But the ongoing success of Casterton’s Australian Kelpie Muster is due simply to 20 years of hard work by the local community,  Casterton Kelpie Association president Karen Stephens says.

Ms Stephens said the rural decline begun more than 20 years ago by the centralisation of many government services was the trigger that led to the muster’s birth.

She said Casterton residents refused to let their town wither but knew they would struggle to get a major industry to boost its workforce.

Instead, they decided to build on the district’s history as the birthplace of the kelpie in the 1840s and developed a strong business plan to promote it as a national centre for the iconic Australian breed.

The present event grew from a working dog auction in 1997, expanding into the Casterton Kelpie Festival in 2001.

Ms Stephens said the committee had done a lot of marketing of the festival so it was now a “must do” for many people travelling throughout Australia.

“People have to tick it off their bucket list,” she said.

Up to 7000 people visited the town for the festival’s Saturday events — more than three times the town’s population of 1900 — and more than 3000 attended the working dog auction on Sunday.

Ms Stephens said the next step in the town’s kelpie-led revival was to establish a kelpie interpretive centre, which would provide a year-round attraction where visitors could learn about the dogs.

The business case to create the interpretive centre has been released by Glenelg Shire Council with public comment to be received by June 19.

A public forum on the issue is to held at Casterton Town Hall on Wednesday, June 17, at 7pm.