The Afghan Hound breed
history started in Europe, without regard to a few early representatives
that left no lasting influences in the pedigrees of today, in
the early 1920's. The australian Afghan Hound breed history started
a decade later than in Europe. Some authors guess this may have
to do with Australia's distance to the originally Afghan Hound
territories. The remoteness is possibly a factor but we should
not forget that the first imports arrived in Europe via a very long
sea journey from India. However, beside this scientifically discussion
most of us will be first interested in the vivid australian breed history.
Who else but one of the
most successful and well known australian breeders could give us
an overview concerning the australian Afghan Hound breed history.
With particular thanks to Mr. Jim Hickie of
Gengala Afghans, for providing his comprehensive documentation
of the australian breed history from its beginning through the
end of the last century to  .
Finally I would like to refer you to the Online Database where
by far most of the mentioned Afghan Hounds can be found. For a
better readableness it has been desisted from direct links to
the database. Nevertheless you will find some links to kennel
and Afghan Hound websites in the following documentation.
The Afghan Hound in Australia - A
Brief History by Jim Hickie, Australia
It is generally conceded that the first Afghan
Hounds to come to Australia were the strangely patterned dogs
that accompanied the Afghan camel drivers in the Australian "outback"
from the middle of the last century until early this century.
With the advent of motor transport and the railways the camel
drivers and their dogs gradually disappeared leaving only the
camels as evidence of their earlier presence.
In England the breed was first introduced
in the early part of this century but virtually died out during
the First World War and it was not till the 1920's that they were
re-introduced by Major and Mrs. Bell Murray and Miss Jean Manson.
Their dogs were similar in type to the dogs that had been seen
some twenty years previously and came from the desert regions
of their homeland. They were not heavily coated and were somewhat
rangy overall - very different from the mountain type hounds introduced
some four years later by Major and Mrs Amps. Inevitably controversy
raged as to which was the correct type and indeed two breed standards
existed till after World War II. These two types (breeds?)
were the foundation of the breed in the United Kingdom. The first
Championships were awarded in 1927.
It was almost eight years later however before
the first pedigreed Afghans arrived in Australia. These were brought
in by Mrs. Olive MacDougall and comprised a fawn bitch (Farkhoonda
El Kabul) in whelp to Lehki Marwal (sire of an English Champion)
and then the following year a black masked gold dog Dharma Reja
of Geufron and a a grey-blue bitch Morita arrived also in whelp.
From the resulting litter came the first
Australian Best in Show winning Afghan. This is no surprise as
Mrs. MacDougall had concentrated on acquiring stock from lines
that were already producing winners. Her first import was by Omar,
the sire of eight English Champions, and he was the grandsire
of both of her subsequent imports, each of which was from an English
Champion. It was unfortunate that during World War II with no
breeding being done these lines were lost.
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