Classification - Soft Feather Heavy Breed
Egg Colour -Tinted to Brown
Varieties - Black, White & Blue
Size - Large & Miniature
Origin: Great Britain
Docile, Quality Egg Layer

Becoming a member of the Australorp Club is an easy yet worthwhile process. Simply e-mail the club secretaries to receive a membership form and return with a cheque for £5 to cover club costs.

This minimal fee will entitle you to an annual Australorp Club Yearbook, packed with articles, information, advertisements and exhibition reports. Members will also receive regular updates via newsletters and access to a breeder's directory for stock purchase. Furthermore members can compete for club specials & rosettes at local and club area shows. All of this for £5 per annum!!!!

E-mail: ian@australorpclubgb.wanadoo.co.uk
Tel: 01636 814958

The original history of the Australorp is well known. Large black Orpingtons created in England by William Cook were exported to Australia in the 1880's, later to return to England in the 1920's. They were one of the best utility breeds of that era, becoming the winner of numerous laying trials.

The popularity of the breed led to the setting up of the Austral-orpington Club. The name of which soon changed to the Australorp Club.

Black bantams had been created before the last war by Jack Mann of Sheffield (amongst others) but the breeder most responsible for the Australorp that we see today was Tom Clarkson of Pilling, Lancashire.

In the 1960's Alan Maskrey created the blue Australorp bantam from an original cross of a black Australorp cockerel on to a blue Orpington hen. A new strain of blues was made in the early 1980's by Jack Turton of Kent. This strain was made using Andalusian bantams. Jack followed this by introducing the large blue Australorps at the 1996 National Show and winning both of the non-standard classes.

A white bantam with dark eyes and slate legs was created in the 1980's by Alan Maskrey. This colour was accepted by the Australorp club but despite winning numerous non-standard classes over a number of years, the Poultry Club did not accept it as standard. An importation of white Australorp bantams from Germany came in 1999. However the German type is far removed from what is required in Britain. Breeders persisted and created a white Australorp bantam that was fit for exhibiting in the non-standard class, with Ian & Louise Simpson winning the class with a white in 2002. In 2003 the white was accepted by the Poultry Club as being standard.
The clubs name was changed in 2003 to The Australorp Club of Great Britain. This was agreed by unanimous vote at the AGM.