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As is the case with most
things that start from
small beginnings, it was
purely a sequence of
events that appeared to
be of little consequence
at the time and began
simply by my buying a
puppy for a pet in
1971and becoming
convinced by the
breeders, John and Joan
Collings of Schiehallion
Kennels that the puppy
ought to be shown. After
some long and heavy
persuasion I entered "Schiehallion
Kaans Boy" into a show
and from that point on came down with an
illness known as "dog
show fever". I'm not
quite over it yet!
During my many
discussions with John
and Joan about dogs, dog
ownership, dog showing
and dog breeding, the
names of Erwin and June Stangl of Fairloch
Kennels kept creeping
into our conversations.
Having heard so much
about them, it was not
until their bitch "Jedda"
(Fairloch Night Fame)
whelped a litter that we
eventually came to meet
at their house in
Farmborough Heights,
Figtree, where they
lived at that time.
Having viewed Jedda's
puppies in the backroom
of their home, on
returning to the living
room a lively discussion
arose between myself,
Erwin and June, John and
Joan, and Colleen Colley
of (Tyrondale Kennels)
who had arrived at the
house shortly before the
conversation started,
about the possibilities
of creating a Breed Club
in the Wollongong area
as the only breed club
that then existed for
Collies was The Collie
Club of NSW. Sydney,
their HQ, was much too
far to travel to
meetings, particularly
at night, and few of us
wanted to do that
anyway. We also
considered that with so
many All Breeds Clubs in
the Wollongong district
our chances of starting
a club of our own might
be pretty slim indeed,
so the whole idea was
put on hold It was,
however, certainly not
forgotten. Then, some
weeks later a further
discussion arose about
the creation of a Breed
Club, this time at John
Collings house during
the Christmas period of
1972, and it was decided
that before anything
concrete could be done,
it would be as well to
canvas the opinion and
interest of all Collie
and Sheltie breeders
within the Illawarra
area. Arriving in this
country in 1970 I was a
relative newcomer to the
breed here, having left
a Ladypark Collie behind
with friends that I had
bought for my son as a
pet and, knowing few
people within the show
fraternity, it was
therefore up to John and
Joan Collings, Erwin and
June Stangl and Colleen
Colley to do most of the
groundwork. Eventually
enough interested
breeders and exhibitors
were gathered together
for us to have a meeting
and our first agenda was
to create a steerage
committee to put the
whole idea in motion.
The original steerage
committee members were
as follows: -
President
John Collings Schiehallion Kennels
Senior Vice President
Gus Phillips
Junior Vice President
Peter Girdlestone Leofric Kennels
Secretary
Colleen Colley Tyrondale
Kennels
A Life
Member IC&SSC
Treasurer
Michael Scott
Show Manager
Erwin Stangl
Fairloch
Kennels
A
Life Member IC&SSC
Assist Show Manager Bill Lambert
Trophy
Steward
June Stangl
Fairloch
Kennels
A Life Member IC&SSC
Publicity
Officer
Shirley Ullyott
Belvoir Kennels
Catering Manager
Joan Collings
Schiehallion Kennels
We were now set on the
road to negotiate with
the RASKC (Royal
Agricultural Society
Kennel Control) to
establish a breed club
in our own right and our
first decision was to
name ourselves "The
Illawarra Collie and
Shetland Sheepdog Club".
We formed the club in
the January of 1973, but
in those days it was
incumbent upon us to
create our own club
constitution to be
agreed to by all members
before we could put
ourselves forward for
amalgamation with the
then RASKC and to gain
sufficient numbers to
quality us to create a
club in the first place.
As can be imagined, the
many committee meetings
at our different homes
that were needed to
draft and redraft a
constitution that all
parties could agree to
took an inordinate
amount of time. That,
and our inability for
some time to find enough
people to join us as a
club, slowed us down
immeasurably. Trevor
Leatherbarrow, the then
President of the Collie
Club of NSW, encouraged
some of his members to
join with us that we
might eventually make
our application as a
club acceptable. In
August 1974, within
weeks of our final draft
presentation, the Kennel
Control sent us a copy
of their own
constitution for
amalgamates that they
had only recently
produced, and again, it
had to be received and
approved by the majority
of the membership before
any application for
amalgamation would be
accepted by the ruling
body.
We had arranged for a
Club Parade prior to
August 1974 on the
assurance from the
Control that we would be
officially amalgamated
by then. We were not,
due in part to the
changed constitution,
but as our schedule had
been presented and
accepted and all the
arrangements for the
Parade had been made, we
went ahead anyway; in
the process receiving
dire threats from the
powers that be of loss
of Kennel Control
membership for any who
entered or officiated at
that Parade. Fortunately
for the concerned
Committee Members,
exhibitors and officials
who had taken the risk
to continue with the
show, the Control did
not fulfill their
threat. It was not until
September 1974 that we
eventually had an
official sanction that
enabled us to go ahead
as a club, but to become
amalgamated we had to
send six months
membership fees together
with our application for
acceptance that, when
finally approved by the
authorities, covered us
from December 1974 until
June 1975, when at that
date we had to reapply.
Under my Presidency, and
after affiliation, our
second (but first
official Parade) was in
April 1975 with Bob
McGarvy as the judge.
I became Club President
due to an unfortunate
set of circumstances.
John Collings our
Steerage Committee
President was working
for BP at the time and
was unloading oil from a
tanker when he slipped
on the gangway steps one
night, about November
1974, breaking his leg
and ankle so badly that
he had to have the bone
pinned. He was in
hospital for a while and
was on crutches for some
months afterwards making
it impossible for him to
drive. He decided for
the clubs benefit to
resign as President
until he was able to get
back on his feet again.
Gus Phillips, our Senior
Vice President, vacated
his position in Oct 1974
and I was elected to
replace him because he
had found that, at his
age, 1 think then in his
mid to late sixties,
that traveling from
Greenwell Point to our
committee meetings was
getting beyond him, so
when this accident
occurred to John, it
naturally fell to me to
take the chair until
elected President about
Feb/March 1975 in time
to oversee our official
and authorized RASKC
Parade.
At one of our earlier
club meetings it had
been suggested from the
floor that we should
think of starting a club
newsletter. Although
there was a lot of
discussion on the
subject, no one appeared
keen to volunteer to do
this job, so in August
of 1974 I presented on
my own initiative a
newssheet to the members
for their approval. It
was accepted as a
possible means of
keeping everyone
informed of the clubs
happenings and events,
so the next newsletter
included a name for the
journal, "The Collies
Voice", a name that no
one seemed to care for
very much, and the
newsletter remained
anonymous for some
considerable time.
Because of those early
efforts on the clubs
behalf, I was also
elected as the clubs
editor. After some
discussion and with
membership approval, I
finally named the club
journal "Semper Fidelis
- translation - "Always
Faithful", - as it was
felt that faithfulness
best represented our
breeds characteristic
and would hopefully be
the Committee's and the
memberships relationship
with their club. A club
badge was created for us
in 1975 by Loretta
Leigh, a non-member
friend of mine, an
artist from the Black
Country who had worked
on designs in the
Potteries before she
came to Australia, and
she incorporated the
same motto, "Semper
Fidelis" into the logo;
Loretta also drew the
Collie and Emblem that
was used for the front
cover of the journal. It
was also decided by the
general membership that
the club's colours would
be black, white and gold
to represent the
tri colour Collie and
Sheltie
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