DIRECTOR PROFILE Barb Murfet – David Margan When I first came upon Barbara Murfet, she reminded me of a once famous Hollywood starlet incognito with her black hat and shades, which made her laugh when I told her. But to everyone she is simply known as ‘Barb’. I really got to know her better when she lent enormous assistance in the filming of 147 handlers and 172 dogs for the re-launch of the ANKC as Dogs Australia. We simply would have had a nightmare on our hands but for Barbara’s wrangling, support, and humour. Barbara Murfet has been a member of Dogs Queensland since 1976 and there is hardly a thing, she hasn’t done to further the cause of Dogs Queensland in that time. Barbara was made a Councilor in 2007 and has been elected as a Director in 2013, 2015 and again in 2019 and is currently our Senior Vice President. Of course, anyone entering our world does so with dogs in tow and over the years Barbara has trialled and shown Irish, English and Gordon Setters and shown Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. Her first dog was ‘Misty’, an Irish Setter, a breed very popular in the 70’s. But Barbara’s’ principal obsession has been Dog Sports and it would fair to say she has driven the cause and is the one person who is responsible for them being such a rapidly growing and popular skill set in our dog world. In fact, in 2008 the ANKC tasked her with setting up a working party to investigate whether Dances with Dogs could and should be an ANKC discipline. In 2009 that happened, and she has been the Chairperson of the ANKC National Dances with Dogs (DWD) Committee ever since. Barbara was involved in pretty much the same exercise that saw Trick Dogs also become an ANKC discipline in 2020. Her list of key roles in the growing world of dog
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sports is endless and she is also an internationally experienced judge specializing in Obedience, Rally, Agility, Dances with Dogs and Trick Dogs. She has also trained judges and has been closely involved in developing “Competency Based Judges Training” and “Distance Education” for Judges in North and Central Queensland, has trained judges in Malaysia, assessed judges in the Northern Territory and developed Theory examinations for the ACT, Victoria and the Northern Territory. For many years Barbara has been RNA Chief Steward and Coordinator for dog sports activities at the EKKA and for the All Dog Sports Spectacular and these two are perhaps our biggest annual events. This year she has been made an Honorary Councillor. Her fundamental rationale is that an active engaged dog is a happy dog, and it is that view that has driven her to grow activities and new disciplines for our dogs. Her other passion is to share the knowledge she has acquired over the years. It’s one of the main reasons she is so well known and regarded. But it hasn’t all worked, trying to build a better platform for breeder accreditation was less than successful. I asked her about other failures or moments of embarrassment, all she could think of was a dramatically split skirt during judging requiring the urgent application of needle and thread. As for the future, Barb is going to keep going, working on greater utilization of not only the vast space of our Durack Showgrounds but greater time utilization as well. And the continuing job of spreading the word, growing even more disciplines and the attendant growth in membership and encouraging and mentoring people to take her place.
