Project Proposal

Be(a)ware of the Dog

The Changing Role of the Australian Cattle Dog

The Australian Cattle Dog originated from a breeding program undertaken by George Hall on Dartbrook Station near Muswellbrook in the Hunter Valley in the 1830s. On their unfenced runs, the Halls and their stockmen were required to muster semi-wild cattle, draft them into groups, and move the chosen cattle hundreds of miles to markets in Sydney and Brisbane. The ACD was bred to assist in this task. However in 2008 the Australian Cattle Dog is primarily a city dwelling pet whose primary task is to be a companion to its owner, and a member of

The history of the cattle dog in many respects reflects the changing symbols of Australia, and our cultural move from a national association with the bush. Understanding the change in the Cattle Dog may help us understand the changing locus of Australian cultural identification. This research project will use a visual ethnography to explore the characteristics of the Australian Cattle Dog from 1919 to 2009. It is hypothesized that images from 1919 to 2009 will progressively show more urban locations, increased presence of family members, and a change in the conformation of the ACD.

Fox, Rebekah (2006) Animal behaviours, posthuman lives Social & Cultural Geography V7 N4 525-537. Katz, John (2004) The New Work of Dogs Toronto, Random House. Coppinger, R. and Schneider, R. (1995) Evolution of Working Dogs in The domestic dog: its evolution, behaviour and interactions New York, Scribner. Allen, Larry (2004) Canine Photography New York, Allworth Press. Clark, Noreen R (2003) A Dog called Blue Sydney, WriteLight Publications. Blackshaw, JK (2008) Behaviour Problems in Australian Cattle Dogs Australian Veterinary Journal V65 N12 393-394.

This project will be undertaken using a visual ethnography approach to analyze representative photographs from the National Library Collection available online and the contemporary photo sharing website Flickr. Two or three photographs will be selected as representative of the available photographs from each decade from 1919 to 2009, with a projected total

Following the procedure in the references below, the research will tabulate the features of each image and then identify similarities and differences across the decades with the aim of proving or disproving the hypothesis. Schwartz, Donna (1989) Visual ethnography: Using photography in qualitative research Qualitative Sociology Volume 12, Number 2 119-154 Ball, Michael & Smith, Gregory (1992) Analyzing Visual Data London, Sage.

An initial survey of images has been carried out, confirming the availability of sufficient images from each decade, and it is anticipated that finalizing the selection and printing will take an additional three hours. Drawing up a table showing the location, the presence of family members and the appearance of the dogs will take possibly a further five hours. Analysis of the results and writing up of the project is estimated to involve another eight hours.

As the images are freely available online and I do not need to rely on others for components of the research the only difficulty I anticipated was that there would be too few images showing the details I wanted to investigate. A check of the collections shows that this will not be a problem.

The research results will be presented in the form of a report with headings such as: Introduction Using visual ethnography Images of the ACD from 1919 to 2009 Rural and urban: Changes in the locations depicted. Furry families: Representations of dogs and people Form follows function: Changing appearance