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
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.
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.
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.