In the doghouse
Leon Wright on a decade-long battle to hunt with the Murray River Retriever
It had been a great morning’s hunt and I was well on the way to ‘bagging out’. I’d been hunting ducks on a mate’s property and with one to go I sneaked up the dam bank, slipped the safety off and brought the shotgun to bear on a woody on the edge off the fast-rising flock. At the shot I was pleased to see the duck fold and drop into thick grass beside the dam, though not quite so much when I couldn’t find it.
But my trump card was waiting impatiently in the 4×4 and, after giving up the search, I returned to the truck to fetch Missy, my Murray River Retriever. It didn’t take her long to discover the woody was long gone and after a brief search through the long grass bordering the dam, she followed the scent globules left by the duck. She sniffed her way up through the long grass beside the fence for a good 50 metres, then sat air-scenting by the fence until I caught up.
Trained not to jump fences (too much barbed wire in our district) she waited patiently for me to let her through then sniffed her way across the track to the fence on the other side. She continued on her way, tracking the woody through the long grass for at least another 50m then stopped, back tracked a few paces and pounced, collaring the hapless duck.
‘Ho-hum’ you might say, standard work for a Murray River Retriever and we’ve heard it all before. But here’s something you may not have heard before. If you’re the owner of a similar animal and have been using it to retrieve ducks during the season in Victoria, you’ve been breaking the law. Do I have your attention now? It was illegal to use the Murray River Retriever (formally known as the Murray River Curly Coated Retriever) to retrieve ducks in season in Victoria prior to 2024.
This has been the case since the Game Management Authority took over the handling of game bird hunting in that state. Furthermore, if caught doing so you ran the risk of having the dog removed from your custody and being DNA tested. If found to not be complying with game bird regulations, there was the chance of heavy fines along with confiscation of equipment. I hasten to add this only applies in Victoria.
This came about as the Game Management Authority takes its list of dogs allowed to be used for game bird hunting from one list supplied by the ANKC (Australian National Kennel Council), who only deal in pedigree dogs and, while the Murray River Retriever is a pure-bred dog, it doesn’t have a pedigree.
Without that pedigree the fact the Murray River Retriever is an Australian icon and the only home-grown retriever, having been bred true to type since 1894 and served our duck hunting fraternity for 150 years, is irrelevant to the ANKC. Little is known of the breed’s history but what is known is there’s a rich historical connection between the dog and the waterway it’s named after.
In the early days, apart from hunting, dogs were also used to guard the early paddle-steamers and duck punts which plied the Murray River during early settlement. The origin of the Murray River Retriever, while obscure, shows it’s a dog of the working classes which dates back to the mid-1800s in this country.
Believed to have originated from English and Irish heritage, it closely resembles the Norfolk Retriever as well as the Northern Water dog of Ireland, but alas we’ll never be sure. What we do know is DNA testing in 2014 showed it isn’t related to any other contemporary breed. While it’s now officially known as the Murray River Retriever it has been known as the Murray River Curly Coated Retriever, Curly, Murray River Curly, Murray River duck dog and Murray Red, all depending on locality.
Up until the 1960s the Labrador and Curly (Murray River Retriever) were kings of the duck swamps. There were, of course, other breeds but those two were the undisputed favourites with hunters, though things were about to change with the introduction of the German Shorthaired Pointer. Dog breeders including Jack Thompson of Dunfree Kennels saw the need for a smooth-haired and more versatile option like the GSP. Duck hunters after a dog which needed little maintenance flocked to the breed in such numbers that within 10 years of its introduction, it was rumoured around 50 per cent of Aussie duck dogs were GSPs.
While the Curly’s a true utility gundog, it doesn’t have the flashy pointing ability of the GSP. Others such as flat-coats and various spaniels pushed the Curly to the position it holds today. However, the Murray River Retriever still holds the record for serving the duck hunting fraternity longest and, contrary to popular opinion, is still extremely popular with hunters.
I live alongside the Murray River and the dog which took its name is still a favourite with duck hunters. I had the chance to check the local dog registration book from around 1930-1940 and numerous Murray River Retriever were registered, including my family’s first, ‘Old Tibby’.
A story my late uncle liked to tell was of the day he and dad headed out duck hunting, leaving Tibby tied up so he wouldn’t follow them as they were going to the top of Lake Mulwala by boat. Tibby knew they were going hunting and voiced his disapproval of being left behind as the men left home beside the lake.
Later that day as they turned the boat for home they could hear a dog barking on one of the small islands just south of Tarramia Station, so they rowed over to investigate. They were stunned to find Tibby who, after slipping his collar, had swum and island-hopped after them for about eight kilometres. They dragged him into the boat where he collapsed and didn’t move the whole way home.
My Aunt Loma used to say all she had to do was close her eyes for a few seconds and she could envisage my grandfather, broken shotgun over his shoulder and Tibby at his heel, as they headed off for a shoot on our duck swamp beside Lake Mulwala, aptly named Wright’s Inlet.
But back to the story and so began a 10-year battle to have the breed recognised by the ANKC. While the registrar of the Murray River Retriever Association worked on developing a breed standard, the duck hunting fraternity of that Association, of which I’m a member, went to work on drumming up support from organizations such as the SSAA, FGA and SFFP, all of which had members hunting over Murrays.
Firstly we had to find out for sure the situation was genuine and approached the Victorian branch of the SSAA. We were told they were due to have a meeting with the GMA regarding another matter and would raise our plight. The resulting news was indeed bad and it was illegal to use the Murray River Retriever for game bird hunting in Victoria.
Along with that first setback from the GMA we were subsequently told we could apply for an exemption which would allow us to hunt ducks while the situation was sorted out. Sadly this was wrong as the exemption only applied to breeds already on the list of approved hunting dogs. This was just the beginning of dealings with Dogs Victoria, the ANKC, numerous government departments and five consecutive Ministers of the Victorian Government. Our plight was even raised by Daniel Young of the SFFP during question time in July 2012, and DNA samples sent to the US for verification of ours dogs’ breed.
All this came with hurdle after hurdle to negotiate, lies, broken promises, misinformation and everyone stalling, the list goes on. As I’m a constituent of one of the politicians, I rang her office and asked for an appointment to discuss the situation, only to be told she was too busy to speak to me. Strangely, since that time I’ve noticed the same politician hasn’t been too busy to put her face in front of the TV cameras at almost any and every opportunity.
To appease the ANKC and in a bid find a way forward, at an AGM, members of the Association voted to drop ‘Curly Coated’ from the name with the breed now known as the Murray River Retriever. This was done following advice as the previous name was too close to the Curly Coated Retriever and may cause confusion.
Finally, after years of battling bureaucracy and with the presentation of the Breed Standard to the ANKC, the Murray River Retriever was recognised as a pure-bred gundog by the ANKC on January 1, 2022. Yet even though we finally had that recognition and the breed was added to Group 3 Gundogs, we were still not allowed to use them to retrieve ducks in Victoria as it had to be signed off by the Minister concerned.
Along with the backing of the GMA we forwarded all relevant information via email to the relevant Minister, only to be told she was only interested in helping constituents of her own electorate, though the email would be forwarded to the next relevant Minister (which it never was).
Eventually we rang the office of Steve Dimopolous to ask what the hold-up was, to be told by his assistant they’d never received any such email. We were assured the matter would be dealt with as soon as the Minister returned from interstate. True to her word, a few weeks later the Association received an email from the Minister’s office assuring us he was aware of our plight and a favourable outcome was guaranteed when the new Wildlife Game Regulations were presented to Parliament in September 2024. So finally, after 11 frustrating years, we’re there and the Murray River Retriever can now be used to hunt ducks legally in Victoria.