Herb Morrice ran his Stud of Australian Working Kelpies in remote North Queensland at Maxwelton. He started with Kelpies as early as 1894, when he was given a Kelpie bitch he called Jin. He was just 12 years old at the time. She was by a Kelpie called Mick whose sire was the Maiden Bros. Darkie and his dam , Maiden Bros. Needle. Jin was from Judy, a Kelpie from the King strain. One of his dogs in the early days was a close relative to Quinns Wallace, a grandson, I think.

CURRAWANG WILGA

Over the years he also had a number of Kelpies from Frank Scanlon. One of these Kelpies was an unbelievable small black Kelpie called Wilga. He asked Frank if he had any Kelpies good enough to win a Sheepdog Trial. Frank sent him Wilga, who was actually bred by Jack Goodfellow.

Wilga won the 1939 Hughenden Trials. Wilga was bred from Dot O'Currawang and was by Quinns Boy Blue, also owned by Jack Goodfellow and one of the late of the well known Quinns breeding. This dog could work a trial all by himself. The handler just got in the way. Wilga won trials everywhere but he was only on loan to the Artesian Stud and was later sold by Frank Scanlon to Jack Forrest who in turn also won a number of trials with him.

ARTESIAN CLOUDY

One of the best known Kelpies bred by Herb Morrice was the red and tan dog, Artesian Cloudy. As a pup he was sold to W.L Houston who was managing Waverley Downs at Bourke NSW. Later Herb bought Cloudy back and went on to win a number of trials. His most notable win was the Novice and Open on the same day at Hughenden in 1945.

Cloudy's sire, Scanlons Flash , owned by Tom Magrath, won the Novice and Open on the same day in 1944. The dam of Cloudy, the black bitch, Nulla was also a trial winner. Shortly after his win at Hughenden, Herb Morrice sold him to Jim Moore for his Newton Kelpie Stud. Artesian Cloudy sired a number of good Kelpies including; Newton Moss, Wyalong Wallace, Newton Yoi, Newton Chloe, Dawn, and Fawn II (all trial winners).

Another good dog was Zulu, owned by Herb Morrice but given to him by the manager of Buckinham Downs station and bred from two King & McLeod Kelpies. Teal was a descendant of Zulu. Zulu was a male and considered a 'grand dog, showing top Kelpie style ' by Morrice.

Herb Morrice worked many years as a Sheepdog Trial judge. By the 1960's he was disappointed with the dogs working in Sheepdog Trials. He felt the dogs showed too much clapping (lying on the ground), setting the sheep and eyeing them without any showing real signs of being efficent sheepdogs. He also felt the dogs were not good holding and covering dogs and therefore allowed their sheep to slip around the side of the trial obstacles. He was also disappointed to see so many Border Collies dominating this type of trial.

Another of his good dogs was Artesian Bindi. She was born in 1939. She won the Hughenden Novice and was 3rd in the Open in 1940. She won the Townsville Open in 1940. She won the Hughenden Open and the Townsville Open in 1941. Artesian Bindi was bred from Black dawn by Currawang Nap. Over his lifetime with Kelpies, he used Maiden Bros, King & McLeod, Scanlon, Rockybar, Currawang and Kalari Kelpies besides his own breeding. Herb Morrice was 85 years old when he died on the 14th January 1969.