'Dying' sport of pigeon racing revived by young fanciers
By Grace Whiteside
ABC Wide Bay
Topic:Hobbies
12m ago12 minutes agoFri 21 Mar 2025 at 11:43pm
Two girls sit in chairs outside looking at pigeons on the table
Hayley Kruger and Elyn Andreasen enjoy spending time with the pigeons. (ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)
In a pigeon coop in a suburban Queensland backyard, you'll find birds, feed, bedding — and two girls.
For cousins Hayley Kruger, 12, and Elyn Andreasen, nine, this is their slice of paradise.
"They're cute and I love them,"
Elyn said.
"They're very good company. I like being around them because they're fun."
The Maryborough pair were introduced to pigeon racing by their grandfather Ray Kruger.
An older man with his arms around the shoulders of two young girls, all smiling
Ray Kruger has passed on his passion for pigeon racing to his granddaughters. (ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)
Hayley explains how it works.
"You let the pigeons off a bunch of miles away from your house," she said.
"Then they'll come back in a certain amount of time, and if your pigeons come back first, you get money."
The cousins are involved in the juniors program at Bundaberg One Loft Pigeon Club, and one of their birds came third in last year's race.
Two girls inside a pigeon coop with birds around
The girls race pigeons as part of a juniors program. (ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)
'It's in your blood'
Under Australian National Pigeon Racing Board rules for a standard race, a pigeon flies from a start point to their home loft, and each bird's velocity is calculated to determine the winner.
But in "one loft" racing, the birds are raised together and return to the shared home loft, so the first one through the hatch wins the race.
Maggie and David Burgess started the Bundaberg club four years ago.
The couple has been involved in the sport for many years.
"It's really our life, you know, that's all we do is look after the birds," Ms Burgess said.
"Once it's in your blood, it's there. It never leaves you."
Three pigeons standing in a hanging cage
In "one loft" racing, the birds are raised together and return to their shared home loft. (ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)
The Bundaberg One Loft Pigeon Club is one of just a handful of clubs in Australia that allow juniors to enter birds into their races.
The club had 21 children involved in its inaugural juniors program last year, with 22 registered this year.
"[It's a way to] get them involved in pigeon racing so it stays with them … because it is slowly dying a little in Australia," Ms Burgess said.
National board member Russell Somerville said the number of people involved in pigeon racing was declining.
A balding man with white hair holds a pigeon while standing in front of a pigeon coop
Russell Somerville says the number of people involved in pigeon racing is dropping. (Supplied: Russell Somerville)
"As with lots of different sports, that's changed over the years, and there's probably less and less younger people involved now," he said.
While he said it was difficult to determine the exact number of pigeon trainers in Australia, the trend was clear.
"For instance, in South Australia, we're down to four country clubs, but going back in the early 1900s, there would have been in the vicinity of 30,"
Mr Somerville said.
He said the time needed to train birds and shrinking yard sizes were among the limiting factors.
"You see housing developments where … the roofs of the houses are just about touching each other," he said.
"You can certainly put up small little lofts and it does allow people to get involved, but if you want to compete on a full basis in the pigeon sport, you need to have enough room for a race team and breeding birds, which need a separate loft again."
A girl with long brown hair looks down at a pigeon she's patting
Hayley says life would be boring without the pigeons. (ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)
Love and joy
Back in Maryborough, the love of pigeons is something Hayley, Elyn and their "poppy" all share.
"I'm very pleased that they do like them, it's lovely,"
Mr Kruger said.
An older man smiles while sitting in a chair outside
Mr Kruger has loved pigeons since he was a boy. (ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)
He said it was beautiful to watch his grandchildren interact with the birds.
"It's just some calming effect that [the pigeons have] on kids, they're so soothing," he said.
"They love the pigeons … the joy they get out of it is second to none."
The cousins said they couldn't imagine their lives without the birds.
"It'd be pretty boring without the pigeons," Hayley said.
A girl with long light brown hair in a yellow shirt holds a pigeon to her face
Elyn says the pigeons often fall asleep as she is patting them. (ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)
"I go in the cage and pick up a pigeon and then pat it and they usually fall asleep on me and I sometimes sing songs to them,"
Elyn said.
'Amazing little creatures'
Mr Kruger first brought home pigeons in a sugar bag as a young boy and has been in love with them since.
"I'm 72 this year, so I've had pigeons on and off since I was eight," he said.
"The adrenaline rush … is something you cannot explain.
"You're working your heart out for 365 days to get a two-minute rush every Saturday."
A pigeon standing on a tree branch
Mr Kruger wants to change what non-fanciers think of pigeons. (ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)
Mr Kruger said it was disappointing that some people thought of pigeons as "little dirty rats in the street".
"Ninety per cent of people think they are vermin," he said.
"Not thoroughbreds, not pedigree pigeons —they're amazing, amazing little creatures."
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Posted12m ago12 minutes agoFri 21 Mar 2025 at 11:43pm
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