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Robert Kaleski

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 "heelers" and called their dogs the Australian Cattle Dog.

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While he is perhaps best known for his role in breeding the Australian Cattle Dog he also developed the first breed standard for the Australian Kelpie, wrote on a number of practical subjects for the newspapers of the time, and published works of fiction in magazines such as The Bulletin.

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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.

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In 1903 he drew up the first standard for the Australian Cattle Dog, and in 1904 the first standard for the Kelpie and another variety of sheepdog he called the Barb, a breed which is now considered synonymous with the Kelpie.

Halls Heeler

Robert Kaleski, of Moorebank, at the time a young associate of Harry Bagust, noted that in 1893 cattle dog breeders had begun to "fix the type" so he drew up a standard for them on those lines.

see also