THE WAY WE WERE PIP HUDSON Article and Photos by Lauren Vest
P
ip Hudson was born into a family legacy of bushmen and dog handlers, so it’s no surprise that he went on to continue a legacy of his own within the sheepdog world. The Hudson family now boasts 5 generations of sheepdog handlers which is a feat not many could match. Pip himself was the third generation with his mother being a very well-known three sheep trial judge and his father a handler. Pip always owned and worked dogs growing up and has owned several different breeds of working dog. As a bush kid, growing up on an isolated farm in central west NSW and being taught to be quiet and reserved, he found it very hard to talk to people. He worked and trialled his dogs from age 15 but gave it away for a time after he was married in 1964. He started up again in 1980, winning his first ribbon in the encourage trial at the Australian Championships in 1982 at Mudgee. Pip remembers around the age of 17 or 18 he would travel to trials in the far west of NSW with some of the older blokes who came from out west. They would pick him up with his two kelpie dogs and cart him to the trials with them. On the way to Bourke one year, the old bloke asked him if he could kill and dress a sheep? They came across a mate’s mob of sheep on the road and the old bloke said that the dogs needed a feed so they would kill a sheep. They hung a gambrel over a tree and Pip dressed the sheep and did such a good job they asked him to do another one. Once that was done, they thought that once they got to the trial, the sisters at the convent wouldn’t have any meat – so better do one more. He still remembers arriving at the trial and presenting the meat to the sisters at the convent!
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