The Big Blue Heeler is in Muswellbrook, New South Wales, 241 kilometres north of Sydney.
It is a sculpture of the Australian Cattle Dog known to have originated from Dartbrook, a small town 12 kilometres North of Muswellbrook. It is a crossbreed of the Northumberland Blue Merle Drovers Dog and the dingo.
Built in 2001 to celebrate the proclaimed International Cattleman’s best friend, the huge blue heeler dog sculpture is two metres tall. Here’s all you need to know about the relationship between this dog breed and the town of Muswellbrook.
The Story of the Big Blue Heeler
In the 1840s, Thomas Hall, a farmer in Dartbrook, owned a large pastoral land in the Upper Hunter region full of wild and free-roaming cattle. He had problems managing his huge livestock and sought a little help from man’s best friend, a dog.
However, Hall was looking for a species that would tolerate the heat of the terrain, walk for longer distances, and round up his cattle. His trial crossbreed gave him the Blue Heeler, a dog breed that met all requirements of a herding dog. Additionally, the Blue Heeler was a quiet and swift operator.
This Australian Cattle Dog is known to round up cattle and other livestock effectively and has since become popular internationally. This breed has even fetched top honours in many prestigious dog competitions.
That is why Muswellbrook is proud of the Big Blue Heeler statue; some locals describe their town as the ‘Blue Heeler country‘. Sometimes, these cattleman’s friends try to round up humans if they find no cattle for them to watch over.
If you are a dog lover and a fan of the Big Things of Australia, you’ll be glad to find out that there is also another massive sculpture of a dog in Fairfield, Victoria. Known as the Fairfield Industrial Dog Object (FIDO), this hardwood canine sculpture was erected in April 2000.
Some other popular Big Things in New South Wales worth checking out include:
- Big Knight in Knockrow
- Big Bicycle in Chullora
- Big Beer Can in Cobar
- Big Murray Cod in Tocumwal
