Man and dog

In Poland – a dog – a four-legged friend plays and guards the house.

He also works in Australia

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One Saturday I was going from Launceston to St Helen (Tasmania) to my friend Janek Siejka, where in his summer house by the sea he made a birthday party (60 years old). I took with me a little friend named „Cyguś”. And when the need arose, we stopped on the way in Scamander … Returning to the car, an elderly man approached us who, looking at Cyguś, said „a nice puppy, Australian breed and first class”. From word to word, we learned more about ourselves – me: that his name is Barry and he is a farmer in the local town – he: that my name is Tony and I am Polish, and the dog is called Cyguś. He also added that his farm has dogs of the same breed as my Cyguś and is very pleased with them.

Barry see, however, that I am in a hurry, he added: I know Janek, a well-known builder in Tasmania, give me a phone number, and I will tell you when I am in Launceston one day, I will visit Janek and you and tell you about a Pole named Kaleski, to whom Australia owes that we have the most faithful and the most industrious dogs of – the „blue heelery” since 1893.

Unfortunately, our plans and intentions are not always realized. After a while, Barry’s son called me and said his father had died, which was of course sad news.
At that time I was busy with my professional work, building a house and editing the „Information Communication for Poles in North Tasmania and … taking Cyguś for a walk. To this day, I remember when the neighbors saw us together joking: „Ooo … Gypsy took Toni for a walk !” …

Picture… Adult Cyguś guards the house in Tasmania…

And so time passed! Unfortunately, sad things have happened in this time span… Unfortunately, Cyguś died at the age of seven of cancer and I did not make another four-legged friend, because I knew that he would not replace my friendship with Cyguś. The story about the Pole Kaleski somehow got away with time… And the worst happened: A friend Janek Siejka with whom friendship lasted 35 years left us for eternal rest.

Today, for some reason, the memory of this part of life in Emigration has returned to me, I have collected the available materials and give them to the readers of naszepismo.pl

Who Kaleski was?

Robert Lucian Stanislaus Kaleski was the son of a Polish mining engineer, John Kaleski, and his English wife Isabel, née Falder. Political pressures in Poland led John Kaleski to move to Germany, where he held academic appointments at Bonn  and Heidelberg Universities, and from there to Australia where he re-built a career as a mining engineer and assayer. Robert Kaleski was born on 19 January 1877 at Burwood in Sydney. Ill health as a child led to him spending long periods with a relative at Holsworthy, where he attended little school but learned much about the local bush.

In his teens, living in Sydney with access to a good library, he educated himself and began studying for a legal career, however he abandoned his studies at the age of twenty-one and went droving.

In his teens, living in Sydney with access to a good library, he educated himself and began studying for a legal career, however he abandoned his studies at the age of twenty-one and went droving.

A bachelor, he spent most of his life on his farm at Moorebank, where a street is now named in his honour. He died at the age of 84.

Kaleski became a dog owner at the age of six years, and was a lifelong student of the dog and the dingo. In 1893 he was a member of the Cattle Dog Club of Sydney, and one of a group of members who bred from bloodlines originating from Thomas Hall’s ‘Hall’s Heelers” and called their dogs the Australian Cattle Dog. In 1903 he drew up the first breed standard for the Australian Cattle Dog, and in 1904 the first breed standard for the Kelpie  and another variety of sheepdog he called the Barb, a breed which is now considered synonymous with the Kelpie. These standards were accepted by the leading breeders of the time, published in The Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, adopted by the Kennel Club of New South Wales, and became the guidelines for breeders and judges Australia-wide.

Kaleski founded the Cattle and Sheepdog Club of Australia. A dedicated breeder, he also worked his dogs with stock, and both exhibited and judged dogs in the show ring. With his dog Nugget (1908–12) he founded a noted line of Australian Cattle Dogs that included champions such as Clovelly Mavis and Clovelly Biddy.

Writer! Under a variety of pen names, including ‚Falder’ his mother’s maiden name, Kaleski wrote a number of articles on bush life for the Sydney Mail, Sydney Morning Herald, and Worker, and short fiction for The Bulletin. His articles on dogs and other animals were also featured in literary magazine called “The Bookfellow in association with the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW, the Forestry Commission of New South Wales, and the NSW Department of Agriculture he published articles on working dogs and settler life, and on the Australian bush. He wrote The Australian settler’s complete guide : scientific and practical published in 1909. Targeting British migrants, it was „written for the man on the land and for intending settlers in New South Wales” and contained detailed information about all types of farming, and the equipment needed. In it Kaleski gave practical directions for such essential tasks as Building the Hut.

In 1914 his articles and stories on dogs were re-published in book form as Australian Barkers and Biters, with illustrations by Hugh Maclean. In 1933 he published a completely revised edition which embodied his theories on the origin of the dog, and which had photographs instead of illustrations. Another revised edition of Barkers and Biters was published posthumously in 1987.

Bushman!  Kaleski is described as a „true bushman and environmentalist”.He was keenly interested in agriculture, inventing and patenting a number of new or improved farm implements and practical tools. He lived through the devastating Federation Drought  which reached its climax in late 1901 and 1902, and devised a water and soil management scheme to offset the effects of drought. In 1918 he bought a run-down farm at Moorebank, near Liverpool. He restored the 300 acres (120 ha) of Thorn Hill, applying his theories on land management. He lived at Thorn Hill until his death, and continued to experiment with plant breeding and other agricultural developments.

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… With a squint of eye … the similarities of man and dog

Sources: „Australian cattle dog”/ Wikipedia/ New Encyclopedia of the Dog (2000)/ Own materials and pictures/

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Soon translation into Polish on our website naszepismo.pl

By Antoni J. Jasinski

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