Stud and Family History

A love for donkeys must be in my blood. This was drawn by my paternal grandmother, Alice Skinner, around 1905. The donkey is one she had as a child, apparently because she was allergic to horses.

Henry, the much loved donkey gelding who was part of our family in England. He had to be sold when we emigrated to Australia but was the inspiration for starting a donkey stud at our new home in Tasmania.

	The Keysoe Donkey Stud began on a soaking day in August 1969 in Tasmania, with the arrival of six wild donkeys from the Northern Territory. Find out more about the origin of these donkeys
On arrival. Left to right: Katey, Jason, Jane, Pete, Mandy and Sally.


Ann Walker with Jane and Jason.	Not wild donkeys anymore Jane and Jason with Graham, Max, Ruth and Ann Walker.	Pete and Jason with Ruth Walker.

The Keysoe Donkey Stud is one of the oldest and best known studs in Australia.
Established in 1969 by Ann Walker, it is now run by me (Ruth Walker).
Of our original six wild donkeys, two became foundation stock, and many Keysoe donkeys are descendants of Sally or Jason. We were very fortunate that although these two were feral donkeys, they were also outstanding individuals both in conformation and temperament, and were foundation stock any stud would be glad to grow from.

Below: Through their descendants, these two donkeys have become a permanent part of the Stud.


Keysoe Sally	Keysoe Jason

In 1976, English bloodlines were introduced to the stud with the birth of a jenny foal (Keysoe Mimi) and the purchase of a jack foal (Geraldine Lodge Nullabor) both sired by Novington Benjamin (imp.).
Until 2004, we had two seperate breeding programs at Keysoe, the smaller English/Irish donkeys, and the larger Australian donkeys. We have now disbanded the English/Irish part of the stud and are specialising in the Australian Teamster donkeys.

In 2002, the Donkey Society of Victoria Inc. celebrated 30 years of operation. As a member who has had a longstanding association with the Society, I was asked to write an article about our involvement with donkeys to be included in a booklet of "30 Year Celebration Memoirs".