By Len Vanderlinde

The “Old Brisbane Strain” is a name given to a “family” of racing pigeons which at first appears to have been made up from the combination of a number of different bloodlines which were brought to Brisbane by various means, and by various fanciers over a number of years leading up to the 2nd World War.  However the truth is that most of the so called old Brisbane bloodlines were in fact evolved from one and the same, and that was the Uncle Sam line. The history of the Uncle Sam bloodline is one of mystery and intrigue, their bloodline has for a long time dominated long distance pigeon racing and yet many of those fanciers racing them where unaware of their origins.

UNCLE SAM and his mother, SIGHILDE were imported into Australia, from a Dr Shilling of America in 1923, by a Mr Bushell of Ashfield in Sydney.  Uncle Sam, a blue chequer cock E 4396-16 had raced in America for 3 years before being imported to this country.  He flew 500 miles as a youngster, broke the world record for 1000 miles as a yearling, and flew 1000 miles twice in the one season as a 2 year old (in fact Uncle Sam was only home for 3 days from the first 1000 mile race before being sent to his second 1000 miler).  Sighilde, his mother, bred four pigeons to fly the gruelling 1000 mile races.  Truly champion long distance pigeons in anyone’s book, and remember this was way back in 1916.

In 1925 Mr Bushell held a dispersal sale of his racing pigeons, listed in this sale was Uncle Sam and his mother Sighilde (see attached extract).  Ted Chester, from Brisbane attended the sale and purchased both Uncle Sam and Sighilde, and returned with them to Brisbane where they were housed in a separate loft and mated together.  After all they had cost 25 pounds, a huge sum in those days, probably equal to several months pay, and it was hoped they would repay this outlay by breeding some especially good racing pigeons.

Ted Chester could neither read nor write and therefore no records were kept, verbal accounts of these events are all that remains.  It was Ted’s illiteracy which eventually forced him out of the sport; a bird was entered into a race with the wrong number on the entry sheet, for which he was fined, after this incident he no longer wished to participate in the sport of pigeon racing.

Ted Chester’s long time friend and source of the early history of Uncle Sam, Bill Charmers assisted him with the breeding and racing of his pigeons, and it is from this knowledgable gentleman that the beginning of the history of the Uncle Sam line can be told.

The birds from the mating of Uncle Sam and his mother were placed in a separate section of the loft, but it was found the young were unable to race, being from a very old hen and her son, but it was from these birds that was to develop one of the greatest lines of long distance racing pigeons ever known..  The Uncle Sam youngsters were predominantly smutty blue bars and blue chequers, with the occasional pied, they had particularly long and narrow flights, flat heads and developed large wattles as they aged.

Although no documentary evidence exists, legend has it that Uncle Sam’s ancestors contained the blood of the now extinct native American passenger pigeon, which roamed the plains of central America in great numbers during the 1800’s.  The passenger pigeon would migrate to Mexico each year, flying for 3 days and nights non-stop, and it was these birds which were reputedly crossed into imported racing pigeons during the mid 1800’s that gave the Uncle Sam line their prowess at distance racing and the ability to fly at night.  Whilst the first crosses with the passenger pigeons did not possess any ability at racing, it was found that when approximately 1/8 of the blood remained, after crossing back into the racing pigeon bloodline, a superior long distance pigeon resulted.

It must be stressed that the Uncle Sam line contains a dominant gene which has the ability to resurface in any generation.

Ted Chester kept most of the Uncle Sam birds within his own loft, allowing very few to go to other competitors.  Of the birds that where released great secrecy was used to conceal the fact from general pigeon fraternity that they were of the Uncle Sam line.  The first 3 birds released from the loft went to Vic Fletcher, who after a period went on to become one of the best fanciers of the time.  The name Fletcher is still used today when fanciers talk of the old Brisbane strain and long distance pigeons..

Bill Charmers obtained a 1918 bred cock bird from a Mr Hickey of Toowoomba which he called “Combat”.  Combat was a smaller pigeon than the Uncle Sam line, breeding mainly black chequers and the occasional pied, he was mated to hens from the Uncle Sam line.  Ron Scott Snr obtained birds from Bill Charmers bred from Combat when mated to daughters of the Uncle Sam line.  Vic Fletcher also obtained from Ron Scott Snr a 1934 bred grandson of Combat and Uncle Sam, out of a daughter of the Uncle Sam line, which he named “Old Boy”.  Old Boy was in turn mated back into the Uncle Sam line by being mated to the sister of Ted Chester’s Longreach (600 mile) Federation winner (a daughter of the Uncle Sam line) and it was from this mating and their progeny that Vic Fletcher bred numerous Federation winners both in Brisbane and Sydney.  During this period Vic Fletcher and Ted Chester were dominating long distance racing in Brisbane, even against the likes of Herb Knoblaugh and his imported Harrisons.

A son of the mating between Old Boy and the sister to the Longreach winner produced such well known pigeons of the time as “The Bibby Cock” and his brothers “Tick Eye” and the “Red Ringer”.  These birds formed the basis of such well known flyers of the time as Claudie Woodforth, Mick Gill, Martin Curley and Rex Shipton.  The Old Boy line was also the basis of the O’Toole’s brothers long distance winning family which are greatly sort by long distance fanciers to this day.

Beside being mated to his mother, Uncle Sam was also mated to the best hen in Brisbane at the time and from this mating came another well known winning line “The Bowen Blues”.  These birds were predominantly blue bar pieds and also dominated distance racing in Brisbane for many years.

By now the general racing pigeon fancy were increasingly aware that a very good long distance family of birds were in town, birds that would give all they had, and were prepared to fly on into the night in order to reach home.  Although most flyers were unaware of the true origin of these birds, they just had to have them if they wanted to match the performance of those fanciers who were racing and winning with them.  Some very interesting stories came into pigeon folk lore during this period.  For example Clarrie Latchford was able to obtain several of the Uncle Sam line from Ted Chester which he took back to Victoria, and down from these birds he bred his famous Phar Lap to win 3 Federation races.  The descendants of these birds were to return to Brisbane many years later in the form of the Balfe Harrisons.

Vin Blanden who was living in Brisbane around this time also managed to obtain of several of the Uncle Sam birds before moving to Melbourne and than on to South Australia.  He and Clarrie Latchford exchanged their Uncle Sam birds to the betterment of both.  Herb Knoblaugh, Ron Scott and Vic Fletcher all obtained Uncle Sam birds from Clarrie Latchford as they were unable to get any more of the birds in Brisbane

These were desperate times and fanciers were prepared to resort to desperate measures to get hold of these birds.

Another line appeared around the 1930’s known as the “K8 Letter Blood”, which is often found in the sale catalogues from years gone by. With the passing of time evidence has come to light which revealed that K8 was a code, the “8” stood for the eight letters of UNCLE SAM, crossed with pigeons which were removed from the Duke of Winsors (“K” for King) loft and relocated to a north Brisbane suburb in the 1930’s. How many fanciers actually knew of the true origin of these K8 Letter Blood birds is unknown, but what was known was the ability of the K8 birds to win and blend well with the local Uncle Sam birds, which of course was not surprising considering they were of the same line.

A fancier by the name of Tom McManus obtained from his uncle Bill Charmers, three of the very best of the Uncle Sam line, from which Noel Randall was able to purchase a pair of 1951 rung Uncle Sam birds for the very expensive price of 30 pounds (equal to many weeks pay today).  This pair had won several races and became known as the “30 Pound Pair” or sometimes called the “McManus Pair”.  This pair was the start of a fantastic line of distance winners for Noel Randall which has continued in hands of many different fanciers up until today.

It was around this time that another pair of Uncle Sam birds went missing from the lofts of Tom McManus, closely related to the 30 pound pair purchased by Noel Randall they were very valuable birds, and a thorough search of lofts throughout the greater Brisbane area was mounted to find them, but to no avail as the birds were never found.  However they were to play a major role in the continued development of the Old Brisbane Strain, records show that these pair of cocks were still breeding in 1961.

There were two distinct in-bred lines of the Uncle Sam birds in Brisbane, both originated from Ted Chester.  The first is the cocks line from the original Uncle Sam birds of Ted Chester, being the Randall and 6262 line, and the second is the in-bred hens line down from the “Old Boy”, which originated from Ted Chester and was continued by Vic Fletcher and the O’Toole brothers.

Ron Scott obtained a cock bird from Clarrie Latchford which he mated to a Uncle Sam hen known as “Moonlight” after her effort of winning 2nd Open from the 500 mile Quilpie Federation race being clocked during the night.  Moonlight had been bred from Ron Scott’s number 1 pair, both being down from the Uncle Sam line of Ted Chesters’. The Latchford Cock and Moonlight bred a hen (2403) which was then mated by Alan Anderson, the loft manager of Clarrie Latchford, to an in-bred Uncle Sam cock (out of the Pinched cock and a daughter of the 30 pound pair) to produce what was to become known as “Balfe Harrison” line.   Full brothers 502, 503 and 1491 were all bred from the above pair and established such fanciers as Kev Carmody, Bill Sloan and Bob Watton.  A brother of 2403 bred the Beasley cock (2220), which sired such well known pigeons as 168 and 1478, legends in long distance racing, and foundation pigeons for many of the best long distance flyers, both past and present.

Probably the best modern day fancier to exploit the Old Brisbane strain is Russell Beetham, without doubt one of the finest long distance fanciers in the country.  Russell won 14 first Open Federation races, a record in the QRPF that will take some beating.  All Russell’s main birds were based on the above Uncle Sam lines.  Russell certainly was very astute and privy to a lot of the information on how the Old Brisbane bloodlines had originated, this enabled him to select and breed his winning long distance family around the  best of the Brisbane Balfes’ of Bob Watton, Kev Carmody and Bill Sloan, the Old Boy lines of Martin Curley and the O’Toole Brothers, and the 30 Pound Pair of Noel Randall, as well as other select Uncle Sam birds from various sources.  Using his knowledge and understanding Russell was able to put together a family of superior long distance birds, all based on the old Brisbane lines, which when sold at public auction in 1995 brought big money.  Russell summed it up best when he stated in his sale catalogue, “many birds have come to Brisbane, few have been equal but none better (than the Old Brisbane blood)”.

Barry Hutchinson was another to enjoy great success with the Brisbane Balfe line (Uncle Sam) to which he mated his well known ABC strain in the early 1970’s to produced many top class winners for himself and many other flyers.  Rod Hatherly was another fan of the Old Brisbane blood and spent years gathering the best of these birds from the old sources with a great deal of success for himself and many others who based their family on these birds.

Uncle Sam Chester Line
The outstanding pigeons of this line all trace back to the following four brothers and one sister.  These birds where bred from an in-bred grandson of UNCLE SAM and a Stallo hen.

No.1. QRPA  45  5667  (1945) Smutty blue cheq cock
No.2. QRPA  47  2745  (1947) Smutty blue cheq cock
No.3. QRPA  53  4426  (1953) Smutty blue cheq cock
No.4. QRPA  42  0852  (1942) Smutty blue cheq hen
No.5. A full brother to No.4 QRPA  42  0852

Cock No.1 QRPA 45 5667 was mated to BHPC 44 427, a blue bar W/F Uncle Sam hen which won the (500 mile) Quilpie Federation race for Ted Chester to produce blue cheq hen QRPA 51 1720, this bird was the original hen of the Noel Randall 30 pound pair..  She was the dam of Noel Randall’s Bowen (600 mile) Federation winner and was the major influence in the Randall family of Uncle Sam.

Cock No.2 QRPA 47 2745 was mated to a Soffle hen to produce a blue cheq cock QRPA 51 2302 which was to make up the other half of the 30 pound pair.  He was the sire of Noel Randall’s Mackay (500 mile) Federation winner.

Hen No.4 QRPA 42 852 was placed 4th Wyandra (500 miles) and 2nd Federation from the Quilpie (500 mile) smash race for Ted Chester.  She was the  hen of Ron Scott’s No 1 pair and was the dam of his “Moonlight” QRPA 46 1118, 2nd Federation Quilpie (500 miles) clocked at night.  Moonlight, when mated to the Latchford/Blandon cock 16277 50 VHA, produced the champion stock hen QPF 60 2403 which was the start of the well known Brisbane Balfe Harrison line.

Cock No 3  QRPA 53 4426 was obtained from Ted Chester by Tom Gollagher and began the 6262 line often referred to as the number 6 when mated to a Guthrie Barker hen from Jack Moxey. This pigeon formed the Mortimer and Stuckey line.

The list goes on and on, the majority of every long distance Open Federation winners in the QRPF can be traced back to one of the many branches which go to form the Old Brisbane Bloodline.

How much of the Uncle Sam blood was used to make up other well known Australian blood lines is impossible to tell, certainly at Mr Chesters clearance sale birds of the Uncle Sam line were sold to various Australian fanciers of the time, after which we have no further information.  Many of the Uncle Sam birds from Ted Chester made their way to the southern states via the likes of Clarrie Latchford and Vin Blandon and would have played their part in the make up of the early Australian bloodlines.

Acknowledgment:
The information which was used as the basis of this article was painstakingly obtained by John Althouse.  John a long time admirer of the old Brisbane line left no stone unturned in his efforts to uncover the truth behind the build up of these pigeons over the many years it has taken for them to evolve.  Far too often valuable information is lost when fanciers pass on and their records are destroyed or lost forever, many of their families and friends do not realise the value of these records to future generation of pigeon fanciers and the history of the sport in Australia.  It is a pity because the heritage of pigeon racing in this country is interesting and worthy of being kept for the good of all.
 
Extract From Bushel’s Catalogue

C W Bushel
126 Parramatta Rd
ASHFIELD

UNCLE SAM ( Imported from America)
Blue Checker cock E 4396-16 (Dr Shilling)

A world champion long distance racing pigeon bred and flown by Mr G Lentz of Fort Worth H.S.

Performance
1916 As a youngster flew 100, 200, 300 and 500 miles

1917 100, 200, 300, 500 and 1011 miles, breaking the world record for a yearling.

1918 100, 200, 300, 500 and 1010 twice, being the first pigeon in the world to fly 1000 miles twice.  When sent to last 1000 mile race he had only returned from the previous 1000 mile race 3 days before.  Last race proved a smash.

Dr Shilling loosing both his candidates but UNCLE SAM’S wonderful stamina carried him through.  He is a long cast pigeon and possesses the finest flights and wing I have ever seen on a pigeon of his size.  Price sold 25 pounds.  Purchaser gets “Sighilde” free with him.  See hens in catalogue.

SIGHILDE Blue Checker Hen
B 2421-1912

The famous American stock hen.  She cost me 12 pounds landed.  She is not for sale owing to her age but goes with Uncle Sam as a gift.  She bred well last year.

Her Sire  “HOGEN” flew 1011 miles five times and has held speed records for five years.
1011 mile races 1904 8 days & 8 hours
   1906 6 days & 11 hours
   1907 2 days, & 9 hours (Breaking record)
   1908 5 days & 2 hours
   1909 5 days & 7 hours

Her Dam “SWANHIDE” dam of HORAND, 1000 miles four times and MARGROOE 1000 miles three times.

SIGHILDE has bred the following:
HUNOLT 1000 miles
HUGEN 1000 miles
HUNGAR 1000 miles
ROLBRANT 500 miles same day bird
HUNGAR also 500 miles same day
DAM OF UNCLE SAM