Waiau Collie Club all set to celebrate centennial

Waiau Collie Club patron and life member Brian Hampton instructs his 13-year-old huntaway Gus to bark outside the clubrooms on Wairaki Station with club member Drew Chartres (left) and president Jeremy Gray. Photo / Shawn McAvinue

Dog triallist Brian Hampton rarely misses a dog trial at Waiau Collie Club in Western Southland.

The 75-year-old club patron and life member ran his first dog at the club in 1973.

He had missed only one club competition since - the year his wife died.

The club celebrates its centennial today.

Hampton had many fond memories of his time at the club.

The Clifden Women’s Division once catered for the trials and always served their speciality dish - plum duff - which was affectionately remembered by triallists across the South.

“Every trial you went to they talked about it.”

When he joined the club many of the members were returned servicemen, who were exceptional stockmen.

“There were some bloody good characters.”

Another memorable member of the club was John Gordon, who presented A Dog’s Show from 1977 to 1993 and lived in Otautau.

He died last year.

“We will miss him this year.”

People moved out of the district but remained members - including himself. He now runs a Suftex stud on nearly 30ha in Winton.

The club grounds lie on Wairaki Station on the Southern Scenic Route between Tuatapere and Te Anau.

Hampton warned triallists who have never competed on the club grounds, a yarding course featured a line of fence posts about halfway up.

The netting of the fence had been dropped to allow for the competition.

The original Waiau Collie Club clubrooms in Clifden. Photo / Shawn McAvinue

Dogs competing could get spooked by the posts, believing a fence remained and ran across the course, rather than up it.

“You’ve got to teach your dog to go through - it’s quite tricky for a young fella.”

The club was founded in 1923 and its grounds were established on the Gardeners’ property, near the Lillburn Valley Rd turnoff in Clifden.

The club moved to Wairaki Station in 1958 due to the wetness of the original grounds and its lack of distance on its hunt courses.

The club once held its competition over two consecutive days in May but moved to February so it could be completed from dusk to dawn in a single day.

The original Waiau Collie Club committee in Clifden in 1924 (back row from left) Magnus Mouat, Donald McLaren, Jim Lilico, Archie Miller, Jack Patterson and Frank Winter; (middle row from left) Jack McLaren, J. Carnegie Gardner, Tom Prendegast, Ralph Gardner and Jack Capil; (front from left) George Bennet, Jimmie Mair, Jim McLean and Panton Gardner. Photo / Supplied

On competition days, inquisitive tourists often stop to watch triallists compete and do fun activities.

Activities have included a wild pig being released for competitors to chase across a course.

The prize for catching the big pig was being able to take it home.

A pig once outwitted its chasers and was seen living on the station for about the next three years.

Activities at the centennial were yet to be decided but might include a bark up or a footrace up a course.

Club member Drew Chartres said one year a wild hind ran across a course during a competition.

He worked on the 3800ha station, which ran about 17,000 ewes.

A concrete step at the entrance of the Waiau Collie Club rooms shows the date the club moved to Wairaki Station. Photo / Shawn McAvinue

Romney sheep would be used during the competition - ewe lambs on heading courses and two-tooths on hunt courses.

Dinner and drinks for anyone involved with the club were held at the Waiau Town & Country Club in Tuatapere last night.

About 50 triallists were expected to compete at the centennial.

Prizes on offer had increased to celebrate the milestone.

The club had produced many triallists who went on to compete on a national level.

At the Waiau Collie Club 90th trial in 2013 are Stephen McGimpsey (left), Eric Howden, Penny Whale, Mitchell Hogg, Mark Gray, Liam Adams (obscured), James Lowe, Jeremy Gray, Fraser McKenzie, Robert Legg, Blair Thwaites, Craig MacGillivray, Drew Chartres, Justin Wallis, Dave MacGillivray, Mike McLees, Sam Clements, Jacob Mackie, Matt Patterson, Macrae Sanderson, James McLees, Brian Hampton, Skyla Taylor, Chelsea George, Peter Baker, Richard Slee, Brad MacPherson and Nat Patterson. Photo / Supplied

“In the last 10 years, we’ve had two or three most of the time,” Club president Jeremy Gray, of Blackmount, said.

The club had hosted the Southland Centre Championships many times and it had recently invested in fences and pens on the courses.

Gray acknowledged the continued support of current station owners Richard and Trudy Slee and past owner, the late Hugh Irving.

Photos in the clubroom on the station include club committee members, dressed in suits and ties, in 1924.

Another photo features members at the 90th trial in 2013 in more casual attire.

The 2013 photo was snapped on a club “mufti day,” Gray laughed.

“We’ll be tidier this year.”