Club History

The Samoyed Club of Victoria Inc., holds the distinction of being the first club for the breed to be established in Australia.

In the 1930's, kennel owners had the problem of selling puppies of a breed practically unknown to most people.  Owners and breeders decided to get together for the common good and form a Club to promote the breed, obtain affiliation and hold its own shows.  Owing to a lack of numbers they were told to wait until the breed became stronger.  Nevertheless the group formed a Social Samoyed Club in the 1930's.  Mr L S Graham was appointed Secretary, Miss E Bradshaw Treasurer and Mr W  H Whitford was Chairman.

After several meetings combined with social gatherings at member's houses, and outings with the dogs, it was decided to go into recess as most members were involved with War activities, either on active service or otherwise and meetings were difficult to arrange.  

By 1944, even with limited breeding, interest in Samoyeds had grown to such an extent, that a group of Samoyed owners got together with the intention of forming a Samoyed specialist club.

At this meeting, Mr D'arcy Sykes was elected President and Miss E Bradshaw, Secretary.  Application for affiliation was made to the Kennel Control Council and in due course affiliation was granted and notified in the October 1944 KCC Gazette.

The Samoyed Club of Victoria then became the first club for the breed to be established for Samoyed enthusiasts in Australia.

The original name of the Club was the Victorian Samoyed Club.  In 1945, this was changed to The Samoyed Club of Australia, with membership being enlarged to include owners and breeders from interstate. In the late 1950's it was decided that all specialist Clubs should carry the name of the state in which they were established and so, the Club name was changed to The Samoyed Club of Victoria

In 1957, the first Club Newsletter was published which was the forerunner of our current Snow Courier.