Australia's Dogs, by Katherine Kovacic, dives into the National Library of Australia collection to explore the history of canine bonds

In the early 19th century he would adventure from one side of Australia to the other - from west to east, north to south - and would be sponsored to do by companies such as Bean motor company, which wanted him to promote their new car.

His tales from his journey would draw a crowd for two reasons. One because of the feat that it took, and two because he did so with his dogs.

"A couple of his dogs certainly saved his or his companions' lives on one or two occasions when there were snakes or I think at one time a crocodile was involved and certainly wild boars, but also the dogs, caused a lot of mayhem," former vet and author of Australia's Dogs Katherine Kovacic says.

"There was a lovely story about one of these dogs, ambling over to introduce himself, as Birtles said, to a camel train in the middle of the outback and completely disrupting the entire camel train. And camels were going off in every direction and Birtles had to get out of there pretty quickly because he had some fairly irate camel drivers.

"But when he was back in the cities, selling his story to the media, the dogs were also what people wanted to hear about. They wanted to hear about those doggie adventures. They wanted to see pictures of the dogs in the front seat of the car, preferably with their motoring goggles and helmets on as well. It was a big part of the mystique of what he was doing."

Birtles' (and his dogs') story is just one that Kovacic wanted to explore in her new book. Using the National Library of Australia's collection, Australia's Dogs is an exploration of the country's unwavering relationship with their dogs.

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Whether it's photographs of cattle dogs mid-jump onto the back of the ute, fluffy coach potatoes lounging in a 1920s home, or children with their furry sidekicks flying down the hill in a billy cart, the book is a dedication to the shared bond.

For Kovacic, it's history through the eyes of dog owners. And also, the reason she kept getting distracted from her art history PhD.

"I was trawling through their collection actually, for paintings and things, and being a crazy dog person, I kept seeing all these fabulous dog photos and thinking, why did I not know about all these fabulous dog photos?" she says.

"I kept thinking that these had to be out there as an exhibition or a book or something because they're just too wonderful. There are so many good photos, and it's such a lovely way of looking at Australian history, to have all that dogginess in there.

"You see these wonderful Australian towns, or the fashion or the buildings, or all these little aspects. Or ... there might not be much more than a dog and a person in the photo, but once you find out who the person is, and what they're actually doing at that point of their life, it's interesting."

Take the photo of a man with a pipe, holding four puppies. When you learn who is in the photo - Tom Crean, with puppies Roger, Nell, Toby and Nelson - you learn that the photo was taken on Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Transantarctic Expedition expedition, from 1914 to 1916.

The ambitious march across Antarctica saw Shackleton purchase 100 dogs from Canada, all of who had been cross-bred from wolves and large, strong dogs such as collies, mastiffs and hounds. And several litters of puppies born during the expedition added to their numbers - such as the one in the photo. As well as being working dogs, reports are that the dogs were also a great source of comfort.

Unfortunately, the photo doesn't have a happy ending. Food supplies ran short and both the men and dogs faced starvation. The men made it back, but the dogs did not.

As much as Australians love dogs - the country has one of the highest rates of pet ownership in the world - the conversation around canines can still be complicated.

Take dingoes, for example. As the country's only apex predator, they're important to the ecosystem, but some farmers hate them because of the risk to livestock.

"If you're a farmer and you've got sheep or small livestock, dingoes are very much vermin and some state governments actually don't classify them as a native species," Kovacic says.

"But I think probably the biggest issue we have if we could somehow deal with the hybridization, the feral dog population and the dingo dog hybrids, that would go a long way to sorting out the issues. I say that very glibly, because it's a very big issue to just click the fingers and sort it out, but that would go a long way because it's often those sorts of dogs that are more likely to thrill kill.

"The way dingo families and packs are structured, for a wild animal, it's a waste of energy to thrill kill, and not actually eat something. And dingo packs, they have a dominant pair, and everyone else does what they're told. So again, if you kill that dominant pair, then basically, you've got a bunch of unruly teenagers who are going around doing whatever the heck they like."

Australia's Dogs, by Katherine Kovacic. NLA Publishing. $39.99.

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