merigal Dingo Education Centre on Berenice’s property.

Ideas on Dingo preservation are discussed with a less prescriptive and more open-ended approach.

Although it was professionally printed the photos were badly re-produced. It had been printed in black and white, not greyscale. I remember Berenice crying for days with disappointment over the quality of the finished product.

Professor Colin Groves, Professor of Biological Anthropology at the Australian National University in Canberra, reviewed both Dingo: Getting a Good Dog a Better Name and Company of Dingoes: Two decades with our native dog native dog giving both books, and Berenice herself, high praise.