NRS-16640 | Dog Register [Tibooburra Court of Petty Sessions]

Dog Registration was introduced to assist with addressing the problem of stray dogs in the streets of Sydney and the major towns and to cause owners to take responsibility for attacks by their dogs. Registration commenced under ‘An Act for abating the nuisance occasioned by the great number of Dogs which are loose in the Streets of the Towns of Sydney Parramatta Liverpool and Windsor in the Colony of New South Wales, 1830’ (11 George IV Act No. 8). The Act required the owner to pay an annual fee for each dog owned and to provide description of the dog including the kind, colour, peculiar marks, sex, height at shoulder, probable age and name. An act to Amend and Extend the Dog Act, 1875 (39 Victoria Act no. 6) enabled the Act to apply anywhere in the State. The Act required registration at the nearest court of petty sessions. If the owner lived over ten miles from the closest court, registration could be transacted by registered mail if the owner provided the relevant particulars of the dog or dogs (s. 6) The Clerk of Petty Session was required to keep a list of all persons who kept registered dogs. It would appear that the Dog register was introduced at the Tibooburra Court of Petty soon after its establishment in May 1883. The registers in this series contain the following information: date; number of registration; ticket; name of owner; number of dogs registered; amount; daily totals; Cash Book Folio.