Kelpie Country

Casterton, Victoria, is the birthplace of the Kelpie breed of dog, which Casterton claimed in 1996.   

The Kelpie dog is an uniquely Australian breed of working dog, very clever and an absolutely whizz with mustering farm animals.

The breed started with a female dog called 'Kelpie" named after the Scottish legend 'A malignant water sprite haunting the fords in streams in the shape of a horse'.     'Kelpie' was a black and tan collie, bred from a Scottish collie breed in the Casterton district.     'Kelpie' was then mated with two working dogs in New South Wales which then started the Kelpie breed of dogs.   

The photograph below was taken from the sign on the Kelpie Information Centre in Casterton.

Casterton is a small town, close to the border of South Australia.   We have passed through here a  couple of times, and this time we thought we would stay for two nights.    

Like all small country towns the shops close at 1 p.m. on a Saturday, so it is important to buy everything in the morning otherwise you have to wait until Monday morning.

We made sure we stopped up on fuel!

The main street of Casterton on Saturday morning, and I know it looks empty but it was buzzing with people, and parked cars.     We spent a bit of money in the bakery/cafe.

                                                  

A beautiful old railway station, now fenced off, but it would appear that it was a museum for a while.   The railway to Casterton closed in 1977.

The platform with its lovely roof.     All the buildings on the other side of the line are still there.

There were many old timber houses on the street by the railway station.   Most had lovely gardens, including the house in the photograph below.

The Glenelg River runs through Casterton.   It starts in the Grampians, a small mountain area not far away.   Casterton is in a valley and apparently they have had some major floods in the past.

We are in the caravan park, run by the council.    It is beside the huge sports complex which has two football fields, tennis and netball courts, bowling and croquet greens plus acres of grassed areas and trees. 

The path (trail) below runs beside the river.

The showgrounds are part of the parkland/sports complex.    The building in the background houses the poultry on show days.

A side branch of the Glenelg River.

Tomorrow we drive home, through the Coonawarra wine region, then onto the main Melbourne/Adelaide highway which is called the Dukes Highway in South Australia.