The Muswellbrook blue heeler will appear on Australia Post collector coin

Famous to Muswellbrook and all who drive through it, the dog statue along the New England Highway stands tall - an ode to the faithful breed developed in the area.

The iconic structure was built in 2001 and stands at over two metres, visible from quite a distance.

If you are a Muswellbrook local, perhaps you are thinking: "At last, some national recognition for our greatest landmark!".

But before we talk about the future of the favourite steel canine, let's go back to its roots.

It was the early 1830s. Stock work in the Hunter was booming and farmers were spending long days in the dry heat, tending to cattle. They needed a dog to help.

Enter Thomas Simpson Hall, a farmer 12 kilometres north of Muswellbrook whose familial farming dynasty spanned right from western Queensland to Sydney.

His drovers were working hard on the land but dogs were tiring. Meanwhile, undomesticated dingoes seemed to have no fear - and no lethargy from the heat - in working for their keep.

Mr Hall began breeding dingoes with English cattle dogs, who were struggling to control the wild cows on his property.

By 1835, he had a successful working dog and inadvertently Australia's first domesticated canine breed: the blue heeler.

Now known as the Australia cattle dog, blue heelers have become akin to the outback, land, and loveable pets. A dynamic breed if ever there was one.

If it were possible to forget the statue looming over you as you drive the New England Highway stretch from the Hunter, you can now carry a pocket-friendly reminder with you.

The blue heeler is about to be one of 10 'big' Australian landmarks turned into $1 coins for a special commemoration of one of the country's largest (pun intended) phenomena.

Australia Post is celebrating the country's quirky love affair with the series, which is hoped to attract old collectors and first-time coin buyers alike.

Doctor Amy Clarke of Sunshine Coast University is an expert on Australia's big things. She said she hopes people will use the coins as a memory-building exercise, recalling family holidays, roads trips and selfies galore at attractions like the blue heeler.

"The more unusual things - the things people didn't know existed - they're going to be drawn to that," she said.

It could be time, then, for our beloved canine to have its moment in the national spotlight.

You can head into post offices across the Hunter to get your own blue heeler coin for $3, or a collector's stamp for $1.50. If you'd like to display - and gloat to your friends, of course - the entire collection, you can do so for $29.

There are more than 1000 'big things' scattered across the country - and our humble blue heeler made the cut for minting. He is, literally speaking, a part of the one per cent.

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