Adelaide - Public Nuisances
Dogs
Also see: Adelaide - Public Health
Adelaide - Streets - Miscellany
South Australia - Flora and Fauna.
An Essay on the Dog Catcher
(Taken from Geoffrey H. Manning's A Colonial Experience)
From the time the first house was built and occupied in Norwood, 'man's best friend', the dog, became a prerequisite in sharing the home and hearth of many families. But there were others in the community who failed to appreciate their presence and, in 1848, a resident issued a note of warning to those that frequented local creeks:
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All dogs and other animals of the canine species are hereby warned that any
further molestation by them of the putrid carcasses in the great hole near
the lower watering-place will be attended with the risk of having their living
carcasses mingled with the unburied dead.
Local shopkeepers were also listed among the 'dog-hating' fraternity one of whom exclaimed:
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I am surrounded by dogs by day and night - dogs digging into my house, jumping
through my shop windows, running away with meat and loaves of bread, and
endangering the life of every horseman who passes by. A heavy tax should
be enforced on all the canine tribe.
Another disgruntled citizen suggested to me an all-out campaign to purge the district by a concerted community effort:
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We would at once propose a crusade against the suburban swarm of dogs whilst
the population is still strong enough for the task of extermination.
In the course of time the dog became, in number, of plague proportions despite the levying of licence fees; by 1907 the Corporation of Norwood had its local dog-catcher who roamed the streets snaring neglected and disowned dogs. A reporter has left us a first hand account of a day in the life of the catcher:
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I had pictured them tempting them with a piece of beefsteak in one hand
and lassoing them with a rope in the other. He does it without bait or
lasso. As he cycles along the streets or walks leisurely over the park
lands nobody would guess his mission - much less would the dog suspect
his machinations. To all appearances he is intent on pursuing the even
tenor of his way, when with a dart he pounces upon an unwary little mongrel
and secures it with a rope. He catches sight of another - this time a
fox terrier, but the latter spies him and keeps out of reach. He tries
to coax it but scenting trouble it refuses to be wheedled into capture.
The next victim is a bigger dog and more game. It faces him defiantly
and as he makes a feint to grasp it by the back of the neck it ducks aside
and shows its teeth, growling ominously.
He resorts to strategy. Shaking his fist in its face he goads it on until a fitting opportunity enables him to thrust the closed hand in its mouth. Few would care to emulate the example, but he doesn't mind. He always gets his quarry and withdraws his hand uninjured. Sometimes he carries a baton but the bike pump often serves as a 'quietener'. A fair day's haul is about seven dogs and in the four months he was engaged last year he caught 173 of which 142 were destroyed, thirty were released and one escaped.
It was almost pitiable to see the 'prisoners' at the council's depot. They were chained in a shed waiting to be claimed. If their owners did not appear in a reasonable time their fate was sealed. They were mostly yellow mongrels, but the exceptions included a smart looking greyhound, a sharp little terrier and a water spaniel. One could not help feeling sorry for the last-named. Whenever it was approached it sat up on its hind legs mutely imploring to be released and allowed to go home. It was evidently someone's pet, well trained and well looked after.
General Notes
"The Dog Nuisance" is complained about in the Adelaide Guardian,
26 October 1839, page 2e,
Southern Australian,
2 April 1841, page 3c,
Register,
18 February 1846, page 3a while on
25 March 1848, page 4a in an amusing letter headed "Broad Hints" the writer
proclaims:
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All dogs and other animals of the canine species are hereby warned that any
further molestation by them of the putrid carcasses in the great hole near
the lower watering-place will be attended with the risk of having their living
carcasses mingled with the unburied dead.
No horseman can pass a native encampment without being instantly attacked
by a host of these ignoble curs... We would suggest a small subscription
for the purpose of buying the dogs from the natives, who, we think, would
not withstand a bribe of "bread and bullocky", then put them into an enclosure
and immolate them by a general battue.
(South Australian, 2 July 1847, page 3a.)
Also see Register,
14 June 1848, page 3c,
19 July 1848, page 4a,
24 January 1850, page 3c,
8 May 1851, page 3b,
17 and 21 December 1852, pages 3b and 3c,
21 February 1853, page 2d,
25 January 1854, page 3f,
3 June 1857, page 3f:
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I am surrounded by dogs by day and night - dogs digging into my house, jumping
through my shop windows, running away with meat and loaves of bread, and
endangering the life of every horseman who passes by... A heavy tax [should]
be enforced on all the canine tribe.
"The Operation of the Dog Act" is in the Register,
28 March 1853, page 3f.
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As I know you love a nuisance, permit me to introduce one to you in the shape
of a dead dog, swollen to about four feet in circumference, now lying between
North Terrace and the Railway Terminus. Should you be passing either the
corner of Morphett Street or King William Street, your exquisite sense of
smell will at once lead you to the exact spot.
(Register, 27 September 1854, page 3f.)
"Killing Dogs" is in the Observer,
16 August 1856, page 5h; also see
Register,
28 September 1859, page 2g,
4 November 1859, page 3g - protection to letter-carriers.
"Public Nuisances is in the Observer,
1 October 1859, page 6e:
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We would at once propose a crusade against the suburban swarm of dogs whilst
the population is still strong enough for the task of extermination.
"The Dog Nuisance" is in the Observer,
7 July 1860, page 1b (supp.),
1 and 8 September 1860, pages 5g and 6f,
a poem on the Dog Tax is in the Register,
22 December 1860, page 3g,
"The Dog Act" in the
Observer,
9 February 1861, page 6c,
Advertiser,
25 February 1861, page 2g,
"Dog Shooting in the Streets" on
27 and 28 April 1869, pages 2f and 2e; also see
10 July 1879, page 4d,
Observer,
17 April 1869, page 11f.
"The Dog Act" is in the Register,
25 August 1866, page 3e.
A satirical poem on a Dog Show is in the Observer,
18 August 1877, page 13c.
"The Dogs of the City" is in the Chronicle,
5 July 1879, page 3c (supp.).
"The Dog Bill" is in the Observer,
26 July 1879, page 9b; also see
9 and 23 August 1879, pages 12a and 10d.
A dog show is reported in the Observer,
3 September 1881, page 18d.
"The Dog Nuisance" is in the Register,
1 and 2 September 1882, pages 6d and 1f (supp.).
"Dogs" is in the Chronicle,
21 April 1883, page 5e,
"A Raid on Dogs" in the Observer,
19 May 1883, page 38e.
"The Dog Nuisance" is in the Observer,
7 and 14 June 1884, pages 36a and 10b.
Sketches are in the Pictorial Australian in
March 1884, page 60.
"Registering the Dogs" is in the Express,
7 July 1885, page 3f.
A cartoon is in The Lantern,
25 July 1885, page 21.
"People at Work - The Municipal Dog-Slayer" is in the Register,
16 May 1908, page 6c.
"The Dog Nuisance" is in the Register,
11 August 1908, page 4i.
"A Warning to Dog Owners" and a complaint against a dog-catcher are in the Register,
25 November 1889, page 7a; also see
2 December 1889, page 7e.
"A Lethal Chamber for Dogs" is reported in the Advertiser,
20 January 1909, page 8f; also see
15 May 1909, page 8h.
"New Method of Dog Execution" is in the Register,
27 April 1909, page 4g.
"The Dog Nuisance" is traversed in the Advertiser,
1 December 1914, page 6e,
Register on
2 December 1914, page 11a.
"Troublesome Dogs" is in the Observer,
12 March 1921, page 35e.
"Control of Dogs" is in the Advertiser,
10 July 1924, page 8g,
"Dealing With Stray Dogs" on
13 June 1934, page 23d.
"Stray Dogs in City" is in The Mail,
27 October 1928, page 4c.
"Councils Should Control Dogs on the Beaches" is in The News,
18 January 1936, page 4d.
"Stray Dogs" is in the Advertiser,
25 January 1937, page 18d; also see
12 February 1937, page 24d.
'The Day of the Dogs' is in the Advertiser,
9 October 1937, page 24c.
