[1] Thomas Hall imported dogs from the United Kingdom,[2] in particular blue-speckled Highland Collies, and crossed them with selected dingoes to create the breed.

By 1825, the Halls had established two cattle stations in the Upper Hunter Valley, (Gundebri and Dartbrook) and had begun a northward expansion into the Liverpool Plains, New England (Australia) and Queensland.

Thomas Simpson Hall, one of George’s sons, had established the Dartbrook station in the Upper Hunter Valley in the 1820s.

He bred blue speckled Highland Collies with dingoes, an ancient type of dog which seldom barks and instinctively bites on the heel or hindquarters of the animals they chase down.

The result was the creation of the first of the Halls Heelers which work silently and bite the heels of the cattle to enforce authority.

[11] Robert Kaleski, of Moorebank, a young associate of Harry Bagust, wrote "in [18]93 when I got rid of my cross-bred cattle dogs and took up the blues, breeders of the latter had started breeding ... to fix the type.