Former King Island resident Max Hudson to appear on Muster Dogs

Former King Island resident Max Hudson will soon be a familiar face on national television, appearing in the fourth season of the ABC series Muster Dogs.

Hudson, who lived and worked on King Island from early 2024 until late 2025, was filmed for the program while based on the island. During his time here, he also contributed to the local sporting community, umpiring junior football last season.

Speaking ahead of the show’s return, Hudson said his time on King Island was a formative chapter in his life.

“It was definitely a great life experience,” he said. “I really enjoyed the time over there, learned a lot, and met some good people. It was a good place to be, that’s for sure.”

Unlike many traditional farming backgrounds, Hudson did not grow up on the land.

“I grew up in the suburbs of Melbourne,” he said.

“I was a high school dropout and became a tradesman. I was just a humble plasterer -  I can fix a bit of drywall, that’s about it.”

After seven years in the trade, he decided to take a different path, developing an interest in agriculture and horticulture. Hudson returned to study, completing a university degree in agriculture.

“That was quite challenging, but I managed to do it,” he said.

“A lot of it doesn’t apply day-to-day on the farm, but it gave me some good foundations.”

“I wanted to do something different,” he said.

“That kind of led me down the path of becoming a farmer, becoming a cattle farmer and that’s pretty much how I ended up on King Island working for TRT.”

Muster Dogs follows first-time handlers as they train young working dogs from scratch. Hudson said he had admired the program long before applying.

“When the first season came out, I was right into it,” he said. “I thought, one day that’ll be me.”

Selected early in his farming career, Hudson was paired with a three-month-old pup named Roxy.

“She was very raw and very fresh,” he said.

“She’d never really worked stock. I pretty much had to start from scratch and figure out how to train this little crazy dog.”

He said building trust and leadership with a working dog was one of the biggest challenges.

“You want instant results, but it doesn’t work like that,” Hudson said.

“The biggest thing I learned was patience, taking small wins and not trying to get too much too quick.”

Guided by well-known Victorian working kelpie breeder and trainer Joe Spicer who mentors participants on the program, Hudson said it took several months before Roxy began responding consistently.

“Once I became a leader and showed a bit of discipline, you could see that respect come through,” he said.

Now back in Victoria, Hudson is working on a sheep property and has fully embraced life with working dogs.

“I’ve got three working dogs now and four kelpies altogether,” he said.

“Roxy’s really flying on the sheep.”

As the new season prepares to air, Hudson admits watching himself on screen will be confronting.

“I keep thinking, what have I said in the interviews? What have I done?” he said with a laugh.

“But I’m actually quite excited to see what they’ve put together.”

Hudson said there would be “a nice surprise at the end” of the season for viewers.

Season four of Muster Dogs premieres on ABC and ABC iView in early February.