Jack Gleeson's Kelpie Poem by Francis Duggan

Though little information on him in which to read
Jack Gleeson a young stockman founded the kelpie working breed
Of dog in Casterton in Victoria in eighteen seventy one
They rival the border collies as farm dogs next to none.

And who was this Jack Gleeson little of him I seem to know
He worked as a stockman in Casterton more than a century ago
He swapped a horse for a female pup off of the nephew of George Robertson of Warrock
Which gave rise to the kelpie breed dogs that round up the farm livestock.

In the great working dogs he gave rise to his fame lives on today
Though i know little about him and of where his bones now lay
But the dogs he gave to Australia they serve the farmers well
A good working dog of the kelpie breed is never hard to sell.

The warm outback of Australia seems to suit the kelpie fine
They can work cattle or sheep all day long in the hot Summer sunshine
The kelpies never weary even when the going gets tough
And always when put to the test they have proved good enough.

Jack Gleeson named his dog kelpie which means a malignant water sprite
Haunting the fords in streams in the shape of a horse when seen in the moonlight
He is the man responsible for the kelpie working dogs of today
But little else I know of him or where his bones do lay.