Local Legends RARE PEOPLE

Ali Mills singing our new national anthem?

* Ali Mills' version of Waltzing Matilda, Territory Kriol style

Malcolm Naden - Australia's last bushranger or brutal killer?

Story by Deefer Bloomfield
Photo of the Barringtons by Paul Denham

Broken down a basic definition of a bushranger is 'someone, usually a man, who lives a predatory life in the bush'. By that basic definition, Malcolm Naden, accused murderer and sex offender, qualifies as Australia's last bushranger. So too does Ivan Milat, one of Naden's new cell mates at Goulburn's new Super Max prison. But are they really bushrangers?

Alternately, it also means that Ned Kelly and Ben Hall were also brutal killers and sociopaths. So what is the differentiation between a bushranger and criminal? Is it to do with the Federation of Australia? Or is the term bushranger just a romantic way of glorifying a criminal?

While many concede they are still one and the same why is it Kelly is referred to as a bushranger and lauded in Australian folklore as some sort of Robin Hood while the likes of Milat are scowled upon as brutal serial killers? Is it purely a matter of labels due to their modus operandii?

Yes and no. For Naden is one of our worst criminals and his crimes are among the most serious. He also has form. Yet for some reason, some of us are romanced by the idea of Naden simply and only because he lived a predatory life in the inaccessible bush of the Barrington Tops in northern NSW. Does such a unique lifestyle revolving around theft, pillaging and scavenging make Naden anymore of a hero or bushranger and any less a criminal? No. Yet there is a percentage who are amazed and romanced by Naden's tale.
Not this author.

While Naden is still to have his day in court and we must be careful what we say, he is possibly, if convicted, no different to the countless other criminals who flout the rules and believe they are a law unto themselves. That is why they are behind bars and many spend more time in institutions then out of them.

Don't be fooled by Naden's tale. Many acclaimed criminologists believe he had plenty of help evading capture for so long and many realise survival in the Barrington Tops (which closes for six months of every year due to extreme cold, ice and snow) is near impossible if you are not prepared or have no assistance. Others proclaim his family lineage from Dubbo and the bush craft skills he inherited more than prove he survived in the alpine climate of the Barringtons.

You be the judge. For in time it will all become clearer and the novelty will wear off.

The Kyogle Kootchee Man

Story by Aussie Red Dog
Image by Dan Ledlimer

My tale takes place a few weeks back while camping in the bush. This was my first break in several months from work as I'm now a roadie for international bands (like Pink, Nickleback etc). I decided to go camping with two old mates up in the bush for a few days, far away from the world as possible. I'm an experienced bushman and camped in the bush many a-times over the years. We heard about a place, way out at the back of a small town named Kyogle (Northern NSW), at the back of Mt Lindsay. The locals call it Yowie Country or home of the Kyogle Kootchee Man.

A Yowie is an Australian equivalent of Bigfoot, an Aboriginal Mystic Creature like the Bunyip. So just before the entrance to Kyogle is the Gateway to the National Park. After a few hours of driving, we finally found the old road that led to our purposed camping site. It was located on an old disused logging trail, not many people, in fact NO ONE, goes anywhere near here which made it better for us.

We left the truck five miles from where we were camped and made our way up through the dense forest along the barely recognizable track, avoiding snakes and jumping ants (yes, we got ants that jump and attach themselves to your privates and sting the bloody hell out of yah) before we found our site. It took about twenty minutes to set up the site, tarpaulin over the branches to prevent rain from wetting us (but we're in a drought but old habits are hard to break), a pit to bury our beer in it to keep it cool (we're bushies) and also food buried in it as well, and a decent fire pit. Gathered wood and twigs, we were ready for a good night of playing cards and drinking beer and talking about the best roots we had, y'know the usual BS.

The night was clear as I remember and hot. No moon but the stars were like little eyes peering down at us (maybe they were). I had to go to water the old lizard and stumbled off with the torch into the bush hearing the lads cat calling out saying: Beware of the boogieman. I was more concerned about the bloody Deaf Adders and Brown Snakes, never mind the bloody Boogieman.

As I was doing my business and gazing at the stars, a strange and horrible smell like something rotten overwhelmed me. Like as if someone let off a fart that stunk so bad that it really made my eyes burn and water. I stumbled back, gagging but as I was stumbling back to the campsite, I thought I heard a deep growl, like when your stomach rumbles when you had nothing to eat but louder. The hairs on the back of my neck rose as I quickly hurried back to the site. I told the other two but they said that it might have been some animal so we went back to our card playing.

It was 11.45 by now and I was dead beat. I had my sleeping bag already unrolled and crawled off after saying night to the other two and slid into the bag. It wasn't long before I passed out. I don't know how long I was asleep but the three of us were suddenly woken up by the strangest, spookiest, loudest, piercing scream that I've ever heard. IT WAS NOT HUMAN. It was INHUMAN.

We sat up and looked at each other when we heard loud crashing coming towards our campsite, like a bulldozer ramping through the bush. Whatever the hell it was, it was BIG. Then I saw it. Something massive, well built coming crashing through the forest. I couldn't make out the details but it looked strangely like a human or, even better, a Gorilla, the smell will haunt me to the end of my days. It was that rotting stench like a corpse. This thing stood over seven feet as it came tearing through the campsite then vanished into the night. We all jumped up, gibbering like madmen about what we just witnessed. Was it just some hippie that just smoked some potent weed? No, can't have been, too tall and well built to be hippie. But it smelt like one though.

I tell you this; none of us slept that night. I had the hatchet ready, while one of my mates had a huge branch, the other I don't know what he had but we waited until dawn popped its' head over the ridge before we left.

What we saw in the daylight frightened the Christ out of us. The small saplings were all bent back and snapped, some of our gear was trampled beyond repair but we were shaken (and stirred) by our experience that we drove into town. We didn't tell the locals about what we saw or heard in case they thought we were nuts. I did find out though that a few weeks after we saw that someone else had the same experience a few miles from where we were.

I don't know what we saw but I'm put off from camping up there. Maybe the local Blacks are right when they saw that Yowies exist in that region.

The Red Chief of the Kamilaroi

The Red Chief - The Last Of His Tribe

Story and image by Dane Millerd

In the late 1600s there was a warrior born to the tribe of the Kamilaroi who would be without peer. His totem name was Red Kangaroo, and he was widely feared and respected and destined to one day become chief of his people. People whose lands extended through great recesses of north-west New South Wales.

The duel would mean a certain death and soon the tribe became divided.

Red Kangaroo was skilled in many Bora disciplines, which was rare. He was a good tracker and fighter and also a great thinker and strategist.

In his youth he would be commemorated in celebratory song by Old Mullionkale and others for invading the Coonabarabran clan and bringing home two wives, Naroo and Nareen for himself. They loved him and admired him. For Red Kangaroo had brought them from afar. Over a hundred kilometres in todays terms.

Upon his return, Red Kangaroo would be celebrated and married to the new Kamilaroi women as was tradition. A man was allowed to steal women from other tribes and bring them to his own country where he would be afforded the luxury of owning them. Yet his initiative and absence did not impress everyone, particularly the more senior members of the tribe, who had already been bickering over what to do about his previous acts of defiance.

It was soon clear that Red Kangaroo would face the wrath of the Chief, Jerrabri and the Council of Elders, for he had left the tribe without permission and had only two seasons before finished his training to become a warrior man. The council had to assert control and Jerrabri demanded Red Kangaroo hand over one of his wives. Jerrabri reached over to grab Naroo but she clubbed the Chief, sending him sprawling to the ground, bloodied and embarrassed.

Red Kangaroo protested to the Chief and the council, for it was their laws that had prevented young warrior men such as himself and Giluram from getting a wife upon graduation into manhood, as was their ancestors decree. The old men in the council had been taking two, three and even four wives for themselves! When a young man did want a wife, he would be given into a life time of work to pay off the debt for buying a promised wife from an elder. As a result, only six boys would graduate into men this particular year, a number far too low if they were to build enough warriors to hold off attacks from rival tribes such as the dreaded Cassilis people.

Jerrabri would not be upstaged by the behaviour of this newcomer. He stepped forward and reaffirmed his intentions. He would take Naroo, one of Red Kangaroo's wives. Red Kangaroo threw his boomerang at the Chief, Jerrabri's feet. A raging silence filled the air as it became clear that Red Kangaroo wanted to challenge the Chief. The duel would mean a certain death and soon the tribe became divided.

The next day at high noon Red Kangaroo and Chief Jerrabri made their way to the battleground on the Breeza Plains. Everyone was there. There was a nervousness in the air and many that day could feel something extraordinary was about to happen.

At the signal of the equal sun, Jerrabri threw a spear at Red Kangaroo trying to amaze him with such rapid speed yet the younger man moved away before throwing his own spear. Jerrabri dodged the attempt just as instantaneously.

Both men prowled the dueling circle like caged lions and it was not long before Jerrabri tried to fool Red Kangaroo into throwing his second spear in haste. The young warrior would not be hoodwinked and both men continued to dance around the battleground sniffing each other for a weakness.

Jerrabri fired his spear at a rapid speed toward Red Kangaroo who avoided it again. Red Kangaroo retaliated and Jerrabri, sensing this action, leapt forward with a whisk of his boomerang that clipped Red Kangaroo on it's return. Within moments, both men had thrown their boomerangs which left them with only tomahawks, nullas and shields. Both men began to inch closer to each other.

Jerrabri lashed at Red Kangaroo with his favourite tomahawk and the men became engaged in a fierce in-close battle. The contact would echo across the plains for the Gunn-e-darr.

With both men down to their shields and nullas, it was the actions of Red Kangaroo next that defined his greatness most. Many moons earlier, he had reshaped the bottom of his shield with fine precision into an edge that when thrust down onto an enemy, would crush his opponents skull. Jerrabri had not expected this from the young warrior as he lunged forward.

Red Kangaroo, the young warrior, would defeat his tribal Chief, Jerrabri with what would be revered among his enemies as The Death Blow. With one cracking thud Red Kangaroo jerked down on the Chief's throat with an almighty swing. The slain Chief, Jerrabri lay there, motionless in the merciless heat.

Red Kangaroo was on his way to becoming the Red Chief, feared warrior leader through tribal lands that would eventually spread from Uralla to Gulgong and from Wingen to Moree, Walgett and Gulargambone.

Great Scott! Pom gets bitten 'Down Under'

Story courtesy of wires
Image courtesy of Garden of Eden

A tourist from the UK was bitten "down under" by a killer snake while answering a call of nature in the bush. The reptile sunk its fangs into Jackson Scott's testicle as he squatted in the dark.

But when he begged best mate Roddy Andrews to suck the venom out, his pal refused.

Instead he drove Jackson on a 40-minute life-or-death dash to Hobart where doctors gave him an antidote to the deadly tiger snake poison.

Musician Jackson, 29, of Glasgow, said: "I went into the garden at four in the morning after a night in the pub to save flushing the toilet because water is precious in the outback.

"Just as I finished and was about to tuck everything safely away, it bit me. I had my pants around my knees when I hobbled into Roddy's bedroom. My heart was racing and I was hallucinating.

"Needless to say, Rod was not of a mind to suck out the poison."

Jackson, starting a year's working holiday at the remote farm, added: "The doctors and nurses were very professional. They didn't take the mickey out of me being bitten on my wedding tackle."

Russ Southey gets struck from above

Story and video courtesy of WA News

They say the chances of getting struck by lightning are better than winning lotto and for Russell Southey it is true - yet more remarkable is the fact he is alive to tell the story. The Perth man filmed the moment he was struck by lightning while watching a thunderstorm in his suburban backyard.

Southey had assured his wife "you're safe here" as he made the video of lightning striking around his Baldavis home in the early hours of January 20, 2012.

The above footage shows several massive strikes before he is suddenly thrown to the ground, screaming obscenities.

"It was just like a big jolt, I didn't know what it was," Southey said.

"It was as if something had hit me in the side and thrown me on the ground at the same time."

The lightning knocked him 1.5m backwards to the ground.

He was taken to Rockingham Hospital but was released a few hours later.

Mr Southey said he still had no feeling in some of his fingers and his shoulder was very sore.

The Bureau of Meteorology says lightning strikes kill between five to ten Australians every year and injure over 100.

Frank Hurley

Info courtesy of Aussie Educator and Kodak
Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Frank Hurley, a husky, curly-haired Australian, ran away from home when he was 14 and went to work on the Sydney docks. He was tough and could curse as well as a man twice his age. But he had an artistic side that appeared early in his rough life. At the age of 17 he bought his first camera, a 15-shilling Kodak Brownie. He paid for the little box camera at the rate of a shilling a week.

He quickly taught himself the technical aspects of photography and, using a sure eye for landscape splendor, set himself up in the postcard business. In 1910, at the age of 25, he saw a chance to link photography with adventure: Australian explorer Douglas Mawson was planning an expedition to Antarctica. Hurley brashly cornered Mawson in a private railway compartment and asked for the job of expedition photographer.

Mawson took a chance on the confident young man. And so did Kodak. Hurley, whose postcard business was suffering through a recession, was in debt to a local branch of Kodak. The Kodak manager provided photographic equipment, and Hurley went off on the Mawson expedition in 1911.

Antarctica, a continent unknown, beckoned adventurous men of the time, a golden age of polar exploration. Expedition photographers were important not only because they could document the event but also because the sale of rights to photos and movies helped to finance the exploration. The explorer would then later use the photographs and film on the lecture circuit.

Hurley raised expedition photography to a new level. He did not make routine photos of explorers posing in the snow. Instead, he often focused on the snow itself, or on grim snowscapes that became beautiful in his compositions. These scenic studies he integrated into the documentation of the expedition. When he returned, Kodak sponsored exhibitions of Hurley's work at photography salons around Australia.

Hurley, who worked with both still and movie cameras, also made an expedition film, 'Home of the Blizzard,' which was shown in England. Ernest Shackleton, an Antarctica explorer, saw the movie and hired Hurley. Like many explorers before him, Shackleton hoped to partly finance a cross-Antarctica expedition through advance sales of photographic, film, and story rights.

On Shackleton's ship, the Endurance, and throughout the 22-month ordeal, Hurley was courageous and, in the words of a shipmate, 'hard as nails'. Lionel Greenstreet, First Officer of the Endurance, said of him: 'Hurley is a warrior with his camera & would go anywhere or do anything to get a picture'.

Fearless and innovative, Hurley climbed masts, trekked across quivering ice, and ventured into the frigid night to take his extraordinary pictures. He dove into icy water to retrieve his glass-plate negatives after the Endurance sank.

Experimenting under conditions no expedition photographer has ever faced, he used new color techniques and created panoramic scenes by taking photographs in a series. He was a storyteller both in photos and in words, leaving as a legacy of the Shackleton expedition not only his photography but also his lyrical and incisive diary.

Caroline Alexander, author of The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, sees Hurley as 'a real loner'. He was 'very Australian with a tough Aussie sense of superiority,' she said in an interview. 'He is relentlessly - not cheerful - but determined not to take stock of the difficulties around him. His diary gives you an insight into his ethic'.

During the long wait for rescue on desolate Elephant Island, for example, Hurley fires off a caustic appraisal of his companions, writing of how he is disgusted with the way they have broken down. 'Blizzards are raking the island,' Alexander says, 'and he is assessing these men. This is a striking passage to write with frost-bitten fingers.'

On an island that some men see as a place where they will die, Hurley has time to rhapsodize about 'the profound grandeur' of 'these savage cliffs with the drifting snow & veiling clouds'.

Incredibly, Hurley returned to the beginning of the ordeal, South Georgia Island, in the winter of 1916 to try to finish the story: He had missed only one part of the saga - Shackleton's perilous voyage back to South Georgia to get help. A film he made on South Georgia, 'In the Grip of the Polar Pack,' became a popular success when it was released in 1919.

Hurley, with the honorary rank of captain in the Australian Imperial Force, served as a frontline photographer in World War I. He took some of the war's only known color photos - 'and some,' wrote Alexander, 'are small masterieces of stark, muddy misery'. Later he traveled to Papua New Guinea and Tasmania, where he photographed more in a travelogue style. He produced several books about Australia.

On January 16, 1962, at the age of 76, he came home from an assignment lugging his battered old camera case. He sat down and, uncharacteristically, said he did not feel well. He sat there all night and died next day, leaving behind a wife and three children.

Smasher and the White Spirit

Story by Paul Denham
Image courtesy of Daniel Ledlimer

Smasher, a man of his word, had pre-arranged the morning before to go up to his fishing hut that same evening with Jimmy, both Aboriginal men, to set some prawn nets on the Myall River. The moon was right and with a hand to help him Smasher knew he could catch some dollars.

It was pre-arranged for Smasher to pick up Jimmy from the Tea Gardens Fisherman’s Co-op and right on time Jimmy was there with a headlamp and a bag of necessities including a few longnecks for the long night.

The two ventured off at nine and a half tenths of top speed with the outboard motor ringing the usual sound upstream of the Myall. Snaking up the river, the two decided to stop and change positions. Smasher the huge man thought it best to sit up the front to even the tinny and let Jimmy steer the outboard. Jimmy liked steering and he kept to the channel like a pro. It was hard to see, as the moon was right for prawning and that means no moonlight at all.

Just under a kilometre from the fishing hut Jimmy slowed down to a stop. Smasher turned backwards to see why and at the same time Jimmy idled and lit a smoke. At this instant the outboard stalled. Jimmy pulled the starter cord and the engine had that familiar two-stroke sound of not starting. Pumping the fuel line and frolicking with the choke, the bloody thing wouldn’t go.

Shamefully, Jimmy wondered what Smasher would think of him and he quickly tilted the engine up to check for weed on the inlet. Smasher didn’t say a thing, which was worse for Jimmy’s confidence.

A few unsuccessful moments later an eerie sound just like an infant crying came from the cluttered terrain of this remote stretch of the river. Originally, Jimmy’s first thought was that of Smasher in his silence laying a curse and playing a trick. Yet, on the second eerie, ghostly sound it was nothing less than a White Spirit.

Smasher, still silent switched on the big light and shone it towards the sound. Both sat silently in the drifting tinny, not a sound. Seconds past and the sound was heard again and this time Smasher’s light caught a glimpse of a white figure 40 metres distant in the thick swampy jungle.

Jimmy pulled the starter cord that hard it started flat out in gear and both men almost fell out. Jimmy steered an uncomfortably tight one eighty turn and the two were off back towards home. Without any light on a pitch-black night, Jimmy managed to miss most land objects flat out yet; it was a real hairy ride when he cut corners though the mangroves.

Smasher didn’t say a thing on the return trip until they arrived back at the co-op wharf. Jimmy didn’t say anything at all; he just stopped the motor, grabbed his bag and took off. Jimmy was scared out of his wits.

Now Smasher, being the man he was, decided to get his Ute and take the long bush track way back to his hut as the moon was right and he was determined to net the prawns. He knew there was a spare tinny up at the hut and he quickly unshackled the outboard and got it ready.

The long and rough Ute trip alone seemed to take forever, the nets needed to go in hours before. Nobody knows if the White Spirit unnerved Smasher, yet, like a true professional the fishing came first.

Once reaching his fishing hut, slightly slower but somehow more effective, Smasher lifted the outboard out of the tonner Ute. It was then, in the pitch-black night, like it was waiting for him, the White Spirit let out that terror filled howl. In almost total darkness Smasher put down the outboard and walked back to the Ute to grab the big light. He searched the jungle off to his right towards the spot he heard the sound. The Spirit sounded again behind him and this time Smasher moved quicker than any man had seen him move, shining the light towards the horrific squall.

Smasher got another slight glimpse through the trees of this strange white being. It was headed towards the track to his hut in the opposite direction and Smasher quickly jumped into the Ute and reversed around. Like a flash, Smasher was wheel spinning back towards home to find out the White Spirit on the hut track. Stopping at around 80 metres sighting footprints in some sand, Smasher turned off the Ute. His big arm searched the light around while he was still in the car.

A few seconds later, Smasher got out of the car. He stood with the big light plugged into the cigarette lighter. This time the cry screeched much louder. It was a man as white as snow, skinny, skeleton-like and naked without a cloth. He wad curled up like a slater, entirely covered in bush and grass ticks. The man was almost hypothermic and suffering paralysis from the ticks. Smasher, with his big arms lifted the pale man up and put him in the back of the Ute. He went all the way back to town for the second time that night. This time it was to the Ambulance station at Tea Gardens and the White Spirit was taken away to Newcastle Hospital.

The White Spirit as it seems spread his wings from the Port Stephens Mental Hospital.
Smasher went back to his hut again and caught the biggest haul of prawns ever. And when talking to other prawners the next day, they all claim, “the prawns never came on ‘till 1am” the same time Smasher went back out prawning.

Ned Kelly remains found

* Remains of Ned Kelly found and planned for display.

The Pankalanka People

Info courtesy of AYRC
Image courtesy of Allen Douglas

The Aborigines of the Northern Territory also fear another race of hairy giants, the dreaded Pankalanka People, of which more will be said later in this book. "Giants from the Dreamtime -The Yowie in Myth & Reality". Also called the Pungalunga by some tribes, there are many European inhabitants of the "Red Centre" who share the Aborigines belief in their existence.

Sightings claims describe male Pankalankas as being between 2.6 and 3 m in height, while their females are somewhat smaller in build. Central Australian myth depicts them as gigantuan beings, with big hands and powerful jaws and teeth for tearing up and devouring their human prey.

A retired jackaroo, Christian Edwards, who claims to have found the huge footprints of one of these man-giants near Tennant Creek in 1981, informed me in 1990: "There was a time long ago when the Pankalankas were so numerous that they lived all over the Northern Territory, chasing off Aboriginal people wherever they found us, catching and eating us at every opportunity."

"You could see them walking across the country in large groups and at night they lit their way with big fire sticks." ""But eventually our ancestors increased in numbers and were able to stand up to the Pankalankas.

Many Pankalankas were killed in fights, so that today they are not so numerous. They still live in the more remote areas, and some folks have seen bands of Pankalanka men, women and children moving across the country at night in the ranges hereabouts, lighting their way with big fire sticks."

Quake Man

Story by Sarah Crawford
Photo by Patrina Malone

A Northern Territory neurologist has built a home-made seismograph which can pick up earthquakes from as far away as Alaska.

Early yesterday, Dr Burrow's seismograph picked up a magnitude 7 quake about 700km north of Darwin in the Banda Sea.

Geoscience Australia also received six reports from Darwin residents who felt their beds shake about 2.30 am.

Dr Burrow said he had been trying to figure out how to build his own seismograph for years, until he found instructions on the internet.

"It is just wire, weights and fairly cheap electronics hooked to a computer. It cost me about $150," he said.

"If you are keen it would take a day to set up, but it took me a little bit longer to figure out what to do."

The Coconut Grove resident set up his seismograph a week before the magnitude 9 Japanese earthquake on March 11 which, with the subsequent tsunami, killed more than 15,000 people.

He said the pendulum shook for two hours.

Last month he picked up the 7.3 magnitude earthquake on Alaska's Aleutian Islands

So far, he has recorded about 100 earthquakes worldwide.

"You get one once every couple of days," he said.

Cynthia Siegel's UFO Abduction experience

* A detailed account of a UFO Abduction experience.

UFO Expert Colin Norris

Info courtesy of Bill Chalker
Image courtesy of UFO Blogger

Born on September 30, 1920, Colin encountered the UFO mystery directly in 1942 at Geraldton Western Australia, where he was stationed with the Royal Australia Air Force. Colin's nephew Mark told me, "I can tell you that Uncle Colin told me many times of his first encounter of a UFO, or foo fighter as the air force called them, during the 2nd world war. Colin was the turret gunner situated at the nose of a Liberator bomber in the Aust. air force over South Pasific. He told me that they were buzzed many times by a flying disc of metallic colour . One night while he was standing on the tarmac, a flying disc hovered over him silently, and beamed a blue light onto his head, after this happened he had a scar on his head he could never explain. Colin was so intrigued by these things going on around him ,that he devoted his entire life to investigating UFO and their existence." Colin described the 1942 UFO a bit further as brown in colour with a purple "U" around its perimeter.

He started studying the subject in more detail as reports of "flying saucers" gained more prominence in Australia during 1952. By 1957 he had joined Fred Stone's Australia Flying Saucer Research Society. Following Fred Stone's departure from AFSRS in 1962 Colin became vice president. In 1963 he was quoted by the Adelaide News newspaper (April 27) saying, "I just think the world might have something to gain from these people, who might be more advanced in knowledge than we are." By the end of the 1960s he had the highest profile of any UFO researcher in the state of South Australia. He lectured at the 1965 Ballarat UFO conference on "History of UFOs" and was a speaker at the 1971 Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) symposium on UFOs, one of the few times mainstream science publically engaged with "the UFO problem."

In 1972 he even came to the attention of ASIO - Australia's domestic spy service - apparently because of his correspondence with Soviet academics and giving a lecture to the Young Socialists League in SA. He was also a focus of RAAF South Australia "counter intelligence" memos which stated,
1. Enclosed is an UFO report forwarded to this Headquarters by "The Australian Flying Saucer Research Society - (Adelaide)", together with an accompanying letter from Mr John Burford which, inter alia, outlines recent moves to amalgamate the various UFO "research" societies in South Australia...
2. As on many occassions in the past, the report arrived at this Headquarters too late to make an investigation possible without considerable embarrassment and possible adverse publicity. The various UFO societies in this State, while aware of the RAAF's responsibility to investigate UFO sightings in an official capacity, are nonetheless reluctant to pass on information on UFO sightings to the RAAF until they have "picked the bones clean". Every attempt has been made by this Headquarters to elicit the co-operation of local UFO organisations, and in particular the AFSRS, in an endeavour to gain some first-hand information on UFO sightings....
4. Also enclosed for your information is a list os alleged sightings investigated by the AFSRS alone in 1971. It is significant that of the 112 sights, not one was reported to this Headquarters in the first instance. Indeed, it was only at the personal whim of Mr. Norris that the RAAF received copies of investigations (without "findings") in the long term. It would appear that, in spite of sparse and rather patronising publicity by the mass media to the effect that the RAAF is the responsible UFO-reporting organisation, and arrangements with the police to have any individual sighting a UFO contact this Headquarters, the public at large in this State remains either ignorant of the correct procedure, or chooses to contact the more glamorous - and credulous - "flying saucer" society. Furthermore, we are not aware of any effort on a national scale by higher authority to inform the public of the RAAF position in this matter, which is very active in South Australia.
5. From the foregoing, it can be seen that, if the proposed amalgamation of UFO groups in this State comes to pass, and timely reports of UFO sightings are passed to this Headquarters as indicated by Mr. Burford's remarks, the volume of work involved in investigating and processing such sightings will increase considerably. In fact, it is doubtful whether the Officer-in-Charge UFO's at this Headquarters (a secondary appointment) would be able to cope with such an increase, without significant and non-acceptable inroads being made into his primary role.
(E.T. PICKERD) Air Commodore, Officer Commanding

Colin Norris's AFSRS changed its name to Australian International UFO Flying Saucer Research" in 1978 and continued to publish a newsletter that recorded summaries of South Australian and other UFO sightings. He continued to maintain a high public media profile through the 1980s and into the 1990s, but as health and age issues started to intrude he became less active.

I described Colin's UFO contribution to Australian ufology in my 1996 book "The OZ Files - the Australian UFO story" as "colourful and controversial." He was never very far from controversial claims and was a favourite of the local media. Although some researchers saw him as regular source of "tantalising glimpses of material but not much detail" I found that Colin was helpful and forthcoming in his own way. He would be a great source of antecdotal information. He described to me in detail his investigations of some controversial abduction cases in South Australia (including the 1979 Nildottie affair and the 1974 Clifton Bore episode which featured the distressing element of possible missing children and the strange element of topological inversion (best captured in popular culture in Dr. Who's Tardis - bigger on the inside than outside. I have come across other cases that feature this element).

When I learnt from other sources at a lecture I gave to the Sydney Space Association in 1992 of a fascinating UFO photographic case at Kangaroo Island South Australia I interviewed the witness and found that she had reported her 1983 close encounter to Colin soon after. He kindly provided me a copy of some of the investigation material. His newsletter had only reported the briefest of details, which included none of the strange elements.

In our correspondence, meetings, and lectures I always found him cordial and full of intriguing stories and claims. His stationary reminded us of his credo, "The visitations of UFOs remind us that there are other planets in the Universe similar to ours."

Colin Norris passed away on July 13, 2009. He was 85.

His son Grant told me Colin's philosophy was "investigate, tabulate, correlate" and take a nuetral view, free of occult or religious views. He was indeed a remarkable source of raw data, and it is pleasing that his data and files are in good hands. His son wants to ensure Colin's UFO legacy is preserved.

Drew Hall and the real life Moby Dick

Info courtesy of Marshall Mallon

You could be forgiven for thinking this was a modern version of Moby Dick but it wasn't. not quite. Maclean teenager angler Drew Hall went out fishing and managed to catch himself a humpback whale.

Or rather, the whale caught him with a good one. When the giant humpback breached right next to his family's 15 foot fishing boat aptly named Scales & Tails, landing so close its mighty fluke smashed on to the vessel's deck.

The tail hit Drew square in the skull and the upper torso, knocking him out cold.

"I don't really remember much. We'd had one quick fish and we were moving positions, and the whale just jumped up and smashed on to the boat.

"You think how big the ocean is and we managed to get hit by a whale - it's pretty amazing," Drew said.

Parents Karen and Steven Hall, also aboard the boat, told how they first thought their son had been killed as the drama unfolded in front of them.

"I saw the V of the tail and the black and the white, just a quick glimpse," Karen Hall said.

"I actually saw the tail push Drew in the seconds that it happened. It just flicked him and whacked him into the floor and pushed him up into the corner of the boat.

"There was this bang of tin, a swear word out of Steven's mouth and then I think the next words we said were, 'Drew's dead'."

The pair leapt to their son's aid and discovered he was unconscious - but apparently not breathing.

"Steven was screaming out, 'Come back, come back Drew - you've gotta come back to me son'," Mrs Hall said.

Thankfully, the teenager came to after a few agonising moments. He was barely res- ponsive and had suffered serious bruising and a broken collarbone, but he was alive.

The family's boat managed to limp the 2km back to shore, where paramedics were waiting to take Drew to hospital.

Every year 10,000 humpbacks would cruise past the NSW coast during this year's northern migration.

Bernard O'Reilly

Info and image courtesy of Wikipedia

Bernard O'Reilly (1903-1975) (born Alfonso Bernard O'Reilly) was an Australian author and bushman of Irish descent. He was born and raised in the Blue Mountains about 50 km north-west of Sydney and later moved to the McPherson Range near Beaudesert in South East Queensland, Australia.

On the 20 August 1931 Bernard O'Reilly married Viola Gwendoline King in Brisbane.

He is best known for the discovery of the 1937 crash site in Lamington National Park of a Stinson Model A airplane, the VH-UHH Brisbane, and the organization of rescue crews that retrieved two survivors.

After finding the wreck on the second day of his search he trekked 16 km to get help and return the next day with rescuers. The rescue operation gained national headlines with reports broadcast live on the radio.

O'Reilly was presented with a plaque and a cheque raised by public subscription at a ceremony in Sydney, at which he paid tribute to the two survivors and one of the five victims, Jim Westray, who had died trying to get help for the others.

In years afterward, O'Reilly's nephew, Peter O'Reilly, organized bush tours recreating his uncle's "remarkable feat."

O'Reilly wrote three books on the theme of Australia's Great Dividing Range, which lies inland from its east coast and is where he lived: Green Mountains (1942), Cullenbenbong (1945), and Over the Hills (1963). Green Mountains includes his own account of finding the aeroplane. The Australian philosopher David Stove has written a short appreciation of his life and books.

Interview with renowned author John Pinkney

* A rare interview with renowned author John Pinkney.

Sidney Kidman

Info courtesy of SA History
Image courtesy of Agmates

Sir Sidney Kidman (May 9, 1857 - September 2, 1935) was a pastoralist in Australia and owned huge tracts of land.

Sidney Kidman was born near Adelaide (probably at Athelstone, South Australia) third son of George Kidman (died December 1857), farmer, and his wife Elizabeth Mary, nee Nunn. Kidman was educated at private schools in Norwood and left his home near Adelaide at age 13 with only 5 shillings and a one-eyed horse that he had bought with his savings. He joined a drover, and learned quickly.

He worked as a drover, stockman and livestock trader. He made money trading whatever was needed, and supplying services (transport, goods, a butcher shop) to new mining towns springing up in outback New South Wales and South Australia (including Cobar, Kapunda, Burra and eventually Broken Hill. Eventually he and his brothers ended up working on the same station, then bought their own. The partnership with his brother Sackville lasted until his death in 1899.

Kidman saved money and bought a bullock team, opened a butcher's shop and store at the Cobar copper rush and made good profits. When he was 21 he inherited Â£400 from his grandfather's estate and traded with it successfully in horses and cattle. Kidman was in his middle twenties when he acquired a one-fourteenth share in the Broken Hill Proprietary mine for 10 bullocks worth about Â£4 each. He sold his share for Â£150 less Â£50 commission and was satisfied with the profit. He had mail contracts on a fairly large scale and in 1886 bought Owen Springs station. Gradually he extended his holdings until they reached out into Queensland and New South Wales. The great drought in 1901 was a disaster to him, but the Bank of New South Wales had faith in him and supported him. Within a year he had made Â£40,000 and began buying on a large scale again. He eventually owned or had a large interest in an enormous area of land variously stated to have covered from 85,000 to 107,000 square miles (280,000 km2). Before World War I he was a millionaire.

Benefitting from their experience and observation, Kidman had built a vast network of connected stations stretching from both the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Fitzroy River in Western Australia down into South Australia near the Flinders Ranges and also across New South Wales. He could grow and fatten the cattle on the remote stations in the north, and bring them down the lines of stations to markets in the south, providing good feed and water on the way to sell them in top condition.

Starting from nothing, he built up a huge pastoral business, with over a hundred cattle stations with total area of more than 3% of Australia - allowing him to move his cattle from north to south along the great inland river systems and drought proofing his empire. He was also an entrepreneur with interests in many other rural industries such as transport.

S Kidman and Co is still the largest private landholder in Australia, although now on a much smaller scale.

In World War I he donated wool, meat, horses, ambulances and even fighter airplanes to the government. He also guaranteed the jobs of employees who went to fight in the war, and assisted the widows of those who didn't come back. He was knighted in 1921.

In 2010 a new estate of some 300 plus allotments was established on the northern edge of Kapunda named 5 Shillings.

The Adelaide suburb of Kidman Park was named after him.

Crocodile Mick

Info courtesy of Amazing Australia and Zeus Pubs
Image courtesy of Crocodile Mick

Mick Pitman, around the remote wilderness of the Cape York peninsula better known as Crocodile Mick, makes a living as crocodile hunter, taxidermist and producer of crocodile products, and also specializes in crocodile capture. Early 2004 he received a letter from Steve Irwin's lawyers informing him that he could no longer call himself crocodile hunter because Steve had registered this name as a Trademark, Mick responded that Steve has never hunted a crocodile and is a crocodile photographer, not a hunter. The Trademark later proved to be bluff.

The bush has always been in my life right from the start. Right when I was in Tasmania in the late 50s my father and mother were involved in a company who specialized in building dams and power stations so it meant a bush upbringing.

I adapted to this lifestyle like a duck to water with my father and an array of uncles and cousins that were into all facets of fishing and hunting; so I have been hunting and fishing from as far back as I can remember. By the age of 10, I could shoot any gun and hit 99% of all targets in the field and could catch a fish in a muddy hole if not with a fishing line, a setline and if no success, tickle the fish with my hands and catch it that way.

I worked for a company subcontracting for Comalco for around 10 months until I branched out on my own. I ended up getting a contract on the local school and this is where this whole story started. In my gang we had 8 plumbers and one of them was the infamous German Jack Kiel, a croc hunter. (The real Dundee) Every time Jack would reel off some of his stories I would get less and less interested in plumbing. Then one day I packed my gear up and left mainstream society for the best adrenalin pumping time of my life. I saw some very strange things and had countless close calls with death.

George Bass

Info courtesy of David Reilly
Image courtesy of NLA

George Bass (1771-1803?) explored the east coast of Australia. Together with Flinders, he sailed more than 18,000 kilometres exploring the coastline of Australia and proved that Tasmania was an island. Bass was born in England and arrived in Sydney in 1795. In 1803, he disappeared after he sailed into the Pacific Ocean with a cargo that he wanted to sell in South America. Some people believe he was captured by the Spanish and forced to work in mines in Peru.

Soon after they arrived in Australia, Bass and Flinders explored the coastline south of Sydney in a tiny boat called the Tom Thumb. Bass who was 24 was a surgeon and Flinders who was only 21 was a sailor. Both were very adventurous. Very few people would have had the courage to sail into the open sea in such a small boat. During this trip they explored the land south of Sydney and found land suitable for settlement.

In 1797 Bass left Sydney in a whaleboat. He took with him 6 sailors and 6 weeks' supply of food.Before reaching Western Port, he came across a party of 7 escaped convicts and promised to rescue them on his return. He then sailed on to Western Port on the southern coast of Australia. Strong winds forced him to stay here for nearly 2 weeks. Bass suspected that there must be a strait of water separating the mainland from Tasmania (then called Van Diemen's land). He rescued the convicts on his way back and sailed back to Port Jackson, after exploring 300 miles of previously unknown coastline.

In 1798, Bass and Flinders set off in the Norfolk to sail around Van Diemen's Land. The Norfolk was the first boat to be built in the colony and was built by the prisoners on Norfolk Island. Bass and Flinders discovered and explored the Tamar River. They then spent another 3 weeks mapping the north coast of Tasmania before they sailed down the west coast. They sailed down the Derwent River where Hobart now stands and then set sail for Sydney. They had proved that Van Diemen's Land was an island by sailing right round it. Flinders named the strait, Bass Strait, after George Bass. The discovery of this strait meant that ships could save days when sailing to England, by sailing straight along the south coast, rather than right around the bottom of Tasmania. This was their last voyage together. Bass sailed from Sydney in 1803 to travel to South America.

He disappeared and was never heard of again.

David Unaipon: Indigenius

Info courtesy of AT
Image courtesy of Creative Spirits

It either takes a special kind of genius or a fool to chase the dream of perpetual motion. Ngarrindjeri inventor David Unaipon is saved from fool status by his lifetime of ingenuity and achievement against seemingly insurmountable obstacles. But that’s not to say he wasn't treated the fool. He was. Not because of his pursuits – perpetual motion had its fans during Unaipon’s lifetime – no, David was treated the fool for being Aboriginal.

As a youth, Unaipon was busy filling his mind with science, literature and music, defying the long-held belief that Aboriginals could barely participate in civilisation, let alone contribute in any meaningful manner. He applied for multiple patents on inventions he created – but was granted just ten.

Among these were a centrifugal engine and multi-radial wheel. His most recognised was a then new mechanical handpiece for sheep shearing but, as an Aboriginal, he was unable to raise the cash to fund his own production. The design was pilfered and he never saw a cent from the subsequent explosion in demand.

Unaipon also saw the potential for a fixed-blade helicopter that utilised the aerofoil design of the boomerang, overturning the conventional ideology of the time that was still fixated on the 'airscrew' design of some guy named Leonardo DaVinci. Aside from his love affair with science, Unaipon became the first Aboriginal writer to ever be published, and he travelled extensively throughout Australia arguing for better treatment for all Aboriginals. We can only wonder how much more enriched Australia would have been had he not been ignored.

While Unaipon died a destitute inventor, the irony is that he can now be found on the $50 bill, seen on billions of dollars around the country.

Gary Opit talks cryptozoology
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQObbmXF7T4&feature=related"

Renowned researcher Gary Opit discusses a range cryptozoology in this video link.

Bea Miles

Info courtesy of Wikipedia
Image courtesy of Get Domain Vids

Beatrice (Bea) Miles (September 17, 1902 - December 3, 1973) was an eccentric Sydney-sider who regularly hijacked taxis and quoted Shakespeare for money.

Born in Ashfield she grew up in St Ives. Her father was a wealthy and hot-headed businessman who had a tempestuous relationship with his daughter. In 1923, he had her committed to a hospital for the insane where she stayed for two years. After that she lived on the street and was known for her outrageous behaviour. She was arrested many times and claimed to have been 'falsely convicted 195 times, fairly 100 times'.

Her most notorious escapades involved taxi drivers. She regularly refused to pay fares. Some drivers refused to pick her up and she would sometimes damage the cab in retaliation, including reputedly ripping a door off its hinges once. In 1955, she took a taxi to Perth, Western Australia and back. This time she did pay the fare, ₤600. It is also said she would sit in a Sydney bank smoking cigarettes under a sign reading "Gentlemen will refrain from smoking".

She was well-educated and spent a lot of time in the State Library of New South Wales reading books until finally being banned in the late 1950s. She was also regularly seen standing on street corners with a sign offering to quote verses from William Shakespeare for between sixpence and three shillings. Bea's writings are in the state library, some in her own handwriting, they are: Dictionary by a Bitch, I Go on a Wild Goose Chase, I Leave in a Hurry, For We Are Young and Free, Notes on Sydney Monument and Advance Australia Fair. Fiercely patriotic, at twelve years old she wore a 'No Conscription' badge to school during the referendum in WWI. In another incident Bea was disgusted when she was severely marked down for an essay about Gallipoli, which she described as a 'strategical blunder', rather than 'a wonderful war effort'.

As she was a well-known figure in Sydney society, in 1961 a portrait of her was entered in the Archibald Prize, while in 1983 a musical based on her life, Better known as Bee was first performed in 1984. The novel Lilian's Story by Kate Grenville was loosely based on her life. It was turned into a movie in 1995 starring Toni Collette and Ruth Cracknell in the title role.

When ill health started to catch up with her, she finally stopped living on the streets, spending the last nine years of her life in the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged in Randwick. She supposedly told the sister, she had 'no allergies that I know of, one complex, no delusions, two inhibitions, no neuroses, three phobias, no superstitions and no frustrations.'

Pemulwuy - Justice Man or Guerrilla Leader?

Info and image courtesy of Convict Creations

Pemulwuy was a kind of resistance outlaw in the vein of Ned Kelly but one who proved as difficult to kill as Rasputin. In the early days of the colony, he seemed to indiscriminately spear colonists. As the years went by, he seemed to lead organised battles against British soldiers. Some historians have defined him as a military leader that led a guerrilla war against the British invasion. More likely he was a caradhy, a man whose position in the Bidjigal tribe empowered him to dispense justice. His attacks on the settlers weren't attempts to drive them away, rather they were attempts to punish them for their breaches of Bidjigal law.

Pemulwuy first came to public attention in 1790 when he killed Governor Phillip's game shooter, a Convict named McIntyre. Although McIntyre was suspected of mistreating Aborigines, witnesses of the actual attack said it was unprovoked. Consequently, Phillip became so infuriated that he dispatched a military expedition to bring back Pemulwuy and "any six Bidjigal or their heads." (Phillip's soldiers were reluctant to carry out the orders and they returned empty handed, saying that no Bidjigal could be found.)

Following many unsuccessful expeditions to apprehend him, Pemulwuy increased his attacks against the settlers. In particular, he led a number of raids against farms. Sometimes crops and clothes were stolen. Sometimes maze fields were set on fire. Because such resources were desperately needed by the colony, some historians have argued the attacks were calculated war strategies devised by Pemulwuy to weaken his enemy.

Although Pemulwuy’s actions had the characteristics of guerilla war, he also wanted to maintain friendly relations with the colony's governors. (He wasn't outlawed until 12 years after his initial attack.) Perhaps this would indicate that his attacks were a form of dispensing justice. Most aboriginal cultures had a payback system where justice could be inflicted on the tribe an individual came from rather than the individual themselves. Consequently, if one settler broke any Bidigal laws, other settlers could be punished for the violation. Once punished, the matter was in the past and a state of peace returned. Unfortunately, settlers knowingly or unknowingly continued to violate local laws, which forced Pemulwuy to keep dispensing justice. Settlers in turn found themselves being punished, but often not knowing what they were being punished for or even knowing they were be punished.

In 1794, Pemulwuy attacked a group of Convicts and ending up fighting John 'Black' Caesar, a huge Convict/Bushranger of African descent. With his commanding physical strength, Caesar managed to crack Pemulwuy's skull and many people in the colony celebrated because they thought he was dead. Although seriously wounded, Pemulwuy recovered to fight on.

In 1797, Pemulwuy led a sustained attack on the Toongabbie outpost, capturing more food and clothing. He then led the Bidjigal to Parramatta. Here on open ground near the Parramatta River he led what has been defined as a pitched battle against the English. Pemulwuy was quickly identified and subsequently felled after being hit by seven bullets. The Bidjigal suffered great losses and were forced to retreat. Pemulwuy was left lying in a pool of blood and thought to be dead.

Amazingly, he was only severely wounded. In a display of mercy and admiration, the soldiers took him to the hospital at Parramatta. He lapsed in and out of consciousness for many days and his death was thought to be a certainty. Against expectations, Pemulwuy recovered. Several weeks later, he escaped into the darkness - his leg-irons still in place. According to the Bidjijal people, his impossible escape was achieved by turning himself into a bird.

Pemulwuy's ability to recover from his wounds gave him a Rasputin-like reputation for being invincible. The local Aborigines believed that bullets couldn't harm him, nor could chains hold him. Even the colonists started believing the myths. John Washington Price said:

"He has now lodged in him, in shot, sluggs and bullets, about eight or ten ounces of lead."

Despite the conflict, the colony's governors as well as Pemulwuy seemed to want to build some kind of relationship. In 1897, Governor Hunter met several parties of Aborigines near Botany Bay. Pemulwuy was among them. According to one report, Pemulwuy,

'spoke with one of the gentlemen of the party; enquiring of him whether the governor was angry, and seemed pleased at being told that he was not.'

Although Hunter was forgiving, his successor was not. In November 1801, Governor Philip Gidley King outlawed Pemulwuy and offered a reward of 20 gallons of spirits or a free pardon for his capture, dead or alive. The prospect of spirits or freedom proved an ample incentive to prove that Pemulwuy was mortal. In 1802, he was shot and decapitated. His head was preserved in alcohol and sent to England as a gift for Joseph Banks. Accompanying the head was a letter from Governor King stating that,

"although a terrible pest to the colony, he was a brave and independent character...."

Pemulwuy's son Tedbury also had an ambiguous relationship with colonists. He made trouble for some settlers but was on friendly terms with John Macarthur, an ex-soldier who became a very powerful pastoralist. Macarthur often entertained Tedbury at his Elizabeth farm. Later, when Macarthur had Governor Bligh removed from office in 1808, Tedbury arrived at Macarthur's cottage with a bundle of spears and announced that he had come to spear the governor. Tedbury was shot by a settler in 1810 when he made another attack on a farm.

Whether Pemulwuy was a guerrilla leader or a justice man has implications for the way Aborigines thought of the colonists, which in turn some Australians would use to model their behaviour on today. If he was a guerrilla leader, it would suggest that he considered all colonists to be invaders and wanted them gone. If he was a justice man, then it would suggest that he was not so much concerned about the presence of colonists, but about their breaches of Bidjigal law.

There are numerous facts of history that suggest Pemulwuy was more concerned about upholding Bidjigal law than fighting a war of resistance. Firstly, when Pemulwuy speared McIntyre, there had been no settlement in Bidjigal land, and very little contact with the Bidjigal at all. As a game shooter, McIntyre probably ventured into Bidjigal territory. He was disliked by Aborigines and had been suspected of some kind of unsavoury conduct. His spearing may have been punishment for breaking laws. Secondly, it was almost 11 years between Pemulwuy's spearing of McIntyre and the date he was outlawed. If the governors saw him as a guerrilla leader then he would have been outlawed far earlier. The failure to outlaw him was probably a sign that the governors viewed his actions as typical of hunter gatherer people. Alternatively, they may have seen his actions as retaliation against poor behaviour by settlers. Thirdly, Pemulwuy's left foot had been clubbed, which was a sign that he was a carradhy (clever man/justice man). Finally, his son Tedbury maintained a good relationship with Macarthur. So much so, he came to spear Governor Bligh after he was arrested in the rum rebellion. If Pemulwuy had been guerrilla leader, then Tedbury probably would have been taught similar values. He wouldn’t have formed relationships with colonists and wouldn't have had a desire to inflict justice on behalf of Macarthur.

Presently, most white historians want to define Pemulwuy as a guerrilla leader. It fits with their theme of portraying Aborigines as victims of an invasion, which provides a moral excuse to avoid learning anything about their culture. If they defined Pelmuwuy as a justice man, then they would have to learn something about Aboriginal laws. For a variety of reasons, few white historians want to do this.
Peter Baxter - Pemulwuy

Pemulwuy lay by the side of the road
His body was silently numb
A soldier raised his sabre high
Did what no man should have done
In a silence conspired their lives would backfire
Their shadows would follow and haunt them
What fool would expect a proud man to forget
The land he fought to defend

Clever man, clever man that Pemulwuy

Pemulwuy died with blood in his eyes
In a land now others call home
They brought their ways, they brought their laws
They brought their disease and their rum
With furrowed brows pushed broken ploughs
Crippled the earth with their toil
One man stood firm, one man stood tall
Now his blood soaks deep in that soil

Clever man, clever man that Pemulwuy

The Crow he watched with a wounded stare
And a solemn chant he begun
His death wish flew on a wind that blew
From the west, across and beyond
Centuries on and still now this song
Echoes through the valleys and mountains
To the deserts away. On the great Ocean spray
In the sunshine and the cold southern rain

Clever man, clever man that Pemulwuy

William James Chidley

Info courtesy of ADB Online and Convict Creations
Image courtesy of wjchidley.com

William James Chidley was born in 1860 and came to prominence due to his unconventional theories on sex, diet and clothing. Donned in a Spartan tunic, he preached living a 'natural' life of nudity and a diet comprising only fruit and nuts.

He suffered constant persecution by the authorities, was committed to various asylums and jailed. Ironically, he was regarded as a pervert for mentioning sex when he was something of a puritan in his teachings and lifestyle.

A sex reformer and eccentric, was a foundling, probably born in Victoria, and adopted as an infant by John James Chidley (d.1891), toyshop-owner, and his first wife Maria, née Lancelott. The Chidleys also adopted three girls and another boy and returned to England for several years in the early 1860s. On their return to Melbourne his adopted father became an impecunious itinerant photographer with a horse-drawn studio; William attended at least four schools in Melbourne before leaving aged 13; he continued his education by reading voraciously in public libraries. Unsuccessfully apprenticed to a solicitor and then to an architect, he failed to matriculate after months of evening study. While working for his father, he learned photography and developed some talent for sketching likenesses.

About 1880 Chidley moved to Adelaide where he did water-colour and crayon portraits. In 1882 he and a friend were acquitted of manslaughter after a street brawl. About 1885 he met a 'promising young actress' Ada Grantleigh, née Harris, who was married to W. Thoms. Chidley lived with her intermittently until her death—in Adelaide until 1890, then in Sydney, New Zealand and Melbourne; an alcoholic, she died in 1908. He, too, lived through abject periods of alcoholism. They never married but adopted a son (reputedly hers).

Blaming himself for Ada's death, Chidley was attacked by obsessive remorse and also suffered from extreme sexual guilt. For years he had been formulating a theory to deal with the inordinate amount of misery among people he knew. While reasonably recommending vegetarianism, fresh air, sunlight and unrestrictive clothing, and criticizing money-making and class distinction, he also postulated a 'correct' method of intercourse that would 'take place only in the Spring … and between true lovers only'. He believed that his sexual theory was the answer to all the ills of mankind and reluctantly resolved to 'go on the active warpath' and propagate it, but began to run foul of the authorities when trying to explain its technicalities to audiences. 'I shall become a scandal and a voice crying in the wilderness' he wrote to H. Havelock Ellis, with whom he had been corresponding since 1899.

In Melbourne in 1911 Chidley published The Answer and sold copies to curious passers-by on the footpath. Soon in trouble with the police, he moved on to Sydney. Tall and suntanned, with 'black curly hair going grey', beard and moustache, he wore only a short white tunic, with bare head, arms, legs and feet—he made an immediate sensation. Twice charged with offensive behaviour, he was deemed insane by the Lunacy Court on 3 August 1912 and sent to the Callan Park Mental Hospital. His case was debated in the Legislative Assembly and his defenders raised fundamental questions about the misuse of power to certify. Released conditionally on 1 October, he quickly broke undertakings to dress in men's ordinary costume, and to refrain from addressing meetings in public places and from selling his book in the streets. He was again deemed insane on 26 December 1913 but was released five days later. Chidley was charged with such minor offences as breaking the Domain by-laws, offensive behaviour and begging alms seven times in 1914 and eight in 1915. His numerous fines were usually paid by his friends.

On 16 February 1916 Chidley was again found insane and committed to Kenmore Mental Hospital at Goulburn. Backed by the Chidley Defence Committee, chaired by Meredith Atkinson, in June he appealed in vain to the Supreme Court. There was considerable popular agitation by the press and in parliament for his release, and efforts were made by his friends to have him deported to Canada or the United States of America. However he was granted leave of absence from Kenmore on bond by the colonial secretary, George Black, on the usual conditions, but as he was unable to refrain from 'inculpating' himself Black had him recommitted in September. He recovered from a suicide attempt on 12 October but died suddenly of arteriosclerosis at Callan Park on 21 December 1916.

Chidley's lasting reputation must rest on his autobiography, the 'Confessions'. Although he intended no-one to read them until after his death, in 1899 he sent the manuscript to Ellis who used extracts in his Studies in the Psychology of Sex (London, 1897-1910). Chidley made a duplicate copy as his papers were often confiscated and destroyed by the police. In 1935 Ellis sent this manuscript to the Mitchell Library, Sydney, remarking 'Not only is it a document of much psychological interest, but as a picture of the intimate aspects of Australian life in the nineteenth century it is of the highest interest, and that value will go on increasing as time passes'.

Chidley was a victim of morbid elements in his own nature and in his life: coinciding, they led to his destruction. His theory, although ludicrous at first sight, is no more than a doctrine of gentleness and love. To a certain extent, he was a primitive, unschooled forerunner of Freud and Reich, with his message that 'Our false coition makes villains of us all'. The Confessions of William James Chidley was published in Brisbane in 1977.

Nancy Bird Walton

Info and image courtesy of Wikipedia

Nancy Bird Walton, AO, OBE, DStJ (October 16, 1915 – January 13, 2009) was a pioneering Australian aviatrix, and was the founder and patron of the Australian Women Pilots' Association.

In the 1930s, defying the traditional role of females of her time, she became a fully qualified pilot at the age of 19, and became the youngest Australian woman to gain a pilot's licence.

Born in Kew, New South Wales, Australia on October 16, 1915 as Nancy Bird, she wanted to fly almost as soon as she could walk. As a teenager during the Depression in Australia, Nancy Bird found herself in the same position as many other children of the time, leaving school at 13 to assist her family. In 1933, at the age of 18, her passion drove her to take flying lessons. Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, who was the first man to fly across the mid-Pacific, had just opened a pilots' school near Sydney, and she was among his first pupils. Most women learnt to fly for recreation, but Nancy planned to fly for a living.

When she was awarded a commercial pilot's licence at the age of 18, through a legacy of 200 pounds from a great aunt plus money loaned from her father, (which she paid back), Nancy bought her first aircraft, a de Havilland Gipsy Moth. Soon after Nancy Bird and her friend Peggy McKillop took off on a barnstorming tour, dropping in on country fairs and giving joyrides to people who had never seen an aircraft before, let alone a female pilot. Whilst touring, Bird met Reverend Stanley Drummond. He wanted her to help set up a flying medical service in outback New South Wales. In 1935, she was hired to operate the service, named the Far West Children's Health Scheme. Bird's own Gipsy Moth was used as an air ambulance. She bought a better-equipped aircraft, and began covering territory not yet reached by the Royal Flying Doctor Service. She told others that it was rewarding but lonely work.

In 1936, Nancy Bird entered an air race from Adelaide to Brisbane, and won the Ladies' Trophy. In 1938 she decided to have a long break from flying. A Dutch airline company (KLM) invited her to do some promotional work in Europe, where she stayed for a couple of years. She returned to Australia soon after World War II broke out. She began training women in skills needed to back up the men flying in the Royal Australian Air Force. She was 24 when she married an Englishman, Charles Walton, and had two children. He preferred to call her "Nancy-Bird" rather than "Nancy", and she became generally known as "Nancy-Bird Walton". In 1950, she founded the Australian Women Pilots' Association (AWPA), where she remained president for five years. Nancy-Bird Walton became Patron of the AWPA in 1983 following the death of Lady Casey, the original Patron. In 1958, she decided to return to flying after a twenty year absence.

Throughout her life Walton was notable for her support of charities and people in need. This generous spirit saw her invested as an Officer of Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1966. She was later appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia. She was the starting block for generations of female pilots. She was never involved in an accident, despite the risks of early aviation.

The National Trust of Australia declared her an Australian Living Treasure in 1997.

The first Airbus A380 (VH-OQA) delivered to Australian airline Qantas was named in her honour. Her name on the A380 was originally written "Nancy Bird Walton", but Qantas respected her preference for the hyphenation that her late husband used ("Nancy-Bird"), and the hyphen was added before the aircraft's naming ceremony.

One of her last main interviews was for the feature length documentary film Flying Sheilas which provided a unique insight into her life along with seven other Australian female pilots.

On September 10, 2008, shortly before her death, Walton conducted a 45 minute interview for the one hour documentary A Very Short War.

On January 13, 2009, she died of natural causes at the age of 93.

Rolf Harris

Info courtesy of BL and White Hat
Image courtesy of Self Trading UK

Australia seems to have problems coming to terms with people whose talents span a number of areas, particularly if much of their reputation is made overseas. Ask the average Australian on the street about Clive James and they are likely to know him only as a TV presenter and be unaware of his achievements in poetry and other fields of writing. Similarly many Australians are likely to tell you that Rolf Harris is an old-school family entertainer from a previous era who is now embarrassingly out of fashion. Few would be familiar with his other achievements including important art programs for BBC television.

Rolf, the son of a Welsh immigrant couple, spent his childhood in Perth where he was to win an Australian swimming title. He trained as a teacher but was delayed from entering the profession through ill health. During his recuperation he decided to follow one of his other passions – painting. He sailed to England where painting earned him some income, but few – particularly people in their 20s - can make a living from painting alone. Rolf supplemented his income as a night club pianist and performing bit-parts on television.

His first major popular recognition was to come with the song Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport which he sang to the accompaniment of a 'wobbleboard'. It was probably the success of this piece of 'ocker' Australian humour of the time that was to create an image of Rolf that Australians later found difficult to expand to a second or third dimension. Later the music-hall appeal of his Jake the Peg (with his extra leg) item helped type cast him in many minds as a 'family entertainer'.

Over time, Rolf was to have a number of successful television programs in both Australia and the UK. Perhaps the song that best typifies Rolf is Two Little Boys. Rolf's recording of this Edwardian parlour song reached number 1 in the early 70s. Just as the best of Victorian and Edwardian parlour music can leave you wondering whether it is very good or very bad and whether you should be ashamed of the tear at the corner of your eye, so Rolf Harris can leave you feeling that maybe he is hopelessly daggy but you're a little ashamed to admit that he has awakened the inner child whose emotions are neither sufficiently fashionable or politically correct to acknowledge in 'sophisticated' company. It is common to regard the sort of artist that will perform such items in public as completely out-of-touch and thick skinned and to maybe even laughingly help generate a cult following for that performer. Not many consider that the artist may in fact have quite a thin skin but is prepared to perform against fashion. At the Glastonbury Rock Festivals of the 1990s it took little or no courage or originality for a group to wear outlandish costumes, use lewd language and break guitars. It took real courage for a Rolf Harris to walk out and sing a simple Edwardian parlour song to that audience. The courage was rewarded with a number of repeat bookings at that festival.

In recent times Rolf has returned to his passion for art. His program Rolf on Art has been one of the most popular and influential art programs ever produced by the BBC. Rolf never followed the profession of a teacher but now seems happiest as an educator who can communicate with the masses.

Rolf Harris is the sort of person capable of giving edutainment a good name. In the words of the poem written for his seventieth birthday by Clive James 'The world has learned from him, and I likewise.'

Samuel Marsden - The Flogging Parson

Info courtesy of ADB Online
Image courtesy of Esky Style NZ

Marsden was born in Farsley, near Pudsey, Yorkshire, the son of a Wesleyan blacksmith turned farmer. After attending the village school, he spent some years assisting his father on the farm. In his early twenties, he won a scholarship from the Elland Clerical Society to train as an Anglican priest. After two years at free grammar school he attended Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he was associated with the reformist William Wilberforce. While still studying, Marsden was offered the position of second chaplain to the Reverend Richard Johnson's ministry to the British colony of New South Wales on January 1, 1793. He married Elizabeth Fristan on April 21, 1793 and the following month was ordained by the Bishop of Exeter (having abandoned his degree). He travelled by convict ship to Australia, his eldest child Anne being born en route. Shortly after arrival in 1794 he set up house in Parramatta, 15 miles (24 km) outside the main Port Jackson settlement.

In 1800 he succeeded Johnson and remained the senior Anglican minister in New South Wales until his death.

Marsden was given grants of land by the colonial government and bought more of his own, which were worked, as was customary in Australia in the period, with convict labour. By 1807 he owned 3,000 acres (12 km2). Successful farming ventures provided him with a secure financial base, although attracting criticism for his becoming over involved in non-church affairs.

Marsden was appointed to the Bench of Magistrates at Parramatta, a role which attracted criticism within his own life. History has remembered Marsden as the "Flogging Parson" because, even by the standards of his day, he inflicted severe punishments. This view is disputed in some circles as part of an anti-clerical writing of history, in turn attributed to a dislike of Roman Catholics and the Irish.

Joseph Holt, an Irish priest and activist, left an account of a flogging ordered by Marsden:

The unfortunate man had his arms extended round a tree, his two wrists tied with cords, and his breast pressed closely to the tree, so that flinching from the blow was out of the question, for it was impossible for him to stir. Father Harold was ordered to put his hand against the tree by the hands of the prisoner, and two men were appointed to flog, namely, Richard Rice, a left-handed man, and John Johnson, the hangman from Sydney, who was right-handed They stood on each side of Fitzgerald; and I never saw two threshers in a barn move their flails with more regularity than these two man-killers did, unmoved by pity, and rather enjoying their horrid employment than otherwise. The very first blows made the blood spout out from Fitzgerald's shoulders; and I felt so disgusted and horrified, that I turned my face away from the cruel sight ...

I have witnessed many horrible scenes; but this was the most appalling sight I had ever seen. The day was windy, and I protest. that although I was at least fifteen yards to leeward, from the sufferers, the blood, skin, and flesh blew in my face as the executioners shook it off from their cats. Fitzgerald received his whole three hundred lashes, during which Doctor Mason used to go up to him occasionally to feel his pulse, it being contrary to law to flog a man beyond fifty lashes without having a doctor present. I never shall forget this humane doctor, as he smiled and said, "Go on; this man will tire you both before he fails!" During the time Fitzgerald was receiving the punishment he never uttered a groan; the only words he said were, "Flog me fair; do not strike me on the neck!" When it was over, two constables took him by the arms to help him into the cart. He said to them - "Let my arms go," and struck each of them in the pit of the stomach with his elbows, and knocked them both down; he then stepped into the cart unassisted as if he had not received a blow. The doctor remarked, "That man has strength enough to bear two hundred more."

The next prisoner who was tied up was Paddy Galvin, a young lad about twenty years of age; he was also sentenced to receive three hundred lashes. The first hundred were given on his shoulders, and he was cut to the bone between the shoulder-blades, which were both bare. The doctor then directed the next hundred to be inflicted lower down, which reduced his flesh to such a jelly that the doctor ordered him to have the remaining hundred on the calves of his legs. During the whole time Galvin never even whimpered or flinched, if, indeed, it had been possible for him to have done so. He was asked, "where the pikes were hid?" Galvin answered, that he did not know, and that if he did he would not tell. "You may hang me," said he, "if you like; but shall have no music out of my mouth to others dance upon nothing." He was put the cart and sent to the hospital.

According to Holt, two days later Marsden sent orders to the hospital that "Gavin is to be sent immediately to work at the cyane pepper mill."

In 1822 Marsden along with several other magistrates at Parramatta, was dismissed for exceeding his jurisdiction.

Early in 1804, Marsden christened the one year old George Lilly in Sydney's St. John's Parramatta church. Lilly later became the noted pioneer of Melbourne, Portland and Auckland.

In 1809, he was the first to ship wool to England from Australia, and is believed to have introduced sheep to New Zealand where he has a gentler reputation.

Arabanoo

Info and image courtesy of Convict Creations

Arthur Phillip kidnapped Arabanoo as part of a ploy to improve communication between the colonists and the natives. It is likely that Arabanoo imparted some of his characteristics upon his captors as it was noted that:

"If the slightest insult was offered to him, he would return it with interest and frequently turned a laugh against his antagonist."

Although a British captive, Governor Phillip was keen to impress Arabanoo with notions of English justice.

On one occasion, Phillip organised for Arabanoo to view the flogging of two Convicts caught stealing. However to the Governor's surprise, Arabanoo was horrified by the barbarity. He couldn't stand it and he let Phillip know it in no uncertain terms.

As well as being unimpressed with the British justice system, Arabanoo would not tolerate the British notions that the Aborigines were in any way inferior.

Yes Arabanoo was a rare gem and no ones mug. Arabanoo - a master of returning insults with interest.

John Simpson - The Humane Soldier

Info and image courtesy of Convict Creations

It is very fitting that one of the most celebrated Diggers in Australian folklore was no Rambo who shot everything than moved. To the contrary, he was a humanist by the name of John Simpson who disregarded orders, and his own safety, in his single-minded determination to save others.

Born in England in 1892, Simpson's humanist tendencies were first put on show at age of 13. When he saw two drowning children in the River Tyne, he dived in and saved them. He loved animals. He worked with horses and donkeys, kept rabbits and pigeons, and was often seen with a dog following him around.

He had a strong sense of responsibility to others. After his father died in 1909, he assumed the role of bread winner for his mother and sister. In 1910 he joined the crew of the SS Yeddo as a stoker and sailed for Newcastle, Australia. Without fail, he continually sent money home to his mother - irrespective of how much he needed it himself.

Although he was loyal to his family, in his work life he never showed a temperament which would have suited him to army discipline. When the Yeddo arrived in Newcastle, he deserted. For the next few years he worked a series of jobs such as cane cutting, cattle droving, and coal mining. He then joined the crew of the SS Yankalilla. The job took him to Fremantle where Simpson again deserted. Just 3 weeks after the outbreak of World War 1, Simpson enlisted.

There was nothing patriotic in his motivations. He had heard that the Australian forces were destined to do their basic training in England and by joining he believed that he could get a free passage home. Unfortunately for Simpson's plans, the army was diverted to Egypt. In Egypt, Simpson was allotted to the Field Ambulance as a stretcher bearer.

Eight months later he landed at ANZAC Cove, Gallipoli. Of the 1500 men who landed in the first wave, only 755 remained in active service at the end of the day. The sheer number of casualties necessitated that stretcher bearing parties be reduced in the size from 6 to 2. Simpson then decided that he could operate better by acting alone. He spied a deserted donkey in the wild overgrown gullies and decided to use it to help carry a wounded man to the beach. From that time on, he and his donkey acted as an independent team. Instead of reporting to his unit, Simpson camped with the 21st Kohat Indian Mountain Artillery Battery - which had many mules and nicknamed Simpson "Bahadur" - the "bravest of the brave".

The refusal to report to his own field ambulance post was a direct affront to his Commanding Officer's ego, not to mention considerations of military tradition, etiquette and discipline. For the first 4 days he was technically a deserter until his CO, seeing the value of his work, agreed to turn a blind eye to rules and approved his actions.

Simpson would start his day as early as 6.30 a.m. and often continue until as late as 3.00 a.m. He made the one and a half mile trip, through sniper fire and shrapnel, 12-15 times a day. He would leave his donkey under cover while he went forward to collect the injured. On the return journey he would bring water for the wounded. He never hesitated or stopped even under the most furious shrapnel fire and was frequently warned of the dangers ahead but invariably replied "my troubles".

For almost 24 days Simpson operated through the impossible conditions. After seeming to gain an aura of someone with divine protection, Simpson was killed. He was subsequently recommended for the Victoria Cross, twice, and the Distinguished Conduct Medal. The commander of the 4th Brigade, Colonel Monash, said:

"Private Simpson and his little beast earned the admiration of everyone at the upper end of the valley. They worked all day and night throughout the whole period since the landing, and the help rendered to the wounded was invaluable. Simpson knew no fear and moved unconcernedly amid shrapnel and rifle fire, steadily carrying out his self-imposed task day by day, and he frequently earned the applause of the personnel for his many fearless rescues of wounded men from areas subject to rifle and shrapnel fire."

Padre George Green, who led Simpson's burial service, later said :

"If ever there was a man deserve the Victoria Cross it was Simpson. I often remember now the scene I saw frequently in shrapnel Gully, of that cheerful soul calmly walking down the gully with a Red Cross armlet tied round the donkey's head. That gully was under direct fire from the enemy almost all the time."

Sgt. Hookway, his Section Sergeant, said of him:

"a big man and very muscular, though aged only 22 and was selected at once as a stretcher bearer... he was too human to be a parade ground soldier, and strongly disliked discipline; though not lazy he shirked the drudgery of ‘forming fours’, and other irksome military tasks."

Although Simpson had the respect of all those who knew him, his larrikin ways did not endear him to the authorities thus all nominations for posthumous decoration were declined. The lack of posthumous decoration probably bothered Simpson's admirers far more than it would have ever bothered Simpson. He just didn't have the character that sought recognition, decoration or awards.

Despite the lack of military decoration, the wider community elevated him to iconic status. He was seen to embody the ANZAC spirit of abandonment of everything except that which is important. In 1965, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the ANZAC landings, Australian stamps where issued depicting Simpson, his donkey and a wounded soldier. In 1967, the Australian Government released the ANZAC Commemorative Medallion. It depicted Simpson and his donkey. In 1995, the Australian five dollar commemorative coin was released. Again, it depicted Simpson, his donkey and a wounded soldier. In 1996, the Australian 100 dollar bill was released. It had Simpson and his donkey in the background.

While the stamps, the medals, and the currency have all helped immortalise his name, perhaps the commemoration that most befitted his character was a simple stone that replaced the cross over his grave in Gallipoli. It read:

JOHN SIMPSON
KIRKPATRICK SERVED AS
202 PRIVATE
J SIMPSON,
AUST. ARMY MEDICAL CORPS,
19TH MAY 1915 AGE 22
HE GAVE HIS LIFE
THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE.

Return of the Shadow People

Story courtesy of Drake Morpeth
Image courtesy of The Shadowlands

For years my parents would take all us kids to their cabin holiday house in rural Victoria. I remember there times where I would love nothing more than to go there - particularly as I got older and the family holiday notion began to dissipate.

But when I was 12, around the age where I was too old to be oblivious and enjoy the surrounds but too young to take holidays myself, I remember one of the scariest moments of life occurred out there.

While none of my siblings will openly testify to what we saw - largely because they too were scared like me and want to ignore it, this event did take place in the mind 1980s. i recall the details as clear as day.

Just on sunset one summer evening, two of my brothers and I were fishing on the dock. Where we fished was not really know for anything other than carp but we just liked the idea of fishing nonetheless and did it anyway. But the real action was not in the lake but across it, on the other side. One by one my brothers and I looked up to see it and it was as plain as the nose on your face.

We looked up from our lines and saw a steadily growing clasp of people all milling around near the shoreline in the trees just standing there, gawking at us. It was quite unnerving as it appeared like more and more were arriving until there was at least 50 people. My brothers and I fell silent. For we had been chatting away like old chooks most of the afternoon (probably why we never caught any fish) and we had no idea how long these people had been there.

One of my brothers whispered that these people may live in the area but I was certain that was not it. We had been coming out for years and never seen anyone out here. It was an acquired taste coming out to our cabin and it had been owned by my dad and his father before him. No, there was something more odd about all this.

I noticed upon closers inspection that none of these people had character or definition. It was liked they were rendered silhouettes or should I say shadows!

I have read since that shadow people have been seen and do exist but mainly resides in the peripheral vision. What I didn't get here was that this blossoming group of now nearly 100 people were quite clearly standing in front of us. They unnerving, unmoving and just ogling at my brothers and I.

It didn't take long for my youngest brother to pack it in and soon we all followed suit. We paced ourselves as we made our way back to our cabin. Finally I couldn't help but look back and as I did I noticed they had all disappeared!

I am not sure to this day who they were or what it was that I saw but suffice to say that the holidays at the cabin family ritual ended with Dad and we have since sold it. I have often wondered what those people wanted and from time to time nearly talk myself into going back out there - I am yet to summon the courage and doubt I ever will.

Roadside Ghosts #1: Robert

Info courtesy of 'Sceptic Maybe' as published on the website Your Ghost Stories
Image courtesy of Sam Lyssore

This is something weird that happened to me a couple of years ago, a bit scary and certainly strange. I know what I am about to share was not imagined as my wife was with me the whole way.

Coming back from a social function on a Saturday evening on a back road that helps us avoid the weekend traffic, I was startled to see a man running towards the road from a near by field. I slowed up at this point and despite my wife being a little worried and unsure I pulled up to see if I could be off assistance as he looked very much in need of help. There was nothing striking about this man, he wore blue jeans, a blue jumper type thing and large beard that gave him an older look however if asked I would put is age at about 50. As I said, my wife was put at unease by him; so much so, that she elected to stay in car with mobile phone firmly in hand should anything go wrong.

Upon meeting this man I was immediately struck by how white he was, especially as he had been clearly running across a large field. He was also shaking quite badly and in a frantic tone he explained how he had been in adjacent field picking mushrooms (really) when he was set upon by two youths, he said that they were quite vicious in their intent but he was able to shake them off and get away. He claimed that he ran towards the road in the mad hope off seeing someone and even when he felt the attackers had given up the chase he would not slow down until he came to safety.

At this point I was starting to have some misgivings about his story as I could not see physical evidence that he had been attacked, I could see that he had a fright sure but nothing more. Upon asking how I could be of help he broke down in tears and explained that in order to make his way home, he would have to cross back across the field from which he had just come from. I offered him the use of my mobile phone but he declined saying that he lived alone and did not really know anyone. This part was not so unusual as we live in a small rural community about 40 minutes from a major town, that he should be one of the many who have chosen to live in isolation in some country shack was not that unbelievable.

So which much hesitation and evil death stares from my wife I offered to drive him back to his place. He said that from this road it would only take about 5 minutes if we took a dirt track or about 10/15 minutes if we used the road, needless to say we took the road option, even I at this point was starting to get a bit jumpy about this mans possible intentions.

As we drove along the man who had told us his name was Robert, talked quite openly about when he had moved into the area, his ex wife and the fact that he had no children. He spoke a bit more on the attackers he claimed he had been victim to, saying that he would drive into town tomorrow and make a report. We got to his home, which as I suspected was nothing more then a shack. Robert thanked us and got out of car, I know at this point I saw him make his way toward the door but in response to a desperate tug on my arm from my wife I turned my ahead for a split second and when I looked back, you guessed it, he was gone. Not hearing a door open or shut I started to get a bit freaked out, my wife said that she was not watching him as she was more focused on getting the hell out of there.

Now in moment of madness, I told my wife to stay in car while I checked to see if he was okay. Despite threats of divorce I turned off the car and got out, my wife slid into the passenger seat and said if I was not back in 2 minutes she would drive off without me.

So to finish this post let me just say that when I checked there was no one around, the house was open and completely empty and it was so overrun with cobwebs and judging from the smell, rats as well. I called Roberts name and got no answer, no one home. There was a broken down shed out back but no car, this whole place had a deserted air and as my wife was now revving the engine I run back to the car and we sped off.

I got the cold shoulder for a little while and my wife and I very rarely speak on this, we did ask around but no one seems to know about place. I am a skeptic from way back but this has led me to believe all may not be what is seems, very weird and believe me all very real.

Jimmy Blacksmith

Info and image courtesy of Convict Creations

Jimmy Governor was a mass murderer who spent a number of months in the newly federated Australia killing people and taunting the police trying to catch him. He was involved in the death of nine women and children, the maiming of numerous others, and the rape of a teenage girl. He was caught on the 27th of October 1900 and hung on the 18th January 1901.

Perhaps Jimmy's memory would have faded into history had he not been part-Aborigine. His mixed-blood status inspired a sense of intrigue and sympathy that was not usually extended to mass murderers. People wanted to know why he did what he did. Some explained his actions as stemming from his Aboriginal heritage. Others explained his actions as stemming from cultural confusion regarding his mixed-blood status. Above all, there was a desire to redeem him and justify his actions.

The cultural confusion interpretation was popularised in Thomas Keneally's 1972 novel The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith. In Keneally's novel, Jimmie Blacksmith (Governor) was a mixed-raced individual trying to become more white. Such was his desire to breed out his blackness, he learnt the trades of whites, and married a white woman. Ironically, his wife gave birth to a completely white child, which indicated her infidelity. Heartbroken, Jimmie Blacksmith roamed the countryside murdering white women with axes in order to extract his revenge on the white society that would never accept him. The white women were symbols of everything that he had wanted, but had been denied due to racism.

Although Keneally's book was an interpretation of Jimmy's life, there were a number of differences between the book and the reality. Firstly, the catalyst for Jimmy's murderous rampage was not seeing his wife give birth to a white child. There was no evidence that her child was not Jimmy's. Secondly, it was not anger at his wife that drove Jimmy to seek revenge upon the white race. To the contrary, Jimmy alleged that the first swings of his axe were motivated by protecting her honour. Jimmy alleged that his wife had been insulted by a white women named Mrs Mawbey. To extract an apology, on the 20th July 1900, Jimmy and a mate named Jacky Underwood visited the Mawbey homestead armed with tomahawks and nulla nullas. At the homestead, they found Mrs Mawbey, her sister Elsie Clarke, a friend named Helen Kerz, and Mrs Mawbey's children. Rather than give Jimmy the apology he demanded, allegedly Helen Kerze said:

"Pooh, you black rubbish, you want shooting for marrying a white woman."

The two men then attacked the women and children with their tomahawks and nulla nullas. Mrs Grace Mawbey, and Helen Kerz were killed, along with Mawbey's children Grace (16), Percival (14) and Hilda (11). Elsie Clarke was seriously injured. A boy named Bert managed to escape. He fled to his father's camp site and raised the alarm.

Jacky Underwood was soon caught. Jimmy was joined by his brother Joe Governor and the two became self-styled "bushrangers." The two brothers went on a fourteen-week, 3219 km murdering rampage. A feature of the rampage was that no able-bodied man was ever targeted. Instead, the Governors' victims were old men, children, infants, pregnant women, teenage girls, middle-aged women and elderly women. It was believed that all the victims were all in some way related to people that the Governors held a grievance with, or people who Jimmy's wife had asked him to kill on her behalf.

As well as targeting those least able to defend themselves, the Governors taunted police. They gave the police clues about their whereabouts so that the Governors could publicly outwit them. It seems as though they had been inspired by other bushrangers that took delight in making the police look like idiots.

On the 13th of October, Jimmy was shot in the mouth by a hunter. In a weakened condition, he was caught on the 27th of October.

At his trial, Jimmy was given a lawyer and the chance to state his defence. He blamed his wife, his mate Jacky and his brother Joe for goading him into becoming a bushranger. He also blamed the Mawbey family. Although they hadn't directly said anything racist to him until the night he killed them, they had giggled at him, and his wife told him they had said racist things to her. When taking the witness stand, Mr Mawbey said that he had always got on well with Jimmy Governor and never made any derogatory comments about him or his wife. He also said that he had never heard the women victims make derogatory comments, but conceded that they might have.

Governor was found guilty, laughed and said everything would be ok because he would go to heaven. His execution date was delayed for two months due to Federation festivities. He was then hung on the 18th of January 1901.

When Thomas Kenneally wrote The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith in the 1970s, he took the approach that Jimmy must have been psychologically mixed up to do what he did. Kenneally used racism to explain Jimmy's psychological turmoil. While it is comforting to believe that someone who violently kills others is crazy, for most of human history a similar kind of inhumanity has been part of respectable society and a feature of people considered "normal". For example, in France's revolutionary era, people used to gather with their lunch to watch criminals being beheaded. Likewise, in Australia's colonial era, men were tied up and flogged until their backbones were exposed through mangled flesh. Aboriginal cultures also had quite brutal ways of delivering justice. In a Complete Account of Settlement, Watkin Tench records an Aborigine named Bennelong asking the colonists to accompany him as he set out to chop the head off an Aboriginal woman. The woman in question was the daughter of a man that had affronted Bennelong on the battlefield, and in Bennelong's mind, cutting off her head was a form of justice. For Bennelong, his feelings were so normal that he wanted to tell the governor that he was about to deliver some justice. (See below.)

Rather than be the actions of a man driven insane by his mixed heritage, Jimmy Governor's actions were more likely to be the actions of a man fusing two cultures in a way that gave him a sense of status. At the time, a large section of colonial society celebrated bushrangers. The bushrangers were seen as courageous, intelligent and patriots that defied the English. Jimmy and his brother probably wanted to share that fame. Before the attack on the Mawbey family, Jimmy used to boast that if he were a bushranger, he would take some catching. When he informed his wife that he wanted to be a bushranger, she laughed and said, â€œyou are not game to go.â€ He responded by smashing all the plates in his camp, and heading off to the Mawbey homestead to prove his wife wrong.

The Governors' targeting of women and children may have been their way of evoking the maximum outrage that would in turn result in the most fame. There was little doubt that they would have been pleased to know that a reward of Â£1000 each had been placed on their heads, and that 200 police as well as 2,000 civilians were hunting for them. Taunting police may have been an additional way to push the reward even higher. After his capture, he proudly boasted about the homes he had robbed, the people he had bailed up, and the murders he had committed.

The status of being a bushranger was fused with Aboriginal concepts of justice that allowed retribution to be inflicted on a relative of a foe rather than the foe themselves. Perhaps in the Governors' eyes, when they sunk their tomahawks into the heads of women and babies, they were delivering justice in traditional Aboriginal style.

In a way, Jimmy Governor achieved all that he hoped for. He gained fame. He struck fear into the hearts of anyone who had ever looked down upon him, he gained immortality and he has gained admirers. Despite the fact that he killed nine people and raped a child, people today feel that his story deserves consideration with sympathetic, compassionate and respectful eyes. These admirers justify Jimmy Governor's actions with the adage of an eye for an eye. In truth, it was more like an eye for a scratch and a life for a giggle. Ghandi he was not.

The Captain's Lady - Mary Ann Bugg

Info courtesy of Convict Creations
Image courtesy of Barry Mor & TPG

In the novel, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, author Thomas Kenneally built a horror story around the struggles of a mixed heritage identity. Based upon the true story of Jimmy Governor, Kenneally weaved a stereotype of two cultures that just couldn't mix. While Jimmy Governor may have had some trouble reconciling his mixed heritage, the bushranger Mary Anne Bugg certainly did not.

Mary Ann was born near Gloucester in New South Wales in 1834. Her father was a ex-Convict named James Bugg. Her mother was an Aboriginal woman named Charlotte. The blending of Aboriginal and European features made Mary an extremely beautiful lady, a beauty she would exploit later in life.

In addition to giving her beautiful features, Mary's mixed heritage allowed her to gain a diverse set of skills that helped her immensely. From her mother, Mary learnt how to survive in the Australian bush. She learnt how to make shelter and find food. From her father, Mary gained the opportunity to go to boarding school where she learnt to read, write and carry herself like a refined European lady. Her ability to carry herself like a lady, or live like a bushman, gave Mary the ability to seamlessly slip between worlds.

At the age of 14, Mary married a shepherd named Edmund Baker and the couple moved to Mudgee. The couple were employed by a Mrs. Garbutt whose son James was involved with a cattle thief named Frederick Ward. Mary and Ward probably formed an instant attraction to each other.

In 1856 Frederick Ward and James Garbutt were sentenced to Cockatoo Island prison for ten years for receiving stolen horses. They served only four years and were released with Tickets of Leave. Ward returned to the Garbutt's station for Mary Ann and with her young child, she accompanied Ward to Dungog. (Mary's husband had died while Ward had been in gaol.)

In October 1861, Ward was again arrested for horse theft and again imprisoned on Cockatoo Island. Two weeks later Mary Ann gave birth to their first child; a girl named Marina Emily. As soon as Marina was weaned, Mary placed both her child in care and moved to Balmain (near Cockatoo Island) where she found employment as a housemaid under the name Louisa Mason. She then swam to Cockatoo Island with a file for Ward to cut through his chains. After swimming to freedom, the couple moved to the Hunter Valley where Ward became the bushranger Captain Thunderbolt.

Despite having three children by March 1866, Mary Ann was a valuable asset to Ward and the gang. Her European training in the refined art of being a lady enabled her to venture into townships to purchase supplies or gather information about police, coach movements or the latest gossip without arousing suspicion. Her Aboriginal knowledge of bushcraft enabled her to find food and shelter in the mountainous terrain. This included some masculine pursuits, such as catching and butchering cattle.

Although she was an extremely talented lady herself, she was also gained a great deal of pride from her association with Ward. On several occasions she referred to herself as the 'Captain's Lady' and held her head high when she said so. With her help, Ward gained the opportunity to evade capture fr six years, far longer than most bushrangers of the era. Furthermore, from Mary, Ward learnt how to read and write. In addition to being a supportive wife, Mary was also a loving mother. Despite being on the run, she endeavoured to spend as much time as possible with her children as did Fred Ward.

Three times she was charged with receiving stolen goods. On one occasion, Fred Ward rescued her from a station where she was being held. On another occasion, she served three months of a prison sentence before an outcry in Parliament saw her released. In all likelihood, her feminine charms touched some of the gentleman of the colony.

It is not clear exactly how Mary Ann died because two death certificates have been found. One scenario is that while in jail, Ward betrayed her for another woman, Louisa Maison. Distraught at his treachery, Mary Ann gave police information to aid his capture. She then left the area to marry a man named John Burrows. A death certificate showed that Mary Anne Burrows, daughter of James Brigg & Charlotte, died on the 2nd April 1905, aged 70 years.

However 'Louisa Maison' is the name Mary Ann reportedly used while working in Balmain. Furthermore, her information to the police proved useless. For this reason, her story of Ward's betrayal might have been a mere smokescreen that helped Ward evade capture, and allowed her to leave the gang so that she could spend time with her children without fear of police persecution.

In 1867, a grieving Ward approached a Mrs. Bradford and told her a woman was dying. Ward asked that Mrs. Bradford care for her and if not, report the circumstances to the police. Mrs. Bradford subsequently found the woman, took her to the house where she died. Soon afterwards the newspapers were reporting that Louisa Mason, alias Yellow Long, had died of pneumonia. Yellilong had been Marry Anne's alias in Aboriginal communities. If Louisa Mason and Mary Ann had indeed been the same person, it seems that knowing she was dying, Mary Ann had left her children to spend her final weeks with Ward in the Australian wilderness.

A further twist is that Mary's fourth child was registered in early 1868, with Fred Ward named the father. In the Tamworth Circuit, Frederick Wordsworth Ward was registered to Frederick & Mary Ann Ward. Perhaps the birth of the fourth child may have contributed to her death or perhaps Mary hadn't died at all. Mary's ability to slip between worlds had made much of her life a mystery, and it seems her death as well.

Harry Redford or Henry Readford?

Info courtesy of Longreach Bush Legends
Image courtesy of Wiki Images

Mention the name Harry Redford in Longreach and you're sure to be greeted with tales from local residents that have been handed down from their parents and grandparents.

During the last 117 years, the man has become something of a local legend.

Although writers have, to date, written about Harry Redford, recent evidence presented by Patrick McCarthy in his book 'The Man who was Starlight', has proven that Redford's name was in fact Henry Readford. But whether he be Redford or Readford, to local residents he has come to be more popularly known as 'Captain Starlight' - a ficticious name drawn from the Australian classic 'Robbery Under Arms'.

Boldrewood based his central character Captain Starlight upon a combination of bushrangers of that period, as well as the renowned cattle duffer - Henry Readford.

He became part of outback folklore when in 1870, in the company of two others, he set out from 'Bowen Downs' with about 1000 head of stolen cattle.

The cattle were overlanded through largely unexplored country, travelling along the Barcoo River and Cooper Creek as well as the Strezlecki Track into South Australia. The mob included a white bull which was to prove something of a problem to Readford. He sold it at Hill Hill Station in South Australia so that he could purchase supplies from the station store. The bull was later shipped back to Queensland as evidence against Readford at his trial.
From Hill Hill Station, Readford continued on to Blanchwater Station where he decided to sell the entire herd. The group moved south to Adelaide from where Readford made his way back to the eastern states. As to the whereabouts of his two companions, this is still unknown.

After his return to the east, Readford faced charges of cattle stealing, the trial being held at Roma, Queensland. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty, thus ending one of the most daring escapades in recent history.

Readford's most famous legacy in the Longreach district is 'Starlight's Lookout' also known as Cassidy's Knob. On this hill which rises gently over the surrounding plains, Readford is purported to have placed a man to keep watch while they were gathering the Bowen Downs cattle together for their epic journey.

Francis Greenway

Info courtesy of Wikipedia
Image courtesy of State Library

Francis Howard Greenway (November 1777 - September 1837) was an English architect who was transported to Australia for the crime of forgery. In Australia he worked for the Governor, Lachlan Macquarie, as the colonial architect and became the first notable architect in the colony. Much of his work is still standing and has been heritage-listed.

Greenway was born at Mangotsfield near the English city of Bristol, son of Francis Greenway and Ann, nee Webb. Greenway became an architect "of some eminence" in Bristol and Bath. His only remaining building in the United Kingdom is the Clifton Club in Bristol, originally the Clifton Hotel and Assembly Rooms. He also designed Christ Church Downend near Mangotsfield (see Gomme an Architectural history of Bristol and church website). In 1809 he became bankrupt, and in 1812 he pleaded guilty "under the advice of his friends", to forging a financial document and was sentenced to death; this sentence was later commuted to 14 years transportation. Why he pleaded guilty is not now certain; he may have been told it was the only way to save his life. He had been friendly with Admiral Arthur Phillip, who was living in retirement at Bath, and Phillip wrote to Lachlan Macquarie, recommending Greenway to him.

Greenway arrived in Sydney, New South Wales on the transport General Hewitt in February 1814 to serve his sentence. He commenced work as a colonial architect by designing a geometric stair for Ultimo House. Greenway first met Macquarie in July 1814 and it was during this meeting that Macquarie suggested he construct a town hall and courthouse, giving Greenway an instruction book to follow. Greenway was so offended by this that he responded with a letter declaring his skills and quoting Sir William Chambers that his Excellency should utilise the opportunity for a classical design.

"Immediately copy the drawing Your Excellency requested me to do, notwithstanding it is rather painful to my mind as a professional man to copy a building that has no claim to classical proportion and character."
Francis Greenway

Between 1816 and 1818, while still a convict, Greenway was responsible for the design and construction of the Macquarie Lighthouse on the South Head at the entrance to Port Jackson. After the success of this project he was emancipated by the Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, and in the role of Acting Civil Architect and Assistant Engineer responsible to Captain J.M. Gill, Inspector of Public Works, went on to build many significant buildings in the new colony.

Greenway's works include Hyde Park Barracks, the Government House and what is considered to be his masterpiece - St James' Church, Sydney (chosen as one of Australia's only two man-made 'treasures' by Dan Cruickshank in the BBC series Around the World in 80 Treasures). There are still 49 buildings in central Sydney attributed to Greenway's designs.

Greenway fell into disrepute when Macquarie accused him of charging high fees whilst on a government retainer, and he was dismissed by the next governor, Thomas Brisbane, in 1822. He continued to follow his profession with little success. Although he got his grant of land, he does not appear to have received the promised cattle.

In 1835 he advertised that "Francis Howard Greenway, arising from circumstances of a singular nature is induced again to solicit the patronage of his friends and the public". In other words, he was destitute.

Greenway died of typhoid near Newcastle in 1837, aged 59. The exact date of his death is not known. He was buried in the Glebe Cemetery at East Maitland on 25 September 1837, but his grave is unmarked.

The Leyland Brothers

Info courtesy of Wikipedia
Image courtesy of Punch

The Leyland Brothers (Mike and Mal), were Australian explorers and documentary film-makers, best known for their popular television show, Ask the Leyland Brothers. The show ran on Australian television from 1976 until 1984.

By the age of 21 Mike was a news cameraman at NBN and at age 18 Mal was working as a cadet at Newcastle's now defunct newspaper The Sun.

Their first regular TV series, Ask the Leyland Brothers, ran on Australian television from 1976 to 1980, and again from 1983 to 1984. The show often provided Australian viewers with their first look at outback Australia.

A following documentary series called Leyland Brothers' World appeared on Australian TV. Rather than viewers writing in and asking the Leyland Brothers to visit a particular place in Australia and provide information about it as in "Ask The Leyland Brothers", it focused on exploration by the Leyland Brothers in Australia and featured a double-decker bus.

They are considered by many to be the pioneers of outback Australian documentaries.

RM Williams

Info courtesy of Sol Walkling
Image courtesy of Vrroom

To survive in the outback it helps to be a jack-of-all-trades. Reginald Murray Williams was born over a century ago, in May 1908, and it was during one of his first jobs in WA - helping to establish a mission for Aboriginals - that he found the inspiration for his life: the Indigenous Australians' mastery over their environment.

His job descriptions were as varied as the outback is vast, ranging from horse breeder to miner to stonemason, author and entrepreneur. If it hadn't been for a chance encounter with a man known as Dollar Mick, who knew how to make pack saddles, RM would've likely stayed a very successful (but far lesser-known) well-sinker.

Together with Dollar, he perfected the art of boot making using only a single piece of leather, before opening a workshop in Adelaide. His skills must have been rather extraordinary as his first overseas order came from no less than the King of Nepal. In combination with a successful gold mining venture at Tennant Creek, his business quickly turned RM into a multi-millionaire.

He must have been quite a sight when he staggered down the street to the bank with bags of gold, shotgun on each side. He passed away in 2003, aged 95, as the nation mourned the end of an era.

Martin Cash - the only bushranger to die in his own bed!

Info courtesy of Culture and Creation
Image courtesy of Jeanette Kumara

Martin Cash was convicted in county Cork, in 1820, for jealously firing at a suitor to his young mistress. Soon after arriving in Botany Bay in 1828, he was working as a farmhand, innocently branding cattle, when he was told that the cattle were stolen.

Cash immediately left for Van Dieman's Land with his partner Bessie Clifford. Twelve months later, after two false accusations which were dismissed in court, he was convicted for beating the arresting officer and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment.

After two unsuccessful attempts at escape which added years to his sentence, Cash finally escaped and formed one of the marauding gangs in Van Dieman's Land - committing 'hold-ups, shootings, robberies, fights and brawls'. Eventually, after they falsely arrested Bessie, he was lured into Hobart Town where he was captured.

Bushranger to constable, 1850s - 1878

Sent to Norfolk Island, Cash became a model prisoner and served only 10 years of his life sentence before he was released. While on Norfolk Island, he married Mary Bennett with whom he returned to Tasmania. Norfolk Island was closed down and its prisoners transferred to Tasmania. Cash was made a constable in July 1854, and on September 19 was granted his ticket-of-leave.

Back in Tasmania, he was appointed as overseer of the gardeners in the Government Domain and built a house on 160 acres of land at Glenorchy. Unfortunately, their only son Martin, born in 1855, died of rheumatic fever in 1871. Cash was said to have died of a broken heart in 1878 in his own bed.

Hairy Mary of the Pilliga

Story and image by Dane Millerd

Conjecture and controversy has been rife for years over what Hairy Mary is or if she even exists. Depending on what side of the Great Divide one resides also has a lot to do with it as well. Still, there is some compelling evidence.

Legend has it that Hairy Mary was once a woman not unlike any other - dutiful, caring and ambitious until a combination of cataclysmic events shaped her forever and drove her to a life of squalor. Hairy Mary absconded to the Pilliga and became a wild woman and a prostitute.

One story as retold to this author centres around a truck driver picking up Hairy Mary and violently forcing himself onto her. She was never the same after being broken in such a devastating manner. Hairy Mary let herself go in a way no one could have imagined.

She let her hair grow to unkempt lengths as it went more matted, her skin became weathered, her teeth frayed and her disposition more tempestuous and aggressive. She withdrew into herself and the surrounds of the Pilliga and would act out against many motorists - particularly truck drivers as the years passed.

Another legend has it that Hairy Mary would be quite polite and an exemplary passenger when picked up by motorists. Aside from her stench, her manners could never be brought into question by some. One truck driver told us how he gave her a lift all the way to Brisbane and back without drama.

It is not know what has happened to Hairy Mary now or if she still lives in the Pilliga but one thing is for sure, the legend lives on!

The Postcard Bandit

Info courtesy of Amazing Australia
Image courtesy of The Astrology Place

During the 1990s Brendan Abbott traveled around Australia for years robbing banks in the days when police in different states could not yet see the point of working together.

All Abbott had to do was move from state to state to elude capture and felt that confident he even used to tease the authorities by sending them postcards.

After a career spanning a decade and reportedly stealing about five million dollars he was finally captured in Darwin, NT in 1998. He was sentenced to thirty years maximum security at Longland jail in Brisbane and early November 2003 went on a hunger strike for one day claiming to be a political prisoner.

He also has lawyers travelling to the U.S. to try and exploit some United Nations legislation. Later a movie, titled The Postcard Bandit with Tom Long, was made of his escapades, though some criticized this as romanticizing a violent criminal.

Yes the Postcard Bandit, like him or not, is as much a apart of our landscape as the cockatoo or the kangaroo.

Fred Lowry and John Foley

Info courtesy of Hill End Family History
Image courtesy of Ned Kellys World

Thomas Frederick 'Fred' Lowry was born in 1836 near Fish River about 30 miles from Bathurst. He was well known in the district as a stockman and a fine horseman. His description was: height 6'2", raw boned and of awkward build, very long arms, long light coloured hair, small beard, small head, small and angular features, walks with an awkward gait.

A warrant was issued for his arrest in 1862 for horse stealing, so he took to the bush. He became a full-time bushranger and horse thief, operating in the Abercrombie Ranges, west of Goulburn.

On New Years Day 1863 Fred and John Foley held up the crowd at a race meeting on the Brisbane Valley, near the head of the Fish River. A young man named Foran rushed Lowry who shot him in the chest, but despite his injury Foran wrestled Lowry and held him until other people apprehended him.

Lowry was taken to Bathurst and held pending the charges against him. With this offence carrying a penalty of Capital Punishment, Lowry escaped with several other prisoners on February 13th.

He went over to the Weddin Mountains area near Grenfell and became involved with Mickey Burke, Patsy Daley, John Gilbert, Ben Hall, John O'Mealley and John Vane. Up until August 1863 they bailed up travellers and robbed stores between the Lambing Flat goldfields and Cootamundra. It is believed that in June he and Gilbert were responsible for fatally shooting a miner named McBride on the diggings and stealing his valuables.

Later on July 13th, 1863 Fred Lowry with Foley and Larry Cummins held up and robbed the Mudgee Mail Coach on 'Big Hill', west of the Blue Mountains. They took £5,700 in old bank notes from Mr Henry Kater, the manager of the Mudgee branch of the Joint Stock Bank. Mr Kater was left to wonder how they had known he was carrying such a large amount of money.

Foley was arrested early in August and he was tried at Bathurst and received fifteen years hard labour. He was later transferred to Darlinghurst Gaol for the remainder of his sentence.

On August 29th, Senior Sergeant Stephenson was informed that Lowry was at the 'Limerick Races Hotel' on Crooksvale Creek, which was about 50 miles from Goulburn. With three troopers he set out for the hotel where Lowry and Cummins had themselves locked in a room. Stephenson called on them to surrender and then tried to force the door. At the same time Lowry fired through the door then flung the door open, standing there with a gun in each hand. Stephenson and Lowry fired a couple of shots at each other with Lowry being hit in the throat. Lowry dropped his revolvers and the Sergeant grabbed him and held the struggling Lowry until one of the troopers could help him. Lowry was then pulled out into the yard and handcuffed. Stephenson returned to the room where he found Cummins hiding under the bed. Cummins surrendered quietly with no resistance.

When Lowry was examined it was found that he was bleeding internally. Lowry rallied long enough to ask one of the troopers to pray for him and to 'Tell 'em I died game'. Lowry died at 7.00 am on August 30th, 1863 at the age of 27. He had £150 of the stolen Mudgee Mail money in his pockets when he died.

At The End Of His 'John' Rope

Story and image by Dan Ledlimer

Not long after first settlement, many from the colony spread themselves far and wide across the country. Some illegally and others within adherence of the laws of the new nation that was Australia.

Around the time of colonisation in the Mudgee region of NSW, a man by the name of John Rope first introduced the Gallows to the community and was instrumental in the day-to-day runnings of the executions and the punishment handed down by the courts. Considered by all to be a good man, Rope had no known enemies.

Yet as is often the case, things are never so straight forward. In the case of John Rope it was anything but.

Upon getting himself in trouble with the law, Rope was also sentenced and hung from a rope by the very gallows he introduced to the town. Rope was indeed at the end of his rope and so too it seemed was the magistrate.

Aboriginal Life in Australia

* A look into Aboriginal life and culture through the ages.

Rex Gilroy and Australian Cryptozoology

* No single person has polarized public opinion on cryptozoology more than Rex Gilroy. To some he is an expert, to others he is anything but. Regardless, there can be no denying his dedication and knowledge of all things Australian.

Eric 'Epic' Rolls

Info courtesy of Susan Wyndham
Image courtesy of the Watermark Literary Society

Rolls, nearly more than any other author, was known for his celebration of the Australian landscape and way of life. His second wife Elaine van Kempen, who originally joined him as a research assistant after the death of Rolls' first wife, used to call him 'Epic' Rolls. Rolls was close to finishing his final book two days before his death from pancreatic cancer.

The book, with the working title An Unknown People, suggests that Aborigines settled, fished and farmed the land thousands of years before European colonists arrived.

"Eric is an almost revolutionary figure in Australian literature. He was always prepared to challenge ideas," said his widow, Elaine van Kempen.

"He doesn't belong to me or the family; he belongs to Australia more than any other writer."

Rolls was born in 1923 to a farming family at Grenfell, NSW, and after serving in World War II farmed for 40 years in the State's central-west.

A poet, historian, gastronome, environmentalist and romantic, he published more than 20 books, including a two-volume history of Chinese immigration, but it was his book 'A Million Wild Acres', his 1981 history of the conquest and destruction of the Australian wilderness that was his 'masterpiece', according to historian Tom Griffiths.

"It was such an original voice and made such an impact. He was really a very significant Australian writer."

Rolls and van Kempen moved 13 years ago to North Haven, overlooking the Camden Head River on the northern NSW coast and helped found the Watermark Literary Muster, a biennial festival about writing on nature and place.

While Eric 'Epic' Rolls may have passed, the legend lives on forever.

The Stranger On The Shore

Info courtesy of John Pinkney
Story by Ely Rassoms
Image courtesy of Flikr

Australia is full of mysteries and this one is no different. On December 1st, 1948 a body was found on an Adelaide beach propped up against a wall. The man who found the corpse, jeweller John Lyons, had walked past the man only the day before as he laid in the same spot trying to light a cigarette. It was the beginning of a mystery that has never been solved.

In this era the West was at loggerheads with the Soviet Union and tensions were high. Upon examination of the body and numerous citizens trying to verify the corpse (but largely hoping it may be some loved one they were missing in their lives) came even more baffling leads. Why were all the labels cut off his clothing? Where was his wallet? What had killed him? An autopsy pointed to poisoning but no trace of poison could be found. The list went on and on.

Australian Defence Force authorities were worried it may have been a sign of things to come and as a result ordered South Australian detectives to report everything they found. There were more clues like a ticket purchased to Henley Beach, a bus fare to Glenelg and some unclaimed luggage at an Adelaide Station cloakroom that revealed a suitcase with knives, scissors, stencilling brush and slivers of zinc - implements used by third officers on merchant ships. There was also identical clothing to that being worn by the man also in the suitcase. Inside the shirt and pants were the initials T. Keane. One ship captain thought it to be Tommy Keane, a colleague of his. Alas, he and his crew thought otherwise upon attempting to verify the body.

As time passed and more leads turned up even more dead ends, another canvas of the clothed corpse found an obscure piece of paper torn from a book in a fob pocket. It had two Persian words on it - TAMAN SHUD which translated in English to the eerie phrase - THE END.

Later it would be discovered that the torn paper was from a book thrown onto the bonnet of a doctor's vehicle. The book was 'The Rubaiyat' by 12th century astronomer and poet Omar Khayyam. The doctor only came forward when he heard police pleas on the local radio for help. In the back of the book were a series of codes, verses, initials and numbers that even the best military experts in Canberra could not decipher. Anxiety between the West and the Russians was heightened as the story made news all over the world.

Police became so desperate that they even hired the services of local Adelaide taxidermist Paul Lawson to make a 3D plaster cast of the man - without success! All attempts had been fruitless and it was concluded (years after the body was first discovered) that the mystery man should be buried in secret. He was.

In 1982 a hotel receptionist from the time at the Strathmore Hotel on North Terrace came forward with some more information about who the man may be when she claimed she had seen the man in question at the hotel she worked at the day before. She hadn't come forward at the time as it 'wasn't the done thing to do when you were just a receptionist. There was no conclusive proof and receptionists were meant to be discreet.'

The mystery man she said, was immaculately dressed and spooky-looking she had claimed. In fact other staff were so worried about the man that a secret search of his room was ordered revealing a black medical suitcase with a hypodermic syringe. Had the man taken his own life after a failed affair or relationship? Had he been forced to inject himself? Was he a spy who had been murdered? Who removed his labels? Who wrote the verse and code on the back inside cover of the Omar Khayyam book? And who had thrown the book onto the doctors car?

We will never know.

The Shiek of Scrubby Creek - Chad Morgan

Info courtesy of www.chadmorgan.com
Image courtesy of Wordpress

Chad Morgan one of the last pioneers of Australian Country Music, and is still very active, touring Australia bringing his comical songs to fans of three-generations. The man who has been making people laugh for more than five decades should be crowned King of Australian Country Music Comedy.

Chad, known fondly as 'The Sheik of Scrubby Creek', released his first album in 1952 and is renowned for his vaudeville style of comic country and western songs, his prominent teeth, and goofy stage persona. Chad is the ultimate comic of Australian country music. He is instantly recognizable with his unique trademark - THOSE TEETH!!

He is a master of audience control and remains one of the biggest draw cards in the history of Australian Country Music. Tex Morton once described Chad as the only original country music artist in Australia.

When Gordon Parsons came up with the pub with no beer, Chad's the bloke who wrote the words down and even one verse of his own. He was dubbed the clown prince of comedy by Slim Dusty. Chad has platinum and gold album sales, and is one of Australia's most popular and loved country music artists. He has played all over Australia in all of manner of places, from tents to trucks to clubs and pubs, festivals, the Sydney Opera House - even a touring circus!!

Chad portrays Aussie culture WARTS AND ALL - and we love him for it. Since 1952 Chad's been performing a unique array of comic country and western songs. He was inducted into the TAMWORTH HANDS OF FAME in 1979. Chad was also the first person to be honoured with the LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD at the 2010 CMAA Awards.

Outback Apparitions: The Ghost of Ernest Giles

Info courtesy of B. Lightyear, Tim the Yowie Man and Trove
Image by Daniel Dreml

In 2005, Byron Bay resident Mr. B. Lightyear told all and sundry that he was going to head with his then girlfriend to Uluru.

"I planned it for a while and I thought that's it - I'm gonna do it," Mr. Lightyear said.

But the real story here is about the strange happening on a salt plain near Lake Gairdner in outback South Australia.

"As I was driving with my girlfriend I looked out on the salt bed and saw a man on horse.

"Being a reader of early explorers and history I recognised it as European explorer Ernest Giles and his horse Chester - a horse Giles would later have to shoot while roaming the outback," said Lightyear.

"I pulled over and found myself walking over onto the salt pan creek bed and suddenly I started to feel fatigued and sweaty - like Ernest looked when I first noticed him.

"The missus took some photos and soon we were on our way again," quipped Lightyear.

"Since then I often think about what I saw and I am certain it was the ghost of Ernest Giles!"

Harry Butler

* One of the pioneers of Australian bush television - Harry Butler talks pythons.

Man in a Melbourne mansion

Info and image courtesy of Vicky from Victoria

When I was young, we still lived in a large house on the outskirts of Melbourne in quite a large neighborhood. The things that happened in that house are memories that will remain with me throughout my lifetime. While my mother was downstairs, she was getting some laundry out of the dryer. As she went to pull the basket over to get the laundry, it was on the other side of the room.

This happened continually, until she became too frightened and decided to just forget about the laundry. As she walked up the stairs, there are double doors made out of wood. As she happened to walk past them, they began to rattle and shake for no apparent reason. Naturally my mother froze, and as she stood, the shaking of the doors grew to a pulling. All I knew was she came upstairs petrified and crying.

She still tells the frightening tale, and every time she does I think of the evil within that eerie house. But that was not the only thing that had happened. Soon enough, my mum gathered all the facts to try and see just what could have been wrong with this house. Sure enough and after some research, she found out that the man who had lived there before us had murdered his wife and put her under our front porch. Those wooden doors that were shaking were from the cellar, which leads down under the porch. I guess the wife still wanted to be heard and was trying to get my mothers attention.

Of course I'd had my share of scares there, too. I would look out from the shower curtain, and see a short male standing in front of the sink. Then he'd turn to look at me and vanish. I wouldn't get that scared, but now that I think about it...it's pretty terrifying.

Suffice to say we didn't spend much time in that house and I left the man in the Melbourne mansion alone. I drive past there sometimes and I still get the shakes. No one has lived there for years for I believe the secret is well and truly out.

Slim Dusty

Info courtesy of www.slimdusty.com.au
Image courtesy of MP3

The Slim Dusty Story started back in the 1940s on a remote dairy farm in the hills behind Kempsey, NSW, when a 10-year-old boy dreamed of being a country music singer. His name was David Gordon Kirkpatrick... he called himself "Slim Dusty" and began to live that dream.

But even the most optimistic farm boy would never have imagined the life that was to unfold... a life that would establish Slim as the voice of the nation, the chronicler of Australian history in song.

Slim managed to hold on to those early visions of writing and singing about the bush because during his lengthy career, he always stayed in touch with his audience. And he did this in a very real and meaningful way, so much so that his fans would feel that Slim was one of their mates and his songs "just a good yarn you might hear from a mate at the pub, around a campfire in the bush or at a back yard barbie".

He described his music as "songs about real Australians... I have to be fair dinkum with my audience. I can't see any other way of doing it," he said. "You have to believe in what you are singing about."

Slim Dusty was the first Australian to have a number one hit record and the only Australian to ever receive a 78rpm Gold Record (for A Pub With No Beer in 1958)...

He was the first Australian to have an international record hit and the first singer in the world to have his voice beamed to earth from space (astronauts Bob Crippen and John Young played Slim's recording of Waltzing Matilda from the space shuttle "Columbia" as it passed over Australia back in 1983).

During an amazingly successful career spanning over six decades, Slim's continued popularity saw him rewarded with more Gold and Platinum Awards for sales of his singles, eight-tracks, cassettes, CDs, videos and DVDs... more than any other Australian artist!

He received an unequalled 37 Golden Guitar Awards, two ARIAs (Australian Recording Industry Association awards), inductions into the ARIA Hall of Fame and the Australian Country Music Roll of Renown.

Slim was recognised for his long time services to Australian entertainment with an MBE and an Order of Australia. In 1999, Prime Minister John Howard named Slim Dusty Australia's Father of the Year and Senior Australian of the Year.

Slim sadly passed away at the age of 76 on September 19, 2003, but the Slim Dusty legend continues.

King Togee of the Butheroe Tribe

Info supplied by Coolah Community site and Australian Explorer
Image of Roy Cameron with Lands Council members courtesy of Coolah NSW

For those with a keen interest in Aboriginal history, the grave of King Togee is to be found 29 kilometres west of Coolah on the left-hand side of the Neilrex Road, just past the 'Langdon' homestead.

There is a weather-worn sandstone headstone surrounded by four white posts with sign overhead reading 'Togee King of the Butheroe Tribe'.

King Togee was friendly with the early settlers, well-liked and respected by aborigines and whites alike but alas his popularity like many good leaders, was not universal.

Togee was eventually eliminated and is alleged to have been speared to death by a young man named Cuttabush, who later became the king of a Coonabarabran sub-tribe.

The Gilgandra Land Council decided that the site of the Togee Headstone was of sufficient importance to warrant the upgrading of the site. The Land Council constructed a weather shelter and information board.

Springheel Jack

Info courtesy of Weird Encyclopedia and Tom Frye
Image courtesy of Blackheath Bugle

Although predominantly seen in the UK, Springheel Jack sightings have cropped up all over the world from England in the Victorian era, to the USA to Australia. Yet while there may be variations on the legend and discrepancies of descriptions there can be no denying there are some eerie commonalities. Very eerie.

THE HISTORY OF SPRINGHEEL JACK

Victorian England houses many different strange spectres and paranormal events, but perhaps the most puzzling are those involving Springheel Jack. Jack's strange appearance and superhuman abilities lead investigator's to believe he is more then a mere man.

Jack first appeared in September 1837 in London, England, when he attacked three women in the dark of night. One of the victims, Polly Adams, reportedly had her blouse torn off - allowing Jack to scratch at her stomach with his ironclad fingers. The victims later described Jack as a tall, thin, and powerful man who wore a dark cloak, and had glowing eyes and the ability to spit blue flames. The next month, apparently the same creature assaulted one Mary Stevens, who described him as possessing a rather diabolical appearance and a decidedly cold and clammy touch - which she experienced because the entity was actively trying to kiss and grope her.

Jack got his name, however, for further attacks which occurred that same month, when a similar figure to the previous assailant molested (or attempted to molest) several more young ladies throughout London. In more than one instance, the offending figure was seen to escape pursuers by leaping away to safety - in one instance, over a nine-foot wall.

Attacks continued and London's Lord Mayor, Sir John Cowan, declared Springheel Jack a menace in January 1838. A vigilante group soon formed to capture Jack but he was able to escape all attempts of detainment.

Perhaps the most infamous attack occurred on February 20, 1838, in London. Late that night a strange figure stood at the gate of a home and yelled out, "For God's sake, bring me a light, for we have caught Springheel Jack in the lane!" Within moments, eighteen-year-old Jane Alsop ran outside with a candle and confronted the figure. Alsop claimed the figure was enveloped in a large cloak and spit blue and white flames. The man grabbed the young girl and clawed at her dress with his sharp fingers. Aslop's sister ran to her aid and dragged her inside the house. Strangely the attacker knocked on the door several times and waited for a response before he finally left, after the sisters called for help. During his escape Jack dropped his cloak - which was quickly picked up by an apparent accomplice.

Yet another attack took place on February 28 when Miss Lucy Scales was attacked at about 8:30pm while traveling through an alley. She was assaulted in much the same way as the previous victims but her encounter left her with seizure-like fits. Surgeon Charles Pritchel later told authorities that she "was suffering from hysterics and great agitation, in all probability the result of fright."

In most respects the attacks ended with these reports. Various theories have been concocted about the origins of Jack, ranging from those as mundane as a simple would-be rapist and troublemaker, to an alien being with gravity-defying powers.

MODERN DAY SIGHTINGS

ARGENTINA 2005
Info courtesy of Scott Corrales from Above Top Secret

Witness claim it stands two meters tall, is entirely clad in black and wears a balaclava; it sports a cape and its eyes shine red according to the information received by researchers. This character is able to cross the streets by leaping from one rooftop to the next, taking acrobatic leaps that can be of up to five meters high and ten meters long.

"He looks like the cat man," say some locals. "His outline is barely visible, his figure. He never showed his face, but they say they've seen his eyes and that they have a reddish cast."

In an interview with Radio 10, Sheriff Gabriel Legstra acknowledged that "there is a widespread psychosis. In recent days we have received hundred of reports at our radio command center."

"On Tuesday I dispatched 18 units to assuage people's fears. But ultimately there is no other crime than tresspassing here. The character goes from one roof to the next, appears inside a house, has pressed his face against a window but hasn't attacked anyone."

The psychosis is growing among residents of southern Santa Fe in spite of having never been attacked. Police confirm that in recent days calls have multiplied, reporting a man leaping from one rooftop to the next "like a madman".

According to Diario La Capital, he first appeared in Barrio Centenario, only meters from the Colon Stadium, but they say he was seen closer to town, such as in El Arenal, San Lorenzo, Chalet and Santa Rosa de Lima. This is the area most affected by the 2003 floods.

In any event, despite the intense combing of the area by dozens of officers, police were unable to find the character, but advised the public to remain calm, since there are reports within the force that some local residents directly tried to shoot the entity to death.

Mystery grew when several witnesses said that "bullets won't do anything to it. Its eyes gleam red when it it mocks those who try to hunt it."

A resident of El Arenal claimed having fired 17 times against it without bullets having the least effect, while the ghost did nothing but provoke it, howl like a beast or cry like a child, making dance steps on the rooftops over which it treads like a cat.

"People are afraid of being attacked, beaten and robbed by this man. They fear he will break into their property and are defending themselves," say those in Regional Unit 1 who in turn describe the locals as "expectant and armed with knives and sticks."

OTHER SIGHTINGS

While Local Legends has tried valiantly to get some people to go on record no one appears to be interested in attracting more or unnecessary attention to themselves or the Springheel Jack legend. Of the three people we spoke to from various parts of Australia each, unknown to the others, confirmed similar stories to those from England and Argentina.

The witnesses confirmed the extreme leaping, gravity-defying acrobatics, reddish eyes and tall, masculine physique. Each also said they would be glad if they never saw it again. Interestingly, one was from Queensland, the scene of some of the worst disasters of the modern era including floods and Cyclone Yasi, another was from rural Victoria, seen of the Black Saturday bushfires and the last was from Sydney, NSW. No link has been made to that witness or scene as yet.

* Watch this space for more.

Flying Humanoids and Morph Beings

Info courtesy of Unknown Creatures
Image by RW Benjamin

Some say they are normal people, others believe Flying Humanoids are just that - flying humans from out of this world!

Witnesses throughout the world have explained two distinct cases of this phenomena - those humans that fly with bat-like wings (similar to the Mothman) and those that fly unaided without any wings. Accounts of this creature vary but one disturbing commonality is the sound it makes from normal speech, robotic sounds, terrifying screams, hissing, rumbling like rockets or some type of engine, flapping like wings and even singing. The Flying Humanoid can do what a human can and then some.

CASES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

CASE #1
In the first reported case in 1877 a man observed what looked like a human male with bat-like wings, soaring over buildings in Brooklyn. NY, about 3 years later there were multiple reports of the same creature flying over Coney Island, Brooklyn, the being was noted as having a very stern or evil look to his face.

CASE #2
In 1953 in Houston, Texas three people saw a winged creature land in a nearby tree. As they went to investigate they saw it was a man dressed in black clothes. One of the witnesses said he was surrounded by an aura of light.

CASE #3
In 1956, in Falls City, Nebraska, a witness saw a winged man flying only about 15 feet above the ground. The wings were the color of aluminum and had different colored lights along their undersides, they had a span of roughly 15 feet. The man had skin that appeard to be very old or wrinkled, and abnormaly large blue eyes. The man, or creature had a face that was very scary, almost devil or demonic looking. As the creature flew over the witness, the witness reported he became paralyzed and could not move, until the creature was out of sight.

CASE #4
In the late 1990s in Wee Waa, NSW people described seeing a flying object in the sky. This event was written off as a 'nothing to do in a small country town' report. Closer examination proves otherwise. Depending on what direction you faced, some witnesses described seeing a ribbon like object, others were sure it had wings and limbs. One person claimed to have been so close that he had seen its eyes as it dipped above the tree line of the Pilliga West State Forest.

CASE #5
On Jan 17, 2004 in Guadalupe, Mexico at 3:15 am a police officer was patrolling on Alamo Street when he saw what at first was a black mass, like a thick dark cloud desending slowly, it rolled and turned as it desended, when the mass touched the ground it transformed into a woman. The woman wore a black dress, and had black hair. The police officer then, put the patrol car in reverse, as he did the woman started walking towards him, it then tumbled and flew at a fast speed, impacting against the cars winshield. The woman stared at the police officer, and he noticed she had no eye lids, and the whole eye, including the normaly white parts, were black. At this time, the police officer raised his arms over his face and fainted, when he came to, the creature was gone.

Once the story of the police officer's sighting was made public, 3 other police officers reported they saw the same creature, three days earlier.

Strangely, occultists and demonologists refer to 3.15am as the 'bewitching hour' which makes the Mexico sighting even more spooky. Could the Flying Humanoid exist? Is it a Morph Being or a Mothman?

We may never know.

The Wild Colonial Boy - John Donohoe

Info courtesy of ADB Online
Image courtesy of About NSW
Drawing by Sir Thomas Mitchell

DONOHOE, JOHN (1806?-1830), bushranger, was born in Dublin and there convicted on April 3, 1823 of 'intent to commit a felony'. Sentenced to transportation for life, he reached Sydney Cove on January 2, 1825 in the Ann and Amelia. He was assigned to John Pagan of Parramatta and then, after a short period in a road-gang, to Major West, a Parramatta surgeon who owned an estate at Quaker's Hill.

On December 14, 1827 with two confederates, Kilroy (Kilray or Gilroy) and Smith, he robbed a number of bullock-drays on the Sydney-Windsor road. Tried on two counts in the Supreme Court in February 1828 before Judge John Stephen, they were found guilty and, with perhaps superabundant justice, on March 1, twice sentenced to death. Kilroy and Smith were duly hanged (once), but Donohoe escaped from custody between the court and the gaol in Sussex Street.

During the next two years and a half he became the most celebrated bushranger in Australia, leader of a gang which included at various times, Webber, Walmsley, Underwood and others. They ranged over country from the Bathurst area south to the neighbourhood of Yass, east to the Illawarra, and north through the County of Cumberland to Wollombi on the southern approaches to the Hunter River valley.

In the official notices which fruitlessly offered Â£20 for his apprehension, Donohoe was described as '22 years of age, 5 feet 4 inches (163 cm) in height, brown freckled complexion, flaxen hair, blue eyes, and has a scar under the left nostril'. In the late afternoon of September 1, 1830 a detachment of soldiers and police came up with the gang in the Bringelly scrub near Campbelltown. During the ensuing fight Donohoe urged the police to 'come on, using the most insulting and indecent epithets'. He was killed by a ball fired by Trooper Muggleston.

Donohoe's courage won him many admirers, and as 'Bold Jack Donohoe' his name (pronounced 'Donahoo') for decades afterwards was as well known as those of the later Ben Hall and Ned Kelly. A Sydney tradesman fashioned a line of clay pipes, the bowls of which were moulded to resemble Donohoe's head, bullet-hole and all. While his body lay in the morgue, (Sir) Thomas Mitchell made a handsome pencil drawing (now in the Mitchell Library) of the head and shoulders and to this was added a quotation from Byron

No matter; I have bared my brow.
Fair in Death's face - before - and now.

Many ballads about Donohoe's life and death were composed and some still circulate in oral tradition. The most popular may have been the prototype of the best-known Australian folk-song, 'The Wild Colonial Boy'; in all its extant versions the fictional hero, Jim Doolan, Jack Dubbin, John Dowling et al., preserves Donohoe's initials.

The Ghost With The Wellington Boots

Story courtesy of LL Staffers
Info courtesy of Bill Chalker and Trove
Image by Dan Ledlimer

We are all aware of the Fernvale Prophecy that occurred in the late 1920s but more mysterious still are the number of apparitions that occur in the region. The Ghost With The Wellington Boots is but one of them.

This story was retold by one Cecil McGann from the same period when he was a young boy.

"Mum was always the first up. When she awoke she saw the front and back doors were open. When she established everything was alright, we all went about our chores for the day," said Cecil.

"As they all returned to the house the mystery deepened when my mother said she had seen footprints all through the house, room by room. The muddied prints looked big, like a Wellington boot!"

"This happened over two nights and no one could figure out why the family dog hadn't barked. Normally, no one could come anywhere near the house without setting the dog off. This did."

The family never heard the noises again nor saw the prints and the cows wouldn't return to the back paddock either.

Eddie Sigai is Croccy Balboa

Info courtesy of LL Staffers
Photo by DT

Australians have always loved the story of an underdog who had succeeded against all the odds. They love a story of an up-and-comer and they relate well to tales of batlers and survivors. Eddie Sigai is just that. A man who battled against all odds not just for his own survival but that of his precious daughters. He had to fight off a 10 foot saltwater crocodile to do it though.

Hailing from Weipa in far central northern Queensland, Sigai, 37, was swimming with his two daughters Jennifer, 17, and Monica, 12, at a creek last week when the salty hooked onto his left hand and dragged him under the water.

"This is it, I thought to myself - I'm dead, but it's surprising what you can do when all you can think about is the safety of your children," Mr Sigai said.

"It grabbed my (left) hand and pulled me underwater so I was sitting and all I can remember is grabbing it, shaking it, punching it and going for its eyes."

The trio had been at the creek for around three to four hours before the attack on Saturday, February 6, 2011.

Jennifer said she felt "something big" glide past her and placed her hands on what she believes was the crocodile's shoulder or torso. Monica said she felt the beast's tail swipe her back as it made a beeline for her dad.

While both girls still dream about the horror of the attack, oldest daughter Jennifer said the moment still kept her awake at night.

Mr Sigai, who has been swimming at the same spot since he was a child, recalled watching a documentary a few years ago about another man who survived a crocodile attack by gouging its eyes. The tactic stuck with him and appeared to have worked.

Mt Sigai was unable to drive, so Jennifer climbed behind the wheel and drove her injured and bleeding father to Weipa Hospital.

After a few days he was discharged and has now earned the nickname - Croccy Balboa, after the famous movie Rocky, by Sylvester Stallone about the hard on his luck, come good boxer, Rocky Balboa.

The Cains of Burra Bee Dee

Info and image courtesy of Heritage NSW

Burra Bee Dee Mission was founded in 1908. In 1892 Mary Jane Cain, who originally lived on the river bank close to town, used to run goats there and she would share her time between there and Forky Mountain. It was this that eventually made Mary Jane Cain and husband to build a place out at Forked Mountain for her to stay. Mary Jane Cain wrote to Queen Victoria on numerous occasions requesting that the land was to be granted to her. Queen Victoria granted that Burra Bee Dee or part thereof be handed to Mary Jane Cain and Queen Victoria requested that Mary Jane was to manage the property and was required to provide a place for the Aboriginal people to live on.

The land there was later reserved for Aboriginal use and in the early 1900 was brought under the control of the Aboriginal Protection Board and became a managed station. Burra Bee Dee Aboriginal Reserve was gazetted on the 21st February that year, it was made of three reserves in existence one of 400 acres 1892, one of 73 acres from 1906 and one of 100 acres 1911 other major camps in the Coonabarabran area there were not under the Board control included the showgrounds and Gunnedah Hill.

Burra Bee Dee was originally known as Forky Mountain after the hill that dominates the landscape. The mountain was the reason for Mary Jane Cain visited the place to shepherd her goats back to Coonabarabran. The land which was originally granted to Mary Jane Cain was officially known as Forky Mountain until the name was changed to Burra Bee Dee somewhere around 1911. The significance of the name Burra Bee Dee is an Aboriginal word meaning flying mice. Just as the Mountain is a significant and organising feature of the landscape it is often a significant and organising feature of the language, the stories of Burra Bee Dee. Forky Mountain was significant to the people of Burra Bee Dee as it was a birth place, a place for burials and a food source.

The first hut on the mission was built by Mary Jane Cain husband which was a boarded house with tin and bark and a dirt floor. With the influx of Mary Jane's extended family and other families from around the district peoples dwellings ranged from bag houses made of Hessian bags, tents, and bark and kerosene - tin shacks. To the two roomed fibro houses built during the peak of the managers days. The shacks were built in clusters and added to went needed. The clusters were known by the women who ran them Granny Cain, Queenie's place and Granny Fuller's. The only houses built in rows facing the road were the five or six fibro houses that the government built in later times.

Not only was the Burra Bee Dee mission used by Aboriginal people as a place for dwelling other areas such as Gunnedah Hill and Coonabarabran Showground were also other places of dwelling. Although neither groups in the beginning liked each other they all eventually ended up living at Burra Bee Dee.

In 1924 two women came to Burra Bee Dee as Missionaries. They lived and worked with the people for 30 years and were very much an institution in Burra Bee Dee life. Mr Marney one of the Burra Bee Dee residents built the church for the missionaries to live in on the mission. The women held sewing classes which every year they held a show. Church was held every Sunday morning with Sunday school in the morning for the children and church of an afternoon.

The White Mouse - Nancy Wake
Nancy_Wake_(1945)-WEB.jpg

Info and image courtesy of Wikipedia

Nancy Grace Augusta Wake, AC, GM (born 30 August 1912) served as a British agent during the later part of World War II. She became a leading figure in the maquis groups of the French Resistance and became one of the Allies' most decorated servicewomen of the war.

Wake's family moved to Sydney, Australia in 1914. She was two years old at the time, and the youngest and most independent of six children. Later, her father left the family to return to New Zealand, leaving her mother to raise the children.

In Sydney, she attended the North Sydney Girls High School. At the age of 16, she ran away from home and worked as a nurse. With £200 that she had received from the will of an aunt, she journeyed to New York, then London where she trained herself as a journalist. In the 1930s she worked in Paris. Later she worked for Hearst newspapers' European correspondent. In 1939 she witnessed the rise of Adolf Hitler, Nazis, and saw the violence towards Jews, gypsies, blacks and protesters on the Paris streets and in Vienna.

Later, in 1939 she met wealthy French industrialist Henri Edmond Fiocca, whom she married on 30 November. She was living in Marseille, France when Germany invaded. After the fall of France, she became a courier for the French Resistance and later joined the escape network of Captain Ian Garrow. The Gestapo called her the "White Mouse". The Resistance had to be very careful with her missions as her life was in constant danger and the Gestapo were tapping her phone and intercepting her mail.

By 1943, she was the Gestapo's most-wanted person, with a 5 million-franc price on her head. When the network was betrayed in December 1943, she had to flee Marseille. Her husband Henri stayed behind where later, unknown to Nancy, he was captured, tortured and executed by the Germans. Wake had been arrested in Toulouse, but was released four days later. She succeeded, on her sixth attempt, to cross the Pyrenees to Spain. After reaching Britain, Wake joined the Special Operations Executive and, on the night of 29–30 April 1944, she parachuted into the Auvergne and became a liaison between London and the local maquis group headed by Captain Henri Tardivat. She coordinated resistance activity prior to the Normandy Invasion and recruited more members. She also led attacks on German installations and the local Gestapo HQ in Montluçon.

From April 1944 to the complete liberation of France, her 7,000 maquisards fought 22,000 SS soldiers, causing 1,400 casualties, while taking only 100 themselves. Her French companions, especially Henri Tardivat, praised her fighting spirit; amply demonstrated when she killed an SS sentry with her bare hands to prevent him raising the alarm during a raid. During a 1990s television interview, when asked what had happened to the sentry who spotted her, Wake simply drew her finger across her throat. On another occasion, in order to replace codes her wireless operator had been forced to destroy in a German raid, Nancy Wake rode a bicycle for more than 500 miles (800 km) through several German checkpoints.

Nancy Wake is a worthy local legend if ever there was one!

Rare Humans - Aussie Darwin Award winners

Info courtesy of Darwin Awards
Image courtesy of Inbonobo

RARE HUMAN #1 - CRACKER MAN IS NUTS

In Illawarra, Australia in 2003 something very rare occurred and the Cracker Man was born. While parents often warn that firecrackers can blow your hand off, a 26-year-old Australian learned, they can also remove your gonads from the gene pool.

An ambulance rushed to an Illawarra park after receiving reports that a man was hemorrhaging from his behind. The mercifully unidentified man had placed a lit firecracker between the cheeks of his buttocks, stumbled, and fell upon it.

"We do caution people against these acts," said Acting Senior Sergeant John Klepczarek of the local police.

Emergency surgeon Dr. McCurdie said the resulting wound looked like "a war injury." The explosion was forced upward, "blasted a great hole in the pelvis, ruptured the urethra, and injured muscles," rendering the man incontinent as well as sexually dysfunctional. He survived to tell the tale, and was nominated for a 2003 Darwin Award.

RARE HUMAN #2 - THE MAN WHO SHOULD'VE ASKED

(September 7, 1990, Sydney, Australia) Men seem to have an affinity for large trucks. What else can explain the actions of a 34-year-old thief who decided to take possession of the engine of an old Bedford tip-truck?

The truck was parked outside a glass recycling company in Alexandria. It generally takes three men to lift an engine block of this size, but our enterprising pilferer decided that the best way to remove the engine was from below, rather than the conventional out-the-top-with-a-crane technique.

He crawled under the cab and began to loosen the bolts.

Suddenly the engine block broke loose and landed on his face, killing him instantly. Police ascertained that he had at least one accomplice, judging by the pool of vomit found under a nearby bush.

An employee discovered his body early the next morning. The manager said that the truck was about to be scrapped. "If he had come and asked me for it, I would have given it to him."

RARE HUMAN #3 - THE MAN WHO WANTED TO BE A FISH

"Fish-Impersonation Deaths On the Rise in Melbourne"

(November 29, 1995, Australia) The badly decomposed remains of Neil Wilson of Melbourne were discovered in a paddock near Toolondo Reservoir. Neil's death was shrouded in mystery, tragedy, and a fish suit.

Local law enforcement officials said the 49-year-old man was wearing a "heavy green plastic bodysuit," constructed from old waterbed material. The suit, from which one could only be extricated painstakingly after unfastening a full-length zipper along the spine, constricted his legs into one mermaid-esque tail. The only openings, aside from the zipper, were two eye-holes.

Neil's garb, enclosing his entire body like a maritime mummy costume, restricted his breathing as well as his movement. He was discovered in this attire, which the Melbourne Fish Costume Bureau stresses was "not approved," less than a kilometre from Toolondo Lake. He apparently had attempted to swim home.

A second yellow-colored suit was found in his garage.

The psychological motivation for Neil's fatal excursion remains unclear. Police have learned that he was taking medications for epilepsy and diabetes at the time, and speculate that his behavior may have had a chemical basis, but locals have their own theories about the aquatic abberation.

"He wanted to be a fish," disclosed one unnamed resident, recalling incidents in which Wilson would swing from a rope while wearing the suit at the lake. Other comments from the Australian community included "bollocks" and "criminey."

Wilson's death brings the Melbourne fish impersonation fatality toll to one, up infinity percent from zero in the previous year.

RARE HUMAN #4 - DEADWEIGHTS
Every March 18, the start of the Victorian Duck Shooting season frequently ushers in a speedy reduction in the number of Australian duck shooters - and without the assistance of the anti-duck shooting lobby.

At the Cairn Curran Reservoir near Castlemaine in central Victoria, a group of duck shooters set forth on an adventure in a small aluminum dinghy. This 3-metre craft is termed a "tinny" for it's cheap aluminum design. This particular tinny was rated to carry 3 adults.

Instead it was carrying George and his three friends, all from Melbourne. And it was carrying George's son, six shotguns, and 3 crates of ammunition at 25kg each. The tinny found itself loaded with over 500kg. With all that gear and flesh onboard, there was no room for life jackets, so they were left behind in the car. Instead the men were wearing their waders, and waders act like lead weights if they fill with water. It is virtually impossible to swim wearing them.

If this story teaches you nothing else, let it teach you this - always wear life-jackets.

About 300 metres from shore, the boat capsized, pitching its contents into the water. Three men were rescued by boaters to live until another day's stupidity. George and one friend were less lucky. They were found dead, both wearing waders and Darwin Awards.

Sadly the son, who was too innocent to win, also died.

David Gulpilil

Info courtesy of Gulpilil Films and IMDB
Image courtesy of Alphamega

David Gulpilil Ridjimiraril Dalaithngu (Gurlpilil is linguistically correct though he is sometimes credited as David Gumpilil; was born July 1, 1953). He is an Indigenous Australian traditional dancer and actor. His first starring role was Walkabout. A portrait of Gulpilil by Craig Ruddy won the 2004 Archibald Prize, Australia's best known art prize.

He is a Yolngu man of Mandhalpuyngu language group. As a young boy, Gulpilil was an accomplished hunter, tracker and ceremonial dancer. Unlike many Indigenous people of his generation, Gulpilil spent his childhood in the bush, outside the range of Anglo-Australian influences. There he received a traditional upbringing in the care of his family.

He attended the mission school at Maningrida in Australia's North East Arnhem Land. When he came of age, Gulpilil was initiated into the Mandhalpuyngu tribal group. His skin group totemic animal is the eagle and his homeland is Marwuyu. After appearing in his first film, he added English to several tribal languages in which he was already fluent.

His other films include The Tracker, Crocodile Dundee, Rabbit Proof Fence, Storm Boy, The Proposition, Ten Canoes and The Last Wave among many others. He is considered an icon of the Australian Film Industry.

A documentary about his life, Gulpilil: One Red Blood, was aired on Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 2003. The title comes from a quote by Gulpilil: "We are all one blood. No matter where we are from, we are all one blood, the same."

His most recent work as an actor was his major role in Baz Luhrmann's Australia (2008).

He has returned to his country to live as a respected Elder.

Ronald Ryan - the last man hanged in Australia

Info and image courtesy of Executed Today

At 8am in Melbourne on February 3rd in 1967, as a moment of silence was observed across Australia, Ronald Ryan was hanged in Pentridge Prison for killing a guard during a prison break. He would be the last man put to death in Australia.

Ryan, a small-time thief, broke out of that selfsame Pentridge Prison's lower-security districts with fellow-prisoner Peter John Walker late in 1965, prompting a high-profile holiday season manhunt.

Still, with capital punishment fading in Australia - and especially in Victoria, where nobody had hanged since 1951 - even the jury that doomed Ryan thought its sentence was strictly pro forma. Eleven of them later joined nationwide petitions for clemency when Liberal Premier Henry Bolte made plain his intention to let the hanging go forward.

Though Bolte did in fact gain seats at the next polls, the anti-hanging campaign had a breadth hard to comprehend forty-plus years later.

A media witness recalled that he 'came away from Pentridge Prison in 1967 firmly opposed to capital punishment,' and some form of that sentiment seemed to take throughout Australia. Its state and federal governments abolished their various death penalties over the ensuing generation.

Ryan's hanging 'ensured that no government anywhere in the country would politically risk imposing the death penalty again' the criminal's biographer said.

Ryan's attorney, Philip Opas, has continued to maintain his man's innocence.

Sean No Good or Waygood?

Info courtesy of cracked.com
Image courtesy of Quentin Jones

Sean Waygood worked as an occupational health and safety adviser for a Sydney freight company, and by all accounts, his life was even more boring than his job description.

THE PUBLIC PERSONA
Waygood's co-workers used to jokingly call the tedious and fussy Waygood "Major Pain" due to the man's four-year stretch in the army and the stick made from reinforced diamonds shoved up his ass when it came to workplace safety. While not working or spending time with his girlfriend and two kids, Waygood also helped out at the nonprofit organization Wesley Mission. The man was Ned Flanders.

THE SECRET IDENTITY
If based on the Nacho Libre entry you thought these were all going to be heartwarming stories, we want you to brace yourself. See, when Waygood wasn't busy softly hugging orphans to sleep or admonishing his co-workers for smoking in the break room, he performed the duties of a professional hitman for one of the biggest criminal networks in Australia.

According to an eight-year police investigation, he might be responsible for up to nine brutal murders on behalf of known mob boss Tony Perish.

Waygood and Perish met in 2000 when Waygood was a bouncer $100,000 in debt to the career criminal. To avoid taking a personal tour of the nearest harbor in cement sneakers, he started doing hits for Perish, which came pretty easy to him, considering Waygood's past experience as a freaking highly trained army commando.
His known contracts include gunning down a man in front of a pub and trying to kill Felix Lyle, a member of the Bandidos outlaw motorcycle club, which later inspired Sons of Anarchy. But the murder that finally got Waygood arrested was that of fellow criminal and Perish's rival Terry Falconer, who in November 2001 was visited at his house by Waygood, Perish and a third person, all dressed as police officers. Falconer's dismembered body was found in seven plastic bags in the Hastings River.

After the arrest, the cops searched Waygood's house and discovered -- hidden right under his family's noses the entire time -- a collection worthy of a small battalion of sociopathic killers, including: Rubber face masks and wigs; 3,000 rounds of ammunition; A bolt-action rifle; A rifle with a silencer; A Ruger Mini-14 rifle; A machine pistol; A .22-caliber pistol; A Luger pistol; A .38-caliber pistol; Bulletproof vests ... one piranha gun ... and creepiest of all, loads of police uniforms and fake badges that enabled Waygood to pose as a member of any police force in Australia (state or federal).

We don't even want to know where he got those ...

Ion Idriess

Info courtesy of Delarue
Image courtesy of Farm 4

Ion Llewellyn Idriess, better known as Jack "in the bush," was an Australian author. His writing drew on his own experiences as a prospector, bushman and soldier. He travelled extensively around Australia, including the Torres Strait Islands, and fought in World War I.

Idriess was born at Waverley, NSW, in 1889. He authored more than 50 books over 43 years from 1927 to 1969 - an average of one book every 10 months. These could be loosely described as "Australiana", but that one word can cover a multitude of topics. He wrote books of travel, recollection, biography, history, anthropology and futurology. None of these were fiction, but all were written in a narrative, "story" style. Many of the historical works interwove documented and oral history with cultural research and imagination. He also wrote political pamphlets and text books for miners and soldiers.

Idriess wrote his last book at the age of 79. Challenge of the North is an amazing collection of ideas for developing the north of Australia - a tour around the coast north above the Tropic of Capricorn. In the poignant Foreword to this book, Jack passes on the baton - To the Younger Generation of Australians:

"This may be my last book (though I'll keep going while I have a kick left in me) and I have written it above all for the younger generation of Australians ... there are unlimited possibilities and untold rewards and satisfactions for those who devote their brains and skills to Australia's development.

"Our young people must become continent-minded fast; for there is plenty of high adventure awaiting them - adventure as fascinating as that being found by the wonder men who set the astronauts on voyages of discovery into space. For we are opening up the Last Continent and our vision shows breathless possibilities...

"The next hundred years beckon with wonders to be discovered ... You, the younger generation, and your sons and your daughters, must adventure into new fields ... Good health and questing minds to you."

Dick Smith

Info courtesy of Wikipedia
Image courtesy of The Best News Website

Dick Smith, AO (born Richard Harold Smith) on March 18, 1944, is an Australian entrepreneur, businessman and aviator. He is the founder of Dick Smith Electronics, Dick Smith Foods and Australian Geographic, and was selected as the 1986 Australian of the Year.

In 1983 Smith published the book "The Earth Beneath Me" which described his solo helicopter flight around the world. Two documentaries were also filmed during the flight, and a third one soon after. In 1986, Smith founded the magazine Australian Geographic, a National Geographic-style magazine focusing on Australia. Smith didn't want to greatly expand Australian Geographic, but his friend and CEO Ike Bain convinced him to change his mind and soon it was a thriving business.

Smith learned to fly in 1972, graduating to a twin engine Beech Baron. In 1976 he competed in the Perth to Sydney air race. At the age of 34 he purchased his first helicopter, a Bell Jetranger. With it he made a record-setting flight from Sydney to Lord Howe Island and return, 1185 km. The helicopter opened new opportunities for exploring places otherwise inaccessible. In 1978 he found the wreck of the Kookaburra aircraft, which crash-landed in the Central Australian Desert in 1929.

Smith's admiration for the early aviation pioneers led him to successfully attempt the first solo helicopter flight around the world. His flight began in Fort Worth, Texas, on August 5, 1982, in a newly purchased Bell Jetranger 206B. On August 19, the 50th anniversary of James Mollison's solo crossing of the Atlantic, he arrived at Balmoral Castle, United Kingdom where he met Prince Charles. From there he flew to London, where, later that day, the first stage of his flight ended, after 11752 km. The second stage of his flight started in London on 13 September, and finished in Sydney, Australia, October 3, 1982, 23092 km later. On May 25, 1983 the final stage of the flight started. Not being granted permission to land in USSR, he arranged to land on a ship to refuel. His journey ended on July 22, 1983, the 50th anniversary of Wiley Post's solo aeroplane flight around the world on July 22, 1933.

Smith has been a vocal advocate for the civil aviation industry in Australia. He served as Chairman of the board of the Civil Aviation Authority from 1990 to 1992; and Chairman of the board of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority from 1997 to 1999.

Smith was Chairman of the Council for the Centenary of Federation from December 1996 to February 2000, a position he was appointed to by the then Prime Minister, John Howard.

In February 2000, Smith and his co-pilot John Wallington became the first people to successfully complete an east-west crossing of the Tasman Sea by balloon, from New Zealand to Australia against generally-prevailing winds.

On January 7, 2006, Smith flew his Cessna Grand Caravan from Sydney to Hari Hari on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island to mark the 75th anniversary of the first solo trans-Tasman flight by Guy Menzies in 1931.

On Tuesday August 26, 2008, Smith with his wife, Pip completed a two and a half year drive by vehicle around the world of over 40,000 kilometres.

Smith is also responsible for a brand of matches called Dickheads - a direct competitor with foreign owned brand Redheads.

Alby Mangels

* The original Aussie adventurer and an inspiration to many ...

Crocodile Dundee: Paul Hogan

Info courtesy of Wikipedia
Image courtesy of IMDB

Born October 8, 1939, few Australian's are as well known throughout the world as Paul Hogan a.k.a Crocodile Dundee/Mick Dundee. Throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s, Hogan was and still remains the most successful Australian import into the United States.

Hogan was born in Lightning Ridge, New South Wales and went on to become a painter working on the Sydney Harbour Bridge before rising to fame in the early 1970s after an interview on A Current Affair. Hogan followed this with his own comedy sketch program The Paul Hogan Show, which he produced, wrote, and in which he played characters with John Cornell. The series, which ran for 60 episodes between 1973 and 1984, was popular both in his native country and in the UK, and showcased his trademark lighthearted but laddish ocker humour. In 1985, Hogan was awarded Australian of the Year and was also appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

In the 1970s, he advertised Winfield cigarettes in television, print and billboard advertisements in which he wore a formal dinner suit. These ads always ended with the catchphrase "Anyhow, have a Winfield". During the early 1980s, Hogan filmed a series of television ads promoting the Australian tourism industry, which aired in the United States. An advertisement featuring the phrase "throw a shrimp on the barbie" which aired from 1984, was particularly successful.

Throughout the decade, he appeared on British TV in advertisements for Foster's Lager, in which he played an earthy Australian abroad in London. The character's most notable line (spoken incredulously at a ballet performance) "Strewth, there's a bloke down there with no strides on!", followed Hogan for years, and the popularity of its "fish out of water" humour was repeated with his next endeavour. In another advertisement from the same Foster's series, Hogan's character is approached in a London Tube station by a Japanese tourist who asks, 'Do you know way to Cockfosters?', to which Hogan replies (with a puzzled look on his face): 'Drink it warm, mate.'

Hogan's first film, Crocodile Dundee (1986), featuring a similarly down-to-earth hunter travelling from the Australian outback to New York City, was privately funded by Hogan and a group of private investors including much of its cast, entrepreneur Kerry Packer, the rock band INXS and cricketers Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh. Hogan also wrote the screenplay.

Crocodile Dundee became the most successful Australian film ever, and launched Hogan's international film career. It won him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, and two BAFTA Award nominations (one for Best Actor, one for Best Original Screenplay). Following the success of Crocodile Dundee Hogan starred in the sequel, Crocodile Dundee II in 1988, and finished the story in 2001 with Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles. While he went on to make many more films throughout his career such as Lightning Jack and Charlie and Boots, he will forever be known for his role as Mick Dundee in the Crocodile Dundee series. A series which made him the icon he is today.

Wagga Butcher or the Tenth Baronet: Tom Castro or Sir Roger Tichborne?

Info courtesy of John Pinkney from his book 'Great Australian Mysteries.'
Story by Ed Di Mallren
Image courtesy of Image State

Sir Roger Tichborne was not your stereotypical heir to a vast fortune. He was an eccentric, an adventurer and a rebel. He also had planned to denounce his right to the Tichborne Estate, for Roger was a simple man who wanted to live a simple life. He had spent the first 14 years of his life living with his mother in France and when ordered by his father (Sir James) to attend a strict English Jesuit school, this only confirmed his distaste for the establishment and the upper class.

Upon finishing school Sir Roger, against the wishes of everyone, decided to travel to South America. He spent time in Chile and Brazil but soon grew tired of the primitive life. He planned to leave South America and head north to the United States. Eventually, he would make his way back to Europe. Well, at least that was the plan.

Roger was listed as lost at sea in 1854 after boarding the ill-fated La Bella on its way from Rio to New York, as a result, his mother, Lady Henrietta, launched a worldwide campaign to find her son. For Lady Henrietta swore he was still alive despite the shipwreck of La Bella being found with no survivors. What transpired next is the stuff only reserved for a Hollywood movie.

Upon reading Lady Henrietta's heart felt letter in one of Australia's numerous metropolitan dailies - The Melbourne Argus, a solicitor for portly Wagga butcher Tom Castro, believed the missing Roger may in fact be Tom. Tom was resistant at first to contact Lady Henrietta. For if he was Roger, everything about him had changed - his appearance, his lifestyle and his need for attention. His solicitor, Stephen Gibbes, who Castro owed money to, saw his chance to not only have his debts paid but with interest. After constant pressure, Castro penned a series of letter that would eventually see Lady Henrietta send an old family valet named Andrew Bogle who had retired to Sydney, go and confirm if Castro was in fact Roger Tichborne, the tenth baronet and heir to the Tichborne Estate. Bogle was adamant Castro was Tichborne and plans were immediately made to ship Castro, his wife Mary Anne and their children to London.

The Tichborne family, who had already been dudded out of the fortune owned by Sir James after his passing, were not as convinced. For they wanted their share of the Tichborne Bonds as they were known and they launched a scathing campaign against Castro and Lady Henrietta. Yet, Castro and his mother were equally adept at manipulating the media and even published stories from the family physician who swore black and blue that Castro had to be Roger for they shared a retractable penis that only became visible when erect - a very rare medical condition indeed and often only found in horses.

Other witnesses came forward who knew young Roger and claimed Castro was he, despite the weight gain and the Australian accent. Yet the case for Castro wasn't completely compelling. There were discrepancies among which were the fact Castro could not speak a word of French like Roger could nor could he remember the rules of chess - a game he had played since he was a child. The Tichborne family, not easily deterred, waited for Lady Henrietta to pass away and when she did the matter headed to the courts.

In what was a record for nearly a century as Britain's longest trial, a jury heard 102 days of testimony before ruling that Castro was a fraud and a forger and he was subsequently sentenced to 14 years jail. He served ten and turned to God while incarcerated.

Upon his release he still professed to be Roger Tichborne and today most historians agree that Castro could not have pulled off such a great hoax and therefore had to be Roger Tichborne. The Tichborne family softened its stance on Castro and upon his coffin allowed the initials R.T. to be engraved into the timber.

He died on April Fools Day in 1898.

The capture of Ben 'Billy' Bridge

Story intro by Dane Millerd
Additional info courtesy of Trove
Image courtesy of Folko Kooper and Maureen Craig

Up until recently I thought my history was an open book. No surprises in the closet. Then I found out my Great-great grandfather was Ben Bridge, an outlaw who used to help Thunderbolt round up stolen horses and who once infamously pole-vaulted over the Murrurundi jail fence. Below is an account of my Great-great grandfather's arrest, one Ben Bridge.

Info courtesy of Trove -

The recent capture of Benjamin Bridge by Mounted Constable Freeman in East Kimberley, W.A., brings a climax to the wrong-doings of a very notorious character. Bridge hails from northern New South Wales, where he once raced horses.

A friend leased him some racers on one occasion for a meeting at a neighbouring town, but fortune frowned, and to satisfy the demands of his landlord he sold him the horses. Subsequently he stole the horses from the landlord and gave them back to the rightful owner! Gaol followed, but he broke it and turned into Queensland, where 'the feeling' came on him again, and he eventually got into Burketown gaol for horse stealing. Not long after he was celled here the gaol caught fire and was burnt down, some say from the inside, some from the outside. To save Bridge he was taken out and chained to a post.

When the fire was subdued the police went to remove Bridge, and found he had vanished. It is generally agreed that the prisoner swam the river, with heavy irons and all on, and then walked 60 miles to a camp where his chains were knocked off. At all events the police never saw him again.

Bridge moved down to Western Queensland, where he took jobs at station work. From there he gravitated into the Territory, and spent some time on the cattle runs at stockman's work. His identity was pretty well known, though his name was mostly 'McDonald.' He was gradually moving west, and on the way called at all the police camps for the latest papers! From Newcastle Waters he had a mate who was drowned in Murrenji Waterhole. Bridge reported this to M.C. O'Keefe, at the Victoria, who, investigated the matter but couldn't find the body. There was nothing to warrant further enquiry, consequently O'Keefe had no scruples about letting Bridge camp close to the police quarters, particularly as he seemed a decent sort of chap. He even swapped horses with him, giving Bridge, amongst others, the one-time racer Bluegown, with which, curiously enough, he lost a Â£20 match to a western member of the force later, on.

After spelling a bit, Bridge moved on into Western Australia, about four years ago. One story says that he 'gammoned green' about horses while, employed on one station, until he got a bet on about breaking in a lot of colts. He spent some time poisonings dingoes, and is said to have collected, Â£200 worth of tails in a very short time. Not long after his arrival in the west he dropped on the police sergeant's camp and turned out for a while, boldly faced the camp and sat down and engaged in conversation with the sergeant. After he had been in camp some time the sergeant, who must have had a keen scent, advanced to Bridge, put his hand on his shoulder, and was proceeding to deal out the usual formula 'I arrest you in the Queen's name' and so forth, when Bridge wriggled free, and with a parting 'Not yet' cleared for a creek close by, where his boy had just brought his horses, picking up a revolver from his pack as he ran. The sergeant, in following the outlaw, kicked his foot against a stiff grass tussock and got a spill, and when he rose again Bridge was mounted and gone.

After that but little was heard of Bridge, no one really seemed to trouble about him. He had done no harm there, he could pitch a pitiful tale, he was a great hand with horses, and in short the whole district stood to him rather than otherwise. He came and went on the stations like a free man, camped where he pleased in apparent safety, and if he wanted to attend the annual races at Wyndham, well, he simply stood a little back from the crowd. Where everyone helped the fellow the police had what is some times called 'Buckley's chance' of catching him.

But by and bye the feeling began to change. There were things happening which could not be accounted for. Valuable stock disappeared mysteriously from their accustomed haunts, and kept on vanishing for a long time before anyone would admit Bridge to have a hand in it. 'Billy,' as he was called in the West, wouldn't do such a thing; but faith in him soon turned to anger against him when indisputable evidence of his treachery was produced from time to time. There were even then a few of a sort who helped him whenever they could against the police.

Three months ago or a little better the Wild Dog police, Freeman and M'Ginley, made an excursion after 'Billy' and came upon him near Argyle station. 'Well Freeman,' says he, 'are you going to take me this time!' To which Freeman said 'I'm going to have a hard try,' and the chase began. Bridge was well mounted, while the troopers had scrags that couldn't head a duck. The result was that after a long stern chase first Freeman's horse and then McGinley's dropped down exhausted, just when the outlaw's mount could only be kept going by plenty of flogging. A black tracker was sent on to keep Bridge in sight, but darkness beat him, and by cutting a wire fence he gave his pursuers the slip. I was at Rosewood when the police came that night, horses and men were tired out; 'Billy' had gone towards Newry, on the N.T. border.

Next morning the police crossed over into the Terri- tory to hunt for Bridge's main camp, supposed to be somewhere near Auvergne. Though they lost 'Billy' the day before they managed to secure his packs and a boy, and the boy was useful as a guide. Their mission resulted in securing another of Bridge's black boys and some more of his horses and packs. This boy, Larry by name, was afterwards used by Freeman to track down the outlaw. At this stage Trooper McGinley fell sick and had to go into hospital at Wyndham.

Freeman, after the lapse of some days got on Bridge's tracks again and followed him to Turkey Creek, the station owned by his brother, where the scent soon got red hot. Bridge held out as long as he could, even after Freeman had secured his last horse: but he was run down eventually and safely landed in Wyndham gaol (where his brother Joseph was serving a sentence). His ''pals ' declared he would shoot rather than be taken alive; he vowed the same thing himself, but so far as is known there was no firing before the capture.

The district is well rid of a most expert horse and cattle thief, and his capture is all the more creditable because he could ride with any man in Australia, was always well horsed, and had several staunch confederates who never hesitated to shelter him. It was the common talk of the district that if Bridge had acted 'on the square ' no man's hand would have been turned against him. It would complicate matters very much if he broke gaol at Wyndham, but his past history ought to show the need for taking extra precautions against such an untoward event.

Remember Me? The Phantom Hitchhiker

Story by Millie Ford
Photo of 'The Hitchhiker' from the Twilight Zone courtesy of Schadendude

I would like to share a story that happened to me in December 2008. I was travelling from Northern NSW back to my home town in the Central West when taking a loop road at Carroll I lost control and doive my car off the highway into a soggy ravine. Fortunately I wasn't hurt but the same couldn't be said for my vehicle!

My next concern was whether or not I could get home with the vehicle in the current state it was - for I had at least another five hours of travelling to do across far more isolated country than the tiny hamlet of Carroll.

It was then when a truck driver pulled over and helped me get the car back onto the road. He told me that there was a Toyota dealer in Gunnedah who would be able to have a look at it for me as Gunnedah was only 18kms away. He also said that the bloke he had in the truck with him was a hitchhiker who wanted a lift to Alectown and because I was headed that way, if I saw him, could I give him a lift as the truck driver had to turn off at Gunnedah and head in another direction. I was a bit apprehensive about picking up a hitchhiker especially after what Ivan Milat did but also because I didn't want to travel 400kms with a stranger in a vehicle that was faulty.

Anyway, so I went to the Gunnedah Toyota dealer and spoke to the mechanic there and they did a patch job on it ensuring I would get home okay. I was relieved and was looking forward to getting home after my near fatal accident and unscheduled stop over. I set off, bound for home.

Not long out of Gunnedah on the road to home, I saw him, the hitchhiker who had been in the cab with the truck driver back at Carroll. We made eye contact along the Oxley Highway, should I or shouldn't I? Decisions decisions! I kept driving and I could see the anger in his eyes. Stuff that! I wasn't picking up a stranger I don't care if he looks like Brad Pitt!

I reached Mendooran and had a break. Three hours til home. Not long now I reasoned and as I hoped back in my car and adjusted the mirrors I saw him, again, standing on the side of the road, thumb out and looking for a ride. It couldn't be I thought! No way! How did he get in front of me?

I made eye contact with him again as he ushered towards my vehicle and I sped off. Fuck that! Not likely. I also internally promised myself I wouldn't stop again unless I had to. Little did I realise I would need fuel again and soon.

I made it as far as Tomingley and I stopped to fill up. The car was also sounding strange but I put this down to the accident and trusted the advice from the mechanic.
'She'll be right to get you home' he had assured me.

As I exited the service station there he was, on the side of the road staring right at me. Eyes fixed we both knew something was awry here. I couldn't understand for the life of me how he kept getting in front of me - was this a joke? It was like that episode of the Twilight Zone with me as the main character. I was sure though I wasn't a ghost but him ... the hitchhiker, well.

I sped off churning the dust into an unrelenting haze, the hitchhiker still marooned on the side of the road. Surely I wouldn't see him again. Only an hour and a half to home now. Surely not.

I reached Alectown and my eyes darted around the terrain. There, as clear as day by the side of the road was the man, the phantom hitchhiker. He was standing by wreath that had been laid in his memory. I stopped the vehicle and approached the wreath on foot. Poor bloke had been killed in that very spot after hitchhiking from northern NSW to his home in Alectown.

Suffice to say that was one passenger I am grateful I never picked up though sometimes when I take the long road home back to Forbes I keep an eye out for him. Sometimes I feel he is keeping an eye out for me as well!

John Daniel Tredoux

Info and image courtesy of www.myspace.com/johndtredoux

John Daniel Tredoux, the 'didgeridoo man in the mall' at Windsor every Sunday is quite an Aussie legend. Born in Manchester, England 'many moons ago,' Tredoux is also partly Aboriginal and a real hit with locals and tourists alike because of his unique music.

"I'm a bit of a bitsa," explained Tredoux.

"There's a bit of everything in me and my music," he laughed.

Tredoux plays the didgeridoo better than most and his amazing music has seen him travel far and wide showcasing his own work from the UK and Europe to all over Australia. Much of it was written by him and his dedicated team that includes many members of his 'family' and despite his age he shows no signs of slowing.

"I love doing it and I don't know what else I would do if I wasn't playing and writing music," he said.

Tredoux has also featured at a number of prestigious government and Aboriginal events over the years and is a popular attraction on the weekends for anyone visiting the Hawkesbury.

"I do my best to please the crowd and I am glad my music can bring happiness to peoples lives.

"Music is the unifier of all peoples."

Gary Brophy and the Circus Sunrise

* Gary Brophy is one of the great exponents and performers with whip and lasoo in Australia - enjoy!

Tom Quilty

Info courtesy of Wikipedia
Photo by Snoopy Mars at Tom Quilty 2010, Manilla, NSW

Thomas John Quilty (1887-1979) was an Australian station owner, pastoralist, philanthropist, and bush poet. To this day he still holds the record for the largest freehold land acreage in Australia's history; over 3 million acres (12,000 km²) for a single property. In total, he controlled over 4.5 million acres (18,211 square kilometres) of land.

Quilty was born in Normanton, Queensland, to an Irish family with six children. He began his career with his father and brothers and in later years his children by buying large stations in the Kimberleys to run stock for the beef market and by breeding and training horses and cattle that could thrive in the harsh territory conditions

Quilty was an outstanding cattleman, an authority on the bush and northern Australia, a skilled 'poddy-dodger' and he could be 'a bit of a menace.' Generous with his fortune, but not one to give praise, he participated enthusiastically in outback social activities. He bred and trained his own stockhorses, racehorses and polo ponies. He was a proud and enthusiastic horse lover with his racehorse Proud Boy earning him honours on the racetrack. He invested in the Kimberley Hotel at Halls Creek and donated money for a grandstand at the local racing club. To raise funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, he published a volume of poems, The Drover's Cook (Sydney, 1958). The poems dealt with station life, drinking, personal relationships, and raising children of mixed blood at Springvale homestead. The poems are still in publication today.

Tom Quilty is honoured for his immense contribution to the success of the Australian cattle industry and his notoriety as one of the most famous cattle barons in history through his inclusion in the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame.

A passionate horseman, in 1966 he donated 1000 pounds for the creation of a trophy for the Tom Quilty Gold Cup. An event designed to test the skill of horse and rider it was awarded to the winner of a 100 mile (160 km) who could not only complete the gruelling course but whose horse also finished in sound health. Quilty and his good mate RM Williams (the now famous boot and saddle maker) created the Tom Quilty Gold Cup a national championship endurance horse event, held annually in Australia which is now the biggest professional endurance ride in the Southern Hemisphere.

Church of the Little Pebble

Info courtesy of www.caic.org.au
Image courtesy of South Coast Register

The Little Pebble run by William Kamm is also known as Our Lady of the Ark, Mary Our Mother Help of Christians and Marian Work of Atonement, is Australia's biggest 'Doomsday' cult.

The "Little Pebble", real name William Kamm, is the "leader" or"seer" of a breakaway Catholic cult, which goes under the title "Our Lady of the Ark". William claims to be in contact with the Virgin Mary, St Joseph, Jesus Christ, and, on occasion, various other angels and heavenly occupants.

He makes pronouncements (prophecies), which he claims come direct from the Virgin Mary or whoever he happens to be in contact. Typically these 'prophecies' are apocalyptic in content, usually referring to the end of the world, or the "end of days". More often, they are a call to prayer or ritual ordered by his contacts. Quite often, the "messages" make reference to the sorry state of the church, or the perceived "liberalisation"of the Catholic Church. In addition, the various messages are exhortations against the wickedness of the world, and instructions to pray constantly (a classic "cult" phenomena). His "Spiritual advisor" is one Father Malcolm Broussard, who is called "Little Bartholomew" in Williams inner circle.

William was born 16th May 1950 in Cologne, West Germany. According to a published document (Highlights of Messages from Heaven given to THE LITTLE PEBBLE - published by the Marian Work of Atonement - based in Nowra),William first began to have mystical experiences in Easter 1968. He founded the "Marian Work of Atonement" organisation in Australia in 1970-1972.

In 1982-1983, "he received" his name Little Pebble, perhaps in reference to St Peter, The Rock upon which the Catholic Church is founded. (There is some evidence that suggests that this is the role that the Virgin Mary has for him. On numerous occasions, William has passed on "messages" that suggest he is the next "Vicar of Christ" (the Next Pope). William was having children with his defacto wife Bettina whilst still married. He was divorced late in 1997. He explains his right to have sex with his "queens", by telling us that the Virgin Mary has suspended the normal laws of adultery in his case. He said so on National Television in November 1997 (60 Minutes, TCN Channel 9), on January 1, 1998, he delivered a letter which excuses his adultery by claiming that Pope Innocent 3rd allows it.

William is dangerous because of the evolving nature of his cult, and the patterns that are beginning to emerge. The Cult has it's "headquarters" in a remote location near Nowra, in NSW Australia, however there are "enclaves" in Victoria, Queensland and overseas.

Whilst the grounds are "open" on the 13th of each month (because that is the "feast day"), the Cult is increasingly becoming isolationist, and, it has begun to demonstrate some of the patterns of the cults which lead to tragedy (WACO, JONESTOWN, HEAVENS GATE etc).

Francis Barrallier

Story courtesy of Info Blue Mountains
Image courtesy of State Library

Francis Barrallier was a refugee from the French Revolution, with a knowledge of engineering, surveying and navigation. He came to New South Wales to assist the Corps.

Barrallier was not informed of John Wilson's travels, whether by design or accident. Rumours of a white settlement inland persisted, and it was hoped that exploration would help to refute them, and strengthen the official line that it was not worth trying to cross the mountains.

A supply depot was set up at Nattai, on the eastern side of the Burragorang Valley, with supplies being brought in by wagon. Plans to establish further depots had to be abandoned, as the terrain prevented wagons from entering the valley.

Barrallier's commanding officer objected to the able young man going exploring, but the governor soon discovered that he had need of an aide-de-camp. So Barrallier set of, as an emissary from Governor King, to convey the governor's compliments to the (Aboriginal) "King of the Mountains". A natural diplomat, who related well to the Aborigines, Barrallier performed this duty to the letter.

Leaving their depot, they descended to the Nattai River and followed it downstream to the Burragorang Valley and Wollondilly River. Drought-breaking rain set in, making conditions more difficult. Heading west, they climbed a ridge south of the Tonalli River, and climbed towards Southern Peak. Here they encountered Goondel, chief of the local Gangangara tribe.

The Diplomat, the Murderer, and the Jilted Groom

Unfortunately, Barrallier's interpreter, Gogy, had been in a gang which had brutally murdered Goondel's sister. Whilst his presence with Barrallier afforded a degree of diplomatic immunity, Gogy was terrified. On the other hand, another member of the party, Bungin, won Goondel's favour and was rewarded by being promised the hand of Wheengeewhungee, the chief's daughter, in marriage.

Gogy begged for permission to return (flee) to Nattai, whilst Bungin pleaded for release from his duties. Barrallier granted both requests.

Returning to Nattai, to await the arrival of new supplies, they were rejoined by Bungin. It seemed that Wheengeewhungee was less than enthusiastic about the forthcoming nuptials, and had gone bush with Goondel in hot pursuit. Deciding that it was diplomatic to avoid Goondel and company, they took a "shortcut" over the rugged Tonalli Peak, arriving exhausted at camp late in the day.

Yerranderie

Re-supplied, they headed back up towards Southern Peak on November 22, reaching Mootik Plateau just south of Yerranderie, and making camp at Alum Hill on the 24th. From here, they followed a similar route to that taken by today's four wheel drive track, via Bindook towards the Great Dividing Range.

Throughout Barrallier's diary, there is a sense of fun in the occasion; pauses to rest in the heat of the day; hunting and fishing to supplement supplies; and at night a sense of camaraderie from which their Aboriginal companions were not excluded.

On the 26th, two forward scouts returned to report having found: "an immense plain; that from the height they were on the mountain they had caught sight of only a few hills standing here and there in this plain; and that the country in front of them had the appearance of a meadow".

What the scouts could not see was the Kowmung River gorge slashing through the "plain."

They hastened through Barrallier's Pass to set up camp near Bent Hook (Bindook) Swamp. In spite of heavy rain, they were in high spirits, and after setting up bark huts, "they congratulated themselves with having succeeded in accomplishing the crossing of the Blue Mountains without accident."

Bindook: The Mountains Crossed

They were now on the eastern edge of the Bindook Highlands. From here, it is an easy ridge-top journey to the Great Divide, along what was to become the Oberon - Colong Stock Route.

According to Cunningham, Barrallier and his party eventually reached a point approximately 2km short of the Great Divide and within sight of it. They did not recognise this, however, due to the nature of the terrain. Had they explored south, they could have reached Mt Werong in an hour, and seen the westward flowing Abercrombie River. However, the Abercrombie starts off by flowing southeast, so they would not have recognised it as a westward flowing river. Having travelled as far as their supplies allowed, they returned the way they had come.

Cunningham's interpretation of Barrallier's route is disputed by bushwalker & historian Andy Macqueen. According to Macqueen, the route went as follows.

After following the Tonalli River up from the Wollondilly, Barrallier passed north of Yeranderie, through Byrnes Gap, then descended via Cedar Creek to the Kowmung River. After camping at the junction of the Kowmung & Christys Creek, he followed the creek up to Wheengee Whungee Creek, which he followed as far as the base of Johnston Falls below Mt Barrallier.

Having stated his intention to "penetrate as far into the Blue Mountains as I should find it practicable"1, Barrallier could hardly be said to have failed.

Colong Stock Route

Barrallier and his party had crossed the Blue Mountains, and come substantially closer to the Great Divide than Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth were to. His route later became the Oberon - Colong Stock Route. Prior to the flooding of the Burragorang Valley, it was possible to drive from Camden to Oberon via this route. Today, there is 4 wheel drive access to the ghost town of Yerranderie from Oberon. Beyond there, access is restricted, by Sydney Water, to protect the catchment area.

Railway Proposal

Early this century, it was proposed to build a railway via the Warragamba Slot, Coxs River and Scotts Main Range, meeting up with Barrallier's route and proceeding west. It was intended to exploit the cedar forests of the Coxs valley, and a gold discovery near the Great Divide. The gold was a non-event, and the cedar not economically viable. Instead, the existing railway line was duplicated.

Jets over the Wilderness

This is also the approximate route taken by aircraft, including around 300 jets per day. Coming in from the west, they home in on the Bindook beacon, then turn near the lake to follow an appropriate course into Sydney. Probably not what Barrallier envisaged!

Breaker Morant

Story and image courtesy of Commander James Unkles and www.breakermorant.com

Between 1899 and 1902, 16,000 men went from Australia to the Boer War in South Africa, more than 500 of them died there. Australians who served also included an unknown number of Aboriginal trackers.

Six Australians received the Victoria Cross in South Africa, and many others received other decorations. Though the nation honoured its dead with ceremonies and monuments, the enormity of the following two world wars overshadowed the legacy of this terrible and bloody conflict. It should always be remembered that the Boer War soldiers are the precursors of the Anzac Legend.

A controversial aspect of Australia’s history in the Boer war was the trial and execution of Lieutenants Harry 'Breaker' Morant and Peter Handcock and the imprisonment of Lieutenant George Witton for shooting of Boer prisoners. A hundred and eight years on, the controversy over the rights and wrongs of the case continues.

Morant and Handcock are the only Australians executed for war crimes. It has long been alleged the two men, who were acquitted of murdering a German missionary, were executed to appease growing European concerns. Commander Unkles, who has served 28 years in the permanent and reserve navy, concludes the convictions were unsound on grounds including:

* Six prisoners were represented by the one lawyer, resulting in a conflict of interest

* The lawyer, Australian solicitor Major James Francis Thomas, should have been provided with legal support.

* Thomas, a country solicitor, 'had little experience as an advocate and certainly not before military courts.'

* The prisoners' legal rights under military law were ignored as they were given insufficient time (one day) to prepare a defence.

* Vital documentation supporting the claim that Morant and Handcock were acting under orders was not discovered until after the executions.

* The prisoners should have been excused under the ancient military convention of condonation, which can excuse accused suspects who continue to fight for their country or whose offences had been overlooked by their military superiors.

* They were denied appeal rights. The call for the case to be reopened is supported by experts in the case including historians and legal academics.

Former NSW chief justice Sir Laurence Street said the research 'evaluated significant legal issues.' Former Deputy Prime Minister (now Australian ambassador to the Holy See), Tim Fischer, previously has called for the case to be reopened saying authorities, 'must leave no stone unturned to bring retrospective justice for three Australian veterans of the BoerWar.'

Told by The Age of the new moves for pardons he said: 'It has been a long-held view by me that the conviction of Breaker Morant, Peter Handcock and George Witton in the Boer War involved a trumped-up set of charges.' Helen Styles, international lawyer and former international humanitarian law lecturer, said the Australians were victims of a clear miscarriage of justice and their convictions should be quashed.

A recent Victorian Supreme Court review has set a precedent for posthumous pardons in capital punishment cases. In March last year the Victorian Government issued a posthumous pardon for Colin Campbell Ross, who was hanged in 1922 after he was convicted of killing Alma Tirtschke, 12. Ross consistently maintained his innocence.

The case for pardons for Morant, Handcock and Witton is also strengthened by the British government's decision in 2002 to pardon over 300 soldiers executed during World War 1 for offences such as cowardice and dessertion. The soldiers came from countries, including Ireland, Canada and New Zealand. Two of the NZ soldiers had been born in Australia.

Jack Lucknow's great discovery

Story by Full Noise
Photo by Mario Modesto Mata and Wikipedia

After having dug to a depth of 10 feet last year, British scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 200 years and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 150 years ago.

Not to be outdone by the Brit's, in the weeks that followed, an American archaeologist dug to a depth of 20 feet, and shortly after, a story published in the New York Times:

"American archaeologists, finding traces of 250-year-old copper wire, have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communications network 50 years earlier than the British."

One week later, the state’s Department of Minerals and Energy in Western Australia, reported the following:

"After digging as deep as 30 feet in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, Jack Lucknow, a self-taught archaeologist, reported that he found absolutely f--k all. Jack has therefore concluded that 250 years ago, Australia had already gone wireless."

Just makes you bloody proud you're not British and even prouder to be Australian.

William Bligh

Info courtesy of Wikipedia
Image courtesy of Ans 60

Vice Admiral William Bligh FRS RN (September 9, 1754 - December 7, 1817) was an officer of the British Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. A notorious mutiny occurred during his command of HMS Bounty in 1789; Bligh and his loyal men made a remarkable voyage to Timor, after being set adrift in the Bounty's launch by the mutineers. Fifteen years after the Bounty mutiny, he was appointed Governor of New South Wales in Australia, with orders to clean up the corrupt rum trade of the New South Wales Corps, resulting in the so-called Rum Rebellion.

In 1787, Bligh took command of the Bounty. In order to win a premium offered by the Royal Society of Arts, he first sailed to Tahiti to obtain breadfruit trees, then set course for the Caribbean, where breadfruit was wanted for experiments to see whether it would be a successful food crop for slaves there. The Bounty never reached the Caribbean, as mutiny broke out on board shortly after the ship left Tahiti.

The voyage to Tahiti was difficult. After trying unsuccessfully for a month to round Cape Horn, the Bounty was finally defeated by the notoriously stormy weather and forced to take the long way around the Cape of Good Hope. That delay resulted in a further delay in Tahiti, as they had to wait five months for the breadfruit plants to mature enough to be transported. The Bounty departed Tahiti in April 1789.

Since it was rated only as a cutter, the Bounty had no officers other than Bligh himself (who was then only a lieutenant), a very small crew, and no Marines to provide protection from hostile inhabitants during stops or to enforce security on board ship. To allow longer uninterrupted sleep, Bligh divided his crew into three watches instead of two, and placed his protege Fletcher Christian - rated as a Master's Mate - in charge of one of the watches. The mutiny, which broke out during the return voyage on April 28, 1789, was led by Christian and supported by eighteen of the crew, who had seized firearms during Christian's night watch and then surprised and bound Bligh in his cabin.
The mutineers turning Lt Bligh and some of the officers and crew adrift from His Majesty's Ship Bounty.

Despite being in the majority, none of the loyalists seemed to have put up any significant struggle once they saw Bligh bound, and the ship was taken without bloodshed. The mutineers provided Bligh and the eighteen of his crew who remained loyal with a 23 foot (7m) launch (so heavily loaded that the gunwales were only a few inches above the water), with four cutlasses and food and water for a few days to reach the most accessible ports, a sextant and a pocket watch, but no charts or compass. The launch could not hold all the loyal crew members, and four were detained on the Bounty by the mutineers for their useful skills; these were later released at Tahiti.

Tahiti was upwind from Bligh's initial position, and was the obvious destination of the mutineers. Many of the loyalists claimed to have heard the mutineers cry 'Huzzah for Otaheite!' as the Bounty pulled away. Timor was the nearest European outpost. Bligh and his crew did make for Tofua first, to obtain supplies. There they were attacked by hostile natives and a crewman was killed. After fleeing Tofua, Bligh didn't dare stop at the next islands (the Fiji islands), as he had no weapons for defense and expected further hostile receptions.

Bligh had confidence in his navigational skills, which he had perfected under the instruction of Captain Cook. His first responsibility was to survive and get word of the mutiny as soon as possible to British vessels that could pursue the mutineers. Thus, he undertook the seemingly impossible 3,618 nautical mile (6,701 km) voyage to Timor. In this remarkable act of seamanship, Bligh succeeded in reaching Timor after a 47-day voyage, the only casualty being the crewman killed on Tofua. Several of the men who survived this ordeal with him soon died of sickness, possibly malaria, in the pestilential Dutch East Indies port of Batavia, as they waited for transport to Britain.

To this day, the reasons for the mutiny are a subject of considerable debate. Some believe that Bligh was a cruel tyrant whose abuse of the crew led members of the crew to feel that they had no choice but to take the ship from Bligh. Others believe that the crew, inexperienced and unused to the rigours of the sea and, after having been exposed to freedom and sexual license on the island of Tahiti, refused to return to the 'Jack Tars' existence of a seaman. They were 'led' by a weak Fletcher Christian and were only too happy to be free from Bligh's acid tongue. They believe that the crew took the ship from Bligh so that they could return to a life of comfort and pleasure on Tahiti. Bligh returned to London arriving in March 1790.

The Bounty's log shows that Bligh resorted to punishments relatively sparingly. He scolded when other captains would have whipped and whipped when other captains would have hanged. He was an educated man, deeply interested in science, convinced that good diet and sanitation were necessary for the welfare of his crew. He took a great interest in his crew's exercise, was very careful about the quality of their food, and insisted upon the Bounty being kept very clean. He tried unsuccessfully to check the spread of venereal disease among them. Prior to the mutiny only two members of the ship's crew had died, one seaman from infection and the ship's doctor from indolence.

Bligh had the moral courage to take on what he saw was wrong, but he strongly supported those he thought were right.

Bligh died in Bond Street, London on December 6, 1817 and was buried in a family plot at St. Mary's, Lambeth. (This church is now the Garden Museum.) His tomb, notable for its use of Coade stone, is topped by a breadfruit. A plaque marks Bligh's house, one block east of the Museum.

Albert Namatjira

Info courtesy of Wikipedia
Image courtesy of Indigenous Rights

Born at Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission, near Alice Springs in 1902, Namatjira was raised on the Hermannsburg Mission and baptised after his parents' adoption of Christianity. He was born as Elea, but once baptised, they changed his name to Albert. After a western style upbringing on the mission, at the age of 13, Namatjira returned to the bush for initiation and was exposed to traditional culture as a member of the Arrernte community (in which he was to eventually become an elder). He obtained the love and respect of his land that is seen in his works. After he returned, he married his wife Rubina at the age of 18. His wife, like his father's wife, was from the wrong "skin" group and he violated the law of his people by marrying outside the classificatory kinship system. In 1928 he was ostracised for several years in which he worked as a camel driver and saw much of Central Australia, which he was later to depict in his paintings.

Although doing a small amount of rough but non-traditional artwork in his youth, Namatjira was introduced to western style painting through an exhibition by two painters from Melbourne at his mission in 1934. One of these painters, Rex Battarbee, returned to the area in the winter of 1936 to paint the landscape and Namatjira acted as a guide to show him local scenic areas. In return Namatjira was shown how to paint with watercolours, a skill that he quickly excelled at.

Namatjira started painting in a distinctly unique style. His landscapes normally highlighted both the rugged geological features of the land in the background, and the distinctive Australian flora in the foreground with very old stately and majestic white gum trees surrounded by twisted scrub. His work had a high quality of illumination showing the gashes of the land and the twists in the trees. His colours were similar to the ochres that his ancestors had used to depict the same landscape, but his style was appreciated by Europeans because it met the aesthetics of western art.

In 1938 his first exhibition was held in Melbourne. Subsequent exhibitions in Sydney and Adelaide also sold out. For ten years Namatjira continued to paint, his works continuing to sell quickly and his popularity continuing to rise. Queen Elizabeth II became one of his more notable fans and he was awarded the Queen's Coronation medal in 1953 and met her in Canberra in 1954. Not only did his own art become widely recognized, but a painting of him by William Dargie won the Archibald Prize in 1956. He became popular, critically acclaimed and wealthy. He, however, was always glad to return to the outback.

Due to his wealth, Namatjira soon found himself the subject of "humbugging", a ritualised form of begging. Arrernte are expected to share everything they own, and as Namatjira's income grew, so did his extended family. At one time he was single-handedly providing for over six hundred people. To ease the burden on his strained resources, Namatjira sought to lease a cattle station to benefit his extended family. Originally granted, the lease was subsequently rejected because the land was part of a returned servicemen's ballot, and also because he had no ancestral claim on the property. He then tried to build a house in Alice Springs, but was cheated in his land dealings. The land he was sold was on a flood plain and was unsuitable for building. The Minister for Territories, Paul Hasluck, offered him free land in a reserve on the outskirts of Alice Springs, but this was rejected, and Namatjira and his family took up residence in a squalid shanty at Morris Soakâ€”a dry creek bed some distance from Alice Springs. Despite the fact that he was held as one of Australia's greatest artists, Namatjira was living in poverty. His plight became a media cause celebre, resulting in a wave of public outrage.

In 1957 the government exempted Namatjira and his wife from the restrictive legislation that applied to Aborigines in the Northern Territory. This entitled them to vote, own land, build a house and buy alcohol. Although Albert and Rubina were legally allowed to drink alcohol, his Aboriginal family and friends were not. The nomadic Arrernte culture expected him to share everything he owned, even after they ceased being nomads. It was this contradiction that was to bring Namatjira into conflict with the law.

When an Aboriginal woman, Fay Iowa, was killed at Morris Soak, Namatjira was held responsible by Jim Lemaire, the Stipendiary Magistrate, for bringing alcohol into the camp. He was reprimanded at the coronial inquest. It was then against the law to supply alcohol to an Aboriginal person. Namatjira was charged with leaving a bottle of rum in a place, i.e. on a car seat, where a clan brother and fellow Hermannsburg artist Henoch Raberaba, could get access to it. He was sentenced to six months in prison for supplying an Aboriginal with liquor. After a public uproar, Hasluck intervened and the sentence was served at Papunya Native Reserve. He was released after only serving two months due to medical and humanitarian reasons.

Despondent after his incarceration, Namatjira continued to live with Rubina in a cottage at Papunya, where he suffered a heart attack. There is evidence that Albert believed that he had the bone pointed at him by a member of Fay Iowa's family. That Albert was being "sung" to death was also held by Frank Clune, a popular travel writer, aboriginal activist, and organiser of Albert's whirlwind 1956 trip.

After being transferred to Alice Springs hospital, Namatjira astonished his mentor Rex Battarbee by presenting him with three landscapes, with a promise of more to come; a promise unrealised. He died soon after of heart disease complicated by pneumonia on 8 August 1959 in Alice Springs.

The late Joe Burrows

Story by Dane Millerd
Photo by Peter Lorimer

For anyone that lived in Gunnedah over the last thirty or so years the name Joe Burrows would be a well-known one. 'Smokin' Joe' as he was affectionately known was a man of the land and rode his trusty mare just about everywhere.

But it wasn't always like that, for Joe once seemed destined to live a 'normal' life if there is such a thing. As is so often the case, he chose the lifestyle and spent the remainder of his years raising horses and living down near Cohen's Bridge on the banks of the Namoi River.

An amiable chap, Joe Burrows could do more with a horse then most and as the photo attests, it wasn't unusual for Joe and his mare to cool down together. As he had always said to this writer - 'normal' as most of us call it is only a setting on your washing machine!

R.I.P. Joe Burrows from the Local Legends team.

Adrian Bennett's Interceptor

Story and photo by Miss Cellania

Adrian Bennett has been obsessed with the Mad Max movies since 1982 when he was a teenager in England. He is a self-confessed fanatic.

Like many of those struck by fandom, he began to model his dream into a lifestyle, a lifestyle that has seen him make some significant life changes.

In 2001 he built his own Interceptor, the car Mel Gibson drove in the film. Three years ago, he moved his family from Yorkshire to Australia. Yet that's only the start of it.

Now he has settled in the remote Outback town of Silverton, where the first two movies were made. Silverton has a population of 51 (counting the five Bennetts), but draws 140,000 tourists a year and is also used often as a set for the film industry.

Bennett plans to open a Mad Max museum in his new hometown. He hopes more fans of the movies will come and support his new venture. No doubt it too will be a huge hit when it is finally complete.

Lars Peter Hansen

Story and photo of photo by Millie Ford

When the body of a young man named Charles Dunckner was found in 1890 near the Peak Hill Road it was 'fearfully mutilated and partially burnt.' It was suspected the mutilation had been done with a tomahawk such was the extent of the damage and the magnitude of the injuries.

Lars Peter Hansen, born in Denmark in 1861 before arriving in Australia in 1889 was arrested a few days later near Wollongong and he and Dunckner had been seen travelling together.

Dunckner was known as 'The Little German' and he and Hansen had much in common aside from the European ancestory.

Hansen was caught out in further lies when it was also proven he tried to sell some of the dead man's possessions and he was also carrying Dunckner's revolver and wearing a cap belonging to the victim.

Hansen claimed he bought them for Dunckner but that didn't wash and he was charged with his murder.

Despite Hansen's protestations that he did not kill the 'Little German' a jury found him guilty and he was executed on June 2nd, 1891.

* Watch this space for more tales from Dubbo Gaol.

Albert

Info courtesy of Dubbo Gaol
Photo of photo by Daniel Dreml

When two people were killed with one shot at an Aboriginal camp it set off a curious sequence of events. How could this happen?

As Nudge Jack lay dying, a Senior Constable named Thomas Clarke declined getting the dying man a doctor and instead and went looking for an Aboriginal named Albert. Albert you see had a motive, for he had asked the Constable to get Sally to leave Nudge Jack and come home a few days before. When the Constable declined to get involved Albert was heard muttering as he walked away - 'By Christ I will have one of them.'

When Clarke finally tracked Albert down he found a songbook and a gun that had been recently fired. Nudge Jack died while Clarke was looking for Albert.

Albert was charged with shooting with intent to murder Sally and that he did feloniously, wilfully and of his malice aforethought kill and murder one Nudge Jack.

Albert was resigned to his fate and asked a gaoler to notify his mother and father that he had died without fear and that he had gone on a journey and hoped to see them at the end of it. He died game.

John Oxley

Info courtesy of australianhistory.org
Image courtesy of Squidoo

John Oxley was born in England in the early part of 1781. In his youth he entered the navy, saw active service in many parts of the world, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant. He came to Australia in January, 1812, and was appointed Surveyor-General in the Royal Navy. In 1804-05 he conducted a survey of Westernport on Bass Strait, among other duties in New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land. He sailed to England in 1810 for a brief visit. In 1812 he was appointed Surveyor-General of New South Wales.

In April 1815 he was with Macquarie when Bathurst was founded, and in March 1817 he was instructed to take charge of an expedition to ascertain the course of the Lachlan River. He decided to take Evans with him on his expeditions and left in April 1817, following the Lachlan River westwards. After about 100kilometres the party left the river banks, turning south-west. They moved across country, passing through the area where Rankin Springs is now located. From here Oxley turned north-west, once more coming to the Laclan River.

Much of the country was found to be swampy, and on May 9 the way was barred by a huge marsh. Retracing their steps for some distance they then proceeded in a south-westerly direction, and on May 20 found themselves in very dry country. Hardly any water was available and what was found had to be boiled twice before it was drinkable. For the next five weeks dense scrubby country was constantly encountered and there was a great shortage of water. One of the horses died and another had to be shot. It rained several times but this gave them little water; Oxley says in his journal that the soil absorbed all the rain that fell like a sponge. They had travelled 1900 kilometres and found some excellent grazing lands. Oxley told Macquarie, however that the western rivers flowed into useless country. This comment greatly delayed further opening up of the far west.

Oxley’s next exploration began on June 6, 1818, again with George Evans as his deputy. The group headed north-west along the Macquarie, following Evans’ original trek. Oxley’s path was again frustrated by impenetrable marshes. The presence of these swamps led many people to think there was a great sea in the centre of the continent. Oxley then dispatched Evans across country to the north-east where Evans discovered the Castlereagh River. Reunited with Evans, Oxley led the expedition further north-east towards the Warrumbungle Ranges. Here they discovered the rich and fertile Liverpool Plains. They then turned east to cross the Great Dividing Range and descend to the coast, following the river Hastings to its mouth. Oxley named the area Port Macquarie. They then headed south along the coast of Newcastle.

By the 1820s it was decided there was a need for a new penal settlement to house the most difficult convicts. Governor Thomas Brisbane sent Oxley north by boat in search of a site in 1823. Having rounded Moreton Island, Oxley encountered two escaped convicts who had been living with Aborigines. The convicts showed him the mouth of a large river, which Oxley explored and named after Governor Brisbane. In 1824 the Moreton Bay settlement was established some distance up the Brisbane River.

Oxley was an excellent public servant and explorer. He became a well-known landowner near Bowral in the highlands south-west of Sydney. He was a director of the Bank of New South Wales (now Westpac) from 1821 to 1825 and he sat as a magistrate. Oxley later became a Governor Brisbane appointed him to the Legislative council in 1824.

As an explorer he was not afraid to take risks, but he knew how to manage the strength of both his horses and the members of his party. He never lost a man, though his own health suffered. He was unable to solve the riddle of the rivers, which appeared to lose themselves in marshes, but he added much valuable land to the known territory of his time. Oxley died in Sydney at 45 years of age.

Banjo Paterson

Info courtesy of Wikipedia
Image courtesy of Teach It

Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, OBE (February 17, 1864 - February 5, 1941) was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood. Paterson's more notable poems include "Waltzing Matilda", "The Man from Snowy River" and "Clancy of the Overflow".

Banjo Paterson was born at the property "Narrambla", near Orange, New South Wales, the eldest son of Andrew Bogle Paterson, a Scottish immigrant from Lanarkshire and Australian-born Rose Isabella Barton, related to the future inaugural Prime Minister of Australia Edmund Barton. Paterson's family lived on the isolated Buckinbah Station in the Monaro until he was five when his father lost his wool clip in a flood and was forced to sell up.

When Paterson's uncle died, his family took over the uncle's farm in Illalong, near Yass, close to the main route between Melbourne and Sydney. Bullock teams, Cobb and Co coaches and drovers were familiar sights to him. He also saw horsemen from the Murrumbidgee River area and Snowy Mountains country take part in picnic races and polo matches, which led to his fondness of horses and inspired his writings.

In 1885, Paterson began submitting and having his poetry published in the Sydney edition of The Bulletin under the pseudonym of "The Banjo", the name of a favourite horse. Paterson, like The Bulletin, was an ardent nationalist, and in 1889 published a pamphlet, Australia for the Australians which told of his disdain for cheap labour and his admiration of hard work and the nationalist spirit. In 1890, The Banjo wrote "The Man from Snowy River", a poem which caught the heart of the nation, and in 1895 had a collection of his works published under that name. This book is the most sold collection of Australian Bush poetry and is still being reprinted today. Paterson also became a journalist, lawyer, jockey, soldier and a farmer.

Paterson became a war correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age during the Second Boer War, sailing for South Africa in October 1899. His graphic accounts of the relief of Kimberley, surrender of Bloemfontein (the first correspondent to ride in) and the capture of Pretoria attracted the attention of the press in Britain. He also was a correspondent during the Boxer Rebellion, where he met George "Chinese" Morrison and later wrote about his meeting. He was editor of the Sydney Evening News (1904-06) and of the Town and Country Journal (1907-08).

In World War I, Paterson failed to become a correspondent covering the fighting in Flanders, but did become an ambulance driver with the Australian Voluntary Hospital, Wimereux, France. He returned to Australia early in 1915 and, as an honorary vet, travelled on three voyages with horses to Africa, China and Egypt. He was commissioned in the 2nd Remount Unit, Australian Imperial Force on October 18, 1915, serving initially in France where he was wounded and reported missing in July 1916 and latterly as commanding officer of the unit based in Cairo, Egypt. He was repatriated to Australia and discharged from the army having risen to the rank of major in April 1919. His wife Alice, who he married in April 1903 in Tenterfield, had joined the Red Cross and worked in an ambulance unit near her husband.

Just as he returned to Australia, the third collection of his poetry, Saltbush Bill JP, was published and he continued to publish verse, short stories and essays while continuing to write for the weekly Truth. Paterson also wrote on rugby league football in the 1920s for the Sydney Sportsman.

Paterson died of a heart attack in Sydney on February 5, 1941 aged 76. Paterson's grave, along with that of his wife, Alice, is in the Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens and Crematorium, Sydney.

Jacky Underwood

Info courtesy of Bill Hornadge
Photo of photo by Dane Millerd

In late July 1900, something very terrible happened near Breelong. Five people were senselessly murdered in cold blood and it forever became known as the 'Breelong Massacre.'

The attack was alleged to have been lead by Jimmy and Joe Governor and accomplice Jacky Underwood, their dim-witted follower, was arrested four days later near Merrygoen for his role in the atrocity. Underwood was charged with the callous murder of child Percy Mawbey.

Despite the protestations of Jacky's brother Albert to his innocence, Jacky Underwood was identified by Sarah Mawbey as she lay dying in hospital. It was game, set and match for the Aboriginal drover.

While no-one knows what caused the massacre though some say it is because the Mawbey's refused to pay monies owed to the Governors and Underwood for works done for them. Others say it was because the Mawbey family infuriated Jimmy Governor with consistent taunts toward his white wife Ethel for having married an Aboriginal man.

Underwood denied having killed Percy Mawbey but was outed by Ethel having bragged that he had. While no one could establish that Underwood delivered the fatal blow, his mere presence at the scene was enough for a jury to find him guilty and he was sentenced to death.

Ian Conway

Info courtesy of Sol Walkling and Australian Traveller
Photo courtesy of Tourism NT

Those born into the seemingly inhospitable wilderness hundreds of kilometres from what most people would consider civilisation consider themselves lucky and rarely leave the place. Some, like Ian Conway, have become modern-day pioneers.

The son of an Arunta woman and a Kidman boss drover, Ian grew up on Angas Downs station, three hours southwest of Alice Springs.

As a boy, he learned everything there was to know about camels from his Aboriginal grandmother - and transformed that traditional knowledge into his daily bread when he decided to invite tourists in for a cuppa and some bush tucker at his Kings Creek homestead to share his love for the land.

Today, the outback camel station and eco lodge owner is the leading exporter of camels in Australia (he also co-founded the Camel Industry Association), plays host to regular documentary film crews as well as tourists and has even retraced Ernest Giles' steps on his favourite camel, Atwa.

It mightn't seem like a traditional life, but Ian considers himself a keeper of the land - here to look after it until he's gone - like those before him.

The Spirit of the ANZACs

Info courtesy of anzacday.org.au and Arthur Burke OAM
Photo by Ed Di Mallren

According to the above website, the Spirit of ANZAC is an intangible thing. It is unseen, unpredictable, an unquenchable thirst for justice, freedom and peace.

This phrase is synonymous with 'The Spirit of the ANZACs' which is frequently used to describe particular actions by, and qualities of, people. However, despite being intangible, the Spirit of ANZAC is a cornerstone which underpins our Australian image, way of life and indeed is an integral part of our heritage. Can it be defined?

The Spirit of ANZAC was suggested by official war historian C.E.W. Bean to have 'stood, and still stands, for reckless valour in a good cause, for enterprise, resourcefulness, fidelity, comradeship and endurance that will never own defeat.' The Spirit was epitomised in the deeds of Simpson with his donkey at Gallipoli - comradeship, courage and sacrifice: others before self. It also encompasses the laughter, the pride and the love of life that is in every Australian. To really understand this Spirit one must delve back into our country's past.

Australia is a huge land. In the early days, settlements were scarce and far apart yet pioneers built our society's foundations in these fragmented tiny communities. The sun and the open land, the independence and the freedom of living under these conditions was a flame in the blood of our pioneers, a flame that burns whenever men are free, wherever there is a spirit which is willing to help those in need. If there were rumours of trouble, immediately someone would saddle a horse and ride off to see if they could help. Though on a comparatively smaller scale, our New Zealand neighbours in this antipodean part of the British Empire also emerged with a very similar culture.

Conflicts were not unknown to this part of the world. The Eureka Stockade troubles of 1854 in Victoria, the shearers' strike of 1890 in Queensland and the subsequent eastern seaboard maritime strikes were but a few home grown examples. New Zealand's Maori wars in the early 1860s saw volunteers from the separate colonies of Australia assisting their Kiwi mates to establish independence in another developing country. Again in 1885 the colonies displayed passionate outrage and a willingness to avenge the brutal death of Britain's General Gordon at Khartoum, despite only a New South Wales contingent being accepted for service. And when the Boer War erupted in South Africa, volunteer units from the colonies competed for a place beside the Mother Country's warriors.

Thus, although the disparate colonies of our great land did not federate till 1901, Australians and New Zealanders had been united since the beginnings of their countries and this unity, this love of life had formed the basis of the Spirit of ANZAC. 'The Mother Country's in a spot of bother again,' was a typical observation when the Great War began in 1914. 'Might as well help her get this sorted out,' was the accustomed response to someone in need. For a century the antipodean survivors had been helping overcome Nature's curses and supporting each other's causes. Now they were equally ready again to assist Britain, this time to overcome German militarism. This was the Spirit which imbued the volunteers as they dashed off with seemingly gay abandon to the First World War and what was to become the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

These bold, laughing soldiers were a new, unknown factor of a very old Empire. 'They seemed to be of one race, for all of them had something the same bearing, and something the same look of humorous, swift decision' described Poet Laureate John Masefield. But if the British thought they 'took a bit of getting used to', the enemy never got used to them. These 'colonials' fought as they lived - bravely, openly, independently, and without fear. They proved that their young countries could produce men equal to any in the world, perhaps the greatest fighting force this world has known - the ANZACs.

On 25 April 1915 a new world was born. A new side of man's character was revealed. The Spirit of ANZAC was kindled. It flared with a previously unknown, almost superhuman strength. There was a determination, a zest, a drive which swept up from the beaches on Gallipoli Peninsula as the ANZACs thrust forward with their torch of freedom. As they fell, they threw those following the torch so their quest would maintain its momentum. That Torch of Freedom has continually been thrown from falling hands, has kindled in the catchers' souls a zeal and desire for both our individual liberty and our countries' liberty. That desire has been handed down with the memory and burns as brightly as the flame which first kindled it.

But the Spirit of ANZAC is not confined to the battlefield. It lives in the schools, on the sports fields, in fact all over these great countries of Australia and New Zealand. The sun invades our bodies and makes us 'mad'; mad for freedom - freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom to live and think as you will. The Spirit of ANZAC is not something we can see but a powerful driving sensation that can only be felt. It is a feeling that burns in the heart of every Australian and New Zealand countryman. A warm, tender, fiery, even melancholy ideal that nurtures intense patriotism in the innermost soul of every body. Many foundation ANZACs died, but their glorious challenge to catch the thrown torch shouts loud and strong to all. Their goal was freedom for the land they loved.

The Spirit of ANZAC is invincible. It is the flame that burns forevermore in the heart of every true Australian and New Zealander. Today we stand safe and free, clothed with all the privileges and rights of citizens in these great free countries. And all these things - liberty, security, opportunity, the privileges of citizenship - we owe to those men who fought, endured, suffered, and died for us and for their country. Their deeds and their sacrifices gave us the invincible, the intangible, the Spirit of ANZAC.

* EDITOR'S NOTE: Retired Colonel Arthur Burke OAM is a member of the Executive Committee of the ANZAC Day Commemoration Committee of Queensland. He was inspired to write this article after reading a collection of essays written in 1961 by the students of St Margaret's Anglican Girls School, Ascot, Brisbane following their attendance at the school's annual ANZAC Day service which included an an address on 'ANZAC and its significance, emphasising the "spirit" of ANZAC.' The article is an amalgam of ideas from several essays and the author's own thoughts.

Catherine Warren

Story and photo by Millie Ford
Additional info courtesy of Dubbo Gaol

Catherine Warren created quite a storm when as a 26 year-old she arrived in Dubbo in 1877. Warren was the subject of malicious gossip around the town but it was largely of her own doing.

For Catherine had hooked up with the local police magistrate, John Oxley Norton.

On November 11, 1880, Norton entered the then McCauley Hotel and found Catherine in the arms of another man which prompted Norton to begin a fight. Amidst the flailing and wild gesticulating Norton produced a pistol and when Catherine ended up with it in her hand it went off.

Unfortunately Catherine shot Norton in the head and he died in Dubbo Hospital a few weeks later.

Warren was held in Dubbo Gaol for the duration of her trial before being transferred to Darlinghurst to serve over three-and-a-half years hard labour for manslaughter.

Catherine Warren was one of many women sentenced for crimes during this period many of which served time at Dubbo and Darlinghurst gaols.

Burke and Wills

Story courtesy of Wikipedia
Image courtesy of Wikimedia (painting by Longstaff)

In 1860-61 Robert O'Hara Burke, and William John Wills led an expedition of 19 men with the intention of crossing Australia from Melbourne in the south to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, a distance of around 3,250 kilometres (approximately 2,000 miles).

At that time most of the inland of Australia had not been explored by non-indigenous people and was completely unknown to the European settlers.

Burke was selected by committee ballot as the leader, and Wills was recommended as surveyor, navigator and third-in-command. Burke had no experience in exploration and it is strange that he was chosen to lead the expedition.

Burke was an Irish-born ex-officer with the Austrian army, and later became police superintendent with virtually no skills in bushcraft. Wills was more adept than Burke at living in the wilderness, but it was Burke's leadership that was especially detrimental to the mission.

The south-north leg was successfully completed (except they were stopped by swampland 5 kilometres (3 miles) from the northern coastline) but owing to poor leadership and bad luck, both of the expedition's leaders died on the return journey.

Altogether, seven men lost their lives, and only one man, John King, travelled the entire expedition and returned alive to Melbourne.

The Hat-Man

Story and image by Steed Litten

In earlier stories on this site we have discussed the phenomena of Shadow People and reported on the many who claim to have come into contact with them.

Many have reported the same symptoms with each sighting - sleep paralysis, fear, coldness and the existence of these beings on their periphery. Not many have stared them down in a direct line of sight.

One of the types of Shadow People commonly reported by the many we have spoken to is the figure commonly referred to as 'The Hat-Man.'

As reported in numerous other websites, the Hat-Man appears in a 1930s style Panama hat and he often goads and gesticulates towards his witnesses.

"It as if he is trying to communicate and deliver a message," explained one contributor to our site.

The Hat-Man' origin is not known as he has appeared in many places across Australia, often in locations that have no known or definitive spiritual history. To some it is as if he chooses his victims.

And while there have been no reports of any harm being caused to anyone, still, his very existence means something and one day we may find out exactly what that might be.

Rocket Man

Story by Mardi Lleden
Additional info courtesy of Firelight
Image courtesy of Wikimedia

David Mayman has always had a fascination with aviation. The Australian Jet pilot has flown most things and spends more time in the air then he does on the ground.

But after getting tired of being entrenched in a cockpit, David made a decision. He believed that man and machine could be one and so began the design of his new rocket.

"It was a childhood dream to build and fly my own Rocket Belt," he said.

"It is a near impossible task."

The venture has attracted the attention of the Discovery Channel and will be shown soon as David risks his life to become the world's next Rocket Man.

Yet, he won't be marching to his death for he has assistance from leading engineers who like David believe it can be done.

"Less people have flown Rocket Belts than those who have walked on the Moon," he explained.

Still, he went for a test flight recently over Sydney Harbour and while no one can reveal the results until the documentary airs on Discovery, it certainly qualifies David as a Rare Person and a great induction to the Local Legends website.

Jack Davey

Story by Deefer Bloomfield
Photo courtesy of www.nla.gov.au

We have all heard of 'white noise' - a sound or voice that comes from the other side into our reality but how many of us have heard of automatic writing?

The late, great radio broadcaster Jack Davey died in October of 1959 after a long and brutal battle with cancer. Davey was known as a character and a prankster and one of his closest friends and confidantes at the time of his death was his producer Keith Smith.

Not long after Davey's death, which stopped traffic in Sydney and was one of the biggest funerals the city had seen at the time, Smith and his assistant Pam Gildea were at a hotel in Dungog when they decided to try an experiment they had read in a magazine about automatic writing. Automatic writing is a type of phenomenon that allows living beings to act as a writing conduit for those who have passed.

Before long both Smith and Gildea realised that when Smith touched Gildea's hand as she wrote on her notepad that Gildea would start writing in the same handwriting as Jack Davey and even write some of his famous one-liners and gags.

"The writing was unmistakably his," explained Smith at the time.

Both Smith and Gildea wanted to see if it was a fluke so a few nights later while staying at another hotel on the road they tried again and this time it was more sudden and frequent.

"The second time we tried it there was no denying it for Jack explained that his two good mates Mike Connors and George Blackshaw were taking him away.

"I don't know what it was," said Smith.

"But it sure was strange and left both Pam and I thunderstruck."

Lionel Bibby

Story by Dane Millerd
Photo by Paul Denham
Video courtesy of www.britishpathe.com

Once upon a time, marksmanship was considered quality entertainment in Australia. Long before the tragedy of Port Arthur there was a man named Lionel Bibby.

Lionel Bibby was an exhibition trick shooter, marksman, firearm manufacturer and all round gentleman of the 1930s and post-war years and he would draw large crowds of spectators wherever he went. At his peak he was considered one of the best in the country and some would argue even the world.

John Wray from the Small Arms Museum in Lithgow is under no illusions how amazing Bibby's talents were.

"He was extraordinary with a pistol," said Wray, one of the many volunteers who run the museum.

"Legend has it that Bibby would toss a coin in the air and shoot a hole straight through it such was his eye.

"And the public kept queuing up to see more and more of him."

Bibby was also an Australian shooting champion and would fire shots at golf balls as well much to the delight of the masses.

"He was that good a marksman," said Wray.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW to see video of this amazing man go head to head with Will Corry. It does take a while to upload so apologies for the inconvenience.

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Many More Amazing Women

Info courtesy of Paula Wilson
Photo of Freda Du Faur courtesy of Summit Post

PHOBE FARRAR
The two men struggled but lost control of the huge bull. It broke free and charged towards the gate. Phoebe Farrar did her best to block its escape but the bull crashed through the gate pinning Phoebe underneath, the rampaging animal then fell on top. Phoebe was airlifted to Darwin where the doctor told her that she would never walk again. But he was talking to a woman who had defied the odds for seventy years and this would be just one little set back in an extraordinary life.

FREDA DU FAUR
On December 3, 1910 a woman stood by herself looking out from the snow-covered top of Mount Cook. Freda Du Faur felt “…very little,” and “…very alone,” after climbing to the summit of New Zealand’s highest mountain.

GRACE BUSSELL
Grace Bussell sat on her horse at the top of a great sand dune looking down at the scene below her. A steamship lay wedged at an impossible angle in the surf. The deck was lined with people unable to get to safety as a violent sea tried to destroy the vessel. The way down was daunting but sixteen-year-old Grace did not hesitate as she urged her horse towards the beach.

CHARLOTTE BADGER
On a winter's day in June 1806 Captain Chase returned to his ship the Venus. He had left it docked at Port Darymple in Northern Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania) earlier to go ashore. He was eager to continue on his voyage to Hobart, where he would offload the cargo of supplies and convicts after a somewhat troublesome journey. Imagine his surprise when he found his ship gone.

Billy Sing

Story by Jim Hamilton with additional info courtesy of the 5RAR.
Photo courtesy of 5RAR

Billy Sing, nicknamed ‘The Murderer’ was a World War 1 hero, once known around the world. But by the time he died in 1943, alone and almost penniless he had all but been forgotten. Billy was born in 1886 in Clermont, Queensland to a Chinese father from Shanghai and an Englishwoman. This son of a Chinaman rose above the racist attitudes and laws of the time and was a likeable young bloke admired for his sporting prowess, particularly with the rifle. While still a boy, the story went, he could shoot the tail off a piglet at 25 paces with a .22 rifle.

Sing was in his prime when he journeyed to Brisbane to join the 5th Light Horse (LH) Regiment in 1914. The 5th LH was in Egypt when the ANZACs' landed at Gallipoli. Leaving their horses behind, Billy’s regiment deployed in May 1915 as Infantry to Turkey’s Gallipoli Peninsula. 'Trooper 355, Billy Sing became ‘probably the most dangerous sniper in any army throughout the war’, wrote Ion Idriess. Idriess sailed to war on the same boat at Billy and became a popular author after the war. He was also an experienced bushman and at times was Billy’s spotter.

‘Abdul the Terrible’, as the Allies called him, was the decorated Turkish sniper bought to Gallipoli to stop Sing! He methodically studied the Australian’s handiwork – up to nine kills per day. Having finally located Sing’s specially constructed ‘possie’, Abdul prepared to take down his prey – only to be shot between the eyes by Sing.

Abdul was one of Sing’s 201 confirmed Gallipoli kills, though he probably took the lives of many more Turks – there was not always a spotter to verify kills, and it was sometimes difficult to determine if targets that had been hit and fallen into trenches had actually been killed. Though bringing grief to Turkey, Sing’s exploit saved Allied lives and was perfect propaganda – he was mentioned in despatches, awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and lauded in newspapers from Sydney to San Francisco.

The mustard gas caused lifelong lung disease for Billy and it signalled the end of his military career when in July 1918 he was shipped home. Despite having been wounded, gassed and ill several times he was declared fit and able to work when discharged in Brisbane.

For a time Billy was buoyed by an enthusiastic welcome in both Proserpine and later Clermont but that soon faded. He set out to be a sheep farmer like so many other soldiers on blocks donated to returned servicemen by the Federal Government, but his land was poor like many of the blocks in this flawed scheme. Almost a third of the soldiers turned farmers walked off the land – including Billy Sing.

On May 19, 1943, Billy was found dead in his boarding house bedroom. Five shillings were also found but no sign of his war medals.

More Amazing Women

Info courtesy of Paula Wilson
Photo of Claire Adams courtesy of Caneva Media Productions

HARRIET CLISBY
In 1861 a new magazine appeared in Melbourne. It covered an eclectic range of topics including science, arts and literature. January and February’s issue hit the streets and then the magazine disappeared like hundreds of other short lived publications.

What makes the Interpreter stand out in Australian history is that it was the first magazine published by women.

ANNE (DOWD) HARRISON
On the banks of Melbourne's Maribyrnong River is a little rotunda. It sits comfortably under the branches of overhanging trees and looks out over the river once known as the Salt Water River.

Set into the floor of the rotunda is a plaque that reads 'Dedicated to Pioneer Irish Women who operated punts, hotels and farms from the 1840's along the Salt Water River'. Around the dedication are the names of six women, one of them was Anne (Dowd) Harrison.

ELIZABETH SCOTT
When the presiding judge at the trial of Elizabeth Scott pronounced she 'was to be hanged by the neck until dead' most people thought surely she would be reprieved.

A woman had never been hanged in the Australian State of Victoria, and they were certain Elizabeth Scott would not be the first. She was.

PORTIA GEACH
Portia Swanston Geach was said to have had a strong personality. This was probably a good thing, as she would have needed to be a woman of extreme determination to succeed in the lifelong quest she set herself.

Portia Swanston Geach was an artist, feminist and campaigner of women's rights both in the home and the Australian art world.

CLAIRE ADAMS
In 1937 silent screen star Claire Adams married a man she had known for only three weeks. They are said to have 'fallen in love at first sight.'

There must have been something in this because she traded in a life as a Hollywood celebrity to spend the next forty-one years on a rural property in Australia.

A Black Tracker named Musquito

Info courtesy of www.archive.org
Image by Gold Net

The bushranger Musquito was an aboriginal, a member of a Sydney tribe who suffered transportation to Van Diemen's Land for the murder of his gin. At Macquarie Harbour he
was soon employed by the authorities in hunting escaped convicts, for his powers of tracking were exceptional. But the temptation to break prison himself was too strong to be resisted, and he finally made a dash for liberty.

The next that was heard of Musquito was that he had become the leader of a tribe of blacks at Oyster Bay. Over these natives he exercised unbounded influence, inducing them to aid him in harassing the whites. The island was soon startled by the commission of several atrocities. In one case it would be a settler's farm attacked and the brutal murder of all its occupants, men, women and children.

So terrible a pest did this blackfellow and his adopted tribe (they numbered about 200)
become that a very big reward had to be offered before his capture could be effected. He was eventually tracked down by another native in the company of two police constables, and after making a desperate fight was badly wounded.

The police carried him back to Hobart and there he was duly executed, together with another aboriginal, Black Jack, who had been prominently associated with him.

Amazing Women

Info courtesy of Paula Wilson
Additional info courtesy of www.womenshistory.com.au
Photo courtesy of University of Texas

They say that behind every successful man is a woman rolling her eyes. Some women, however didn't have nor need a man and they went on to achieve some remarkable things that any person would be proud of in their lifetime.

LORES BONNEY
When Lores Bonney asked legendary Australian aviator Charles Kingsford-Smith's advice on flying around Australia his reply was, 'You might make it if you've got the guts.' Lores went on to prove she did indeed have the 'guts'.

GUIDE ALICE
Mt Buffalo is now a popular destination for tourists and snow lovers. There are many tracks on the mountain one of which is called the Gorge Heritage Walk. It is of average distance as walking tracks go, 2.5 kilometres. Along the way there are signs telling about the life of one the mountain's favourite personalities known, affectionately, as Guide Alice.

MARY REIBEY
There are two people on the Australian twenty-dollar note. One male, one female. Dr John Flynn founder of the Flying Doctor Service and Mary Reibey horse thief. How on earth did a horse thief end up as a face on Australia's currency?

ROBIN MILLER
When Robin Miller's red and white Cessna circled an isolated settlement preparing to land, Aboriginal children would gather calling out that 'The sugar bird lady' had come. She stepped down from her plane on a mission to eradicate polio from Australia.

MAY WIRTH
When the crowd at Madison Square Gardens responded with delight to her bare-back riding routine, May Wirth knew she had made it. What could be bigger than top billing as 'The Australian Wizard Rider, the Champion of all times' by Barnum and Bailey's Circus?

* Photo above is of May Wirth (left) a bareback rider and Lillian Leitzel an aerialist.

Tilly Devine

Story by Ed Di Mallren
Photo courtesy of AMW

Throughout the annals of Australian history much of the focus has been on tough, criminal men and their exploits. From John Lynch the Berrima Axeman, to Captain Moonlite and Ned Kelly.

But no observation of our past would be complete without examining some of the remarkable women that made Australia what it was then and in some regards, what it is today. Many women were more than just housewives and dutiful and obedient servants to their husbands. Many, like Mary Ann Bugg and Jessie Hickman, were much more than that.

This next woman is no different.

Matilda 'Tilly' Devine was born in 1900 and was raised at a time when the done thing for women and children was to be seen and not heard. By the time she would pass away in 1970, she would be one of the most notorious madam criminals in Australia.

Devine was a prominent Sydney crime figure who had immersed herself in a variety of extra-curricular activities, including sly-grog and involvement in razor gangs, but most notable as a madam.

Born Matilda Twiss in Camberwell, London, England, she married an Australian serviceman, Jim Devine, during World War I. When Jim returned to Australia she followed him back to Australia on the bride ship Waimana, arriving in Sydney on January 13th, 1920.

Both Tilly and Jim Devine rapidly became recognisable in the Sydney criminal world. Tilly was famous for flamboyant acts of generosity, and also for her violent feud with rival madam Kate Leigh. She was a woman to be revered and not only did she put the fear into many a woman but men as well.

Yes, Tilly Devine was a larger than life character when many were quite content to remain innocuous.

Characters and Cards

Info courtesy of Warren Fahey
Image courtesy of Virtual Victorian

Characters and Cards litter our history and our nation. Here are just a few.

Abby Dabby - had a regular stand outside the bank of NSW in George street and sold wax matches. His name came from his almost perpendicular shaped mouth, he couldn't get his tongue around his cry of Max Watches.

Bill Weldon - was a Victorian who claimed he was once a bush telegraph for the Kelly gang.

Slogger Ball - was a press ganger who's beat for snaring unwary sailors was near darling harbour. He wore a stovepipe hat and frock coat and the back rooms of his house had hidden trapdoors leading to dungeons where he kept the sailors.

Paddy the Ram - is said to have earned his name after butting a sailor in a brawl at the quay. Went from handsome cab to handsome cab selling special candles used in their lanterns. Almost blind he used a very long cane with the candles sitting in a tin box secured around his neck. He wore his entire wardrobe - a large oilskin sou'wester, three pairs of trousers and sea boots.

Champagne Charlie - the man known as Champagne Charlie arrived early on Major's Creek from the Californian gold fields. He spent freely on champagne, and was rewarded with the sobriquet of 'Champagne Charlie'. He was attended by Rufus Lambert, his factotum, who received four pounds a week for looking after him when on a spree. He was widely known as 'Champagne's Nugget'

Henry Grace a.k.a The Birdman - designed elaborate bird whistles so that he might talk with the birds. Devoted more than 50 years up until 1966 – whistles made from old parts – wire, rubber, wood, tin, could imitate more than 60 native birds

Characters and Cards #2

Info courtesy of Warren Fahey
Photo courtesy of ANU

Mangus Jack - was a famous whip maker who also made bridles, halters, belts, braces, watch bands etc travelled from station to station and eventually found dead on Old Man Plains between Hay and Deniliquin with one of his whips in his hand.

Paddy Lenny - was the Horse King of the NT. Owned over 800 horses and refused to sell any of them as he moved the mob from water hole to waterhole.

The Hermit of Hat Hill - was named William Murphy and he lived near Hat Hill at Blackheath in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, from around 1913 to 1925. He built a small dwelling and soon the local animals and birds began regular evening visits, as did tourists who went to see Mr Murphy fed the wildlife.

Bully Hayes - Sir Henry Browne Hayes – Bully 1762-1832. Fled England after a warrant issued for his arrest in 1801 and arrived in Sydney 1802. He was an Irish convict adventurer and belonged to a wealthy and respectable family in Cork. He was knighted in 1790 then sentenced to death for kidnapping and forcibly marrying his victim. He built Vaucluse House.

Sweet Nellie of Manly - was Mrs Nell O'Sullivan who sold sweets from a handcart at Manly to help support her sick husband. She was not above dancing on top of the cart to get tips. She died in 1933 and local residents erected a memorial stone at Manly Cemetery.

William Francis King (pictured) a.k.a The Flying Pieman - arrived from England in 1829. He twice beat the Sydney to Windsor mail coach on foot, and walked from Sydney to Parramatta and back, twice a day, for 6 consecutive days. He also walked from Brickfield Hill (near Haymarket) to Parramatta while balancing a live goat – in just under seven hours. He also picked up 100 live cats, 100 live rats and 100 live mice, placed a yard apart…what was he thinking! Bets of all, he would sell pies at Circular Quay to passengers getting on the steamer and then meet the same passengers as they disembarked having beaten them by foot. He returned to Ireland in 1812.

The Tulpa

Story by LL Staffers
Photo by Paul Denham

A tulpa is a "thoughtform," a being or object created through willpower. The tulpa concept is derived from Tibetan mysticism.

The concept was brought to the west in the 19th century by one Alexandra David-Neel, who claimed to have created a tulpa in the form of a jolly Friar-Tuck-like monk.

After practicing for a while, the creation slipped from her conscious control and became a problem, forcing her to destroy it via a process of re-absorbing the energy of the tulpa into herself.

There are some that believe that the very concept of the "tulpa" is a result of David-Neel's misunderstanding of the Tibetan teachings.

In ancient African cultures, the Tulpa or voodoo doll is also used to inflict maximum pain and suffering on a nominated victim or enemy.

While in theory this sounds great it is not without fear or trepidation. To put such a spell on another person means karma will return three-fold.

Wild Man of the Snows

Story and image by Dane Millerd
Photo by Paul Denham

The Snowy Mountains region had its first yowie sighting in 1860 and while they haven't been reported as often as hotspots like the Pilliga the witness accounts steadily continue. In this climate, yowies or Abominable Snowmen have been sighted upwards of nine-feet. It makes one start to wonder about Esphesians 6:12 - "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood .."

The Abominable Snowman as it is also known, has been seen over a wide area of Australia from early Aboriginal times through to today. The Abominable Snowman is not strictly confined to the Himalayas. Reported sightings of similar humanoids have been recorded throughout Asia and the Americas and everyone has a different name for it. The Snowy Mountains have their own yowie version too.

Some places in Australia refer to it as the Yahoo or Dooligah, others the Debil Debil.

According to Mysterious Australia throughout the Himalayas these man-beasts are known to the Sherpa people as "Yeti" {"dweller among the rocks"}. Yowies in Australia have been reported everywhere.

In China, it is the "Chi-Chi" or "Chang Mi" {wild man"}; and in Canada and the United States, "Sasquatch", {hairy man of the forest", better know as "Bigfoot"}. Other hairy man-apes are said to inhabit the jungles of South-East Asia and New Guinea. While Africa has the Nandi Bear.

According to Unknown-creatures.com, a cryptozoology website, there are many hairy men, man-beasts and megafauna. Here are just some -

Agogwe - Ahool - Almas - Aswang - Barmanou - Batsquatch - Batutut - Beaman Monster - Bray Road Beast - Beast Of Gevaudan - Bigfoot - Beast Of Bodmin Moor - Black Dogs - Bunyip - Burrunjor - Cadborosaurus - Champ - Chupacabra - Dover Demon - Doyarchu - Ebu Gogo - Elmendorf Beast - Enfield Monster - Fear Liath - Flathead Lake Monster - Flying Humanoids - Flatwoods Monster - Fouke Monster - Honey Island Swamp Monster - Issie - Jersey Devil - Kongamato - Kushtaka - Lake Elsinore Serpent - Loch Ness Monster - Lizard Man - Lake Murray Monster - Lake Norman Monster - Lake Tianchi Monster - Lake Worth Monster - Loveland Frog - Maryland Goatman - Minhocao - Mngwa - Mothman - Mokele Mbembe - Morgawr - Murphysboro Mud Monster - Nain Rouge - Nimerigar - Ninki Nanka - Nyalmo - Ogopogo - Orang Bati - Owlman Of Mawnan - Ozark Howler - Piasa - Pinatubo Monster - Pobobawa - Pope Lick Monster - Ropen - Scape Ore Monster - Shadow People - Skinwalker - Snallygaster - Springheel Jack - Storsjoodjuret - Taniwha - Thetis Lake Monster - Thunderbirds - Trunko - Tulpa - Turtle Lake Monster - Urayuli - Waitoreke - Wendigo - Wodewose - Yeren - Yowie

Whatever the case, even sober Australians have had encounters with this creature all over our land and sightings continue unabated. Whatever graces the snowy mountain slopes to date has been no more than a ghost on a landscape.

Niels Hertzberg Larsen

Story by Daniel Dreml
Photo by Paul Denham

Niels (Peter) Hertzberg Larsen was a 21-year-old Norwegian migrant when he arrived in Melbourne, Australia for the gold rush in 1855.

He was accompanied by friend William Henry John Slee to the goldfields and it wasn't long before he met the love his life Louisa Albury.

Despite their unhappy marriage, due largely to Louisa's involvement in women's movements, the couple can lay claim to producing one of Australia's greatest writers - Henry Lawson.

The family changed their surname in June 1867 upon Henry's birth.

It is also argued that Louisa not Niels had the greatest effect on Henry's literary genius as Louisa had an active writing role with feminist paper Dawn.

Lawson along with Banjo Patterson are often bandied about as the creme de la creme of our literary history with many saying their respective successes are too close to measure.

For the record, Niel's grave side is located a Hartley Vale, NSW not far from the Collitt's Inn.

Arthur Green and the Ghost

Story by LL Staffers
Image by Local Legends

Fisherman Arthur Green had walked past the derelict cottage in Cockle Bay on Queensland's Magnetic Island a thousand times. He had heard just as many stories about what allegedly 'occupied' the burnt out building. It had been the talk of the town after a young bridegroom needed psychiatric treatment after being chained to it overnight not long before.

For reasons even still unknown to Arthur, he found himself sitting down at the front of the old cottage.

"I was getting a pebble out of my shoe and suddenly this smoky, misty man appeared," he said.

"He was gesticulating wildly and he was very unhappy about me sitting there.

"I didn't need anymore persuading to move on let me tell you."

Neither does anyone else who knows the story on the island either. Legend has it a 40-year-old man was killed in the cottage and now Arthur catches his lunch somewhere else along the coast.

Stephen Cox goes into the wild

Story courtesy of Stephen Cox
Image by Snoopy Mars

About a month ago I set out by myself for a property in a very isolated part of the country. The closest neighbor is at least 5km away and there is nothing but forest and wild animals including vocal packs of dingoes. Essentially I went into the wild. It was a twelve-hour drive from where I live in Sydney just to get there. I didn’t have any sort of plan of what I was going to do there or even why I was going except that I had been going flat out for the previous 15 or so months and I felt like it was time for some isolation in nature to recharge.

Before I left I had a vague idea about experiencing a day and night wondering in the bush. The aim being to let go of whatever it is that I felt within myself that should it be let go of would be a great weight off my psychic shoulders. A big next step in just letting go. Also, I can remember when I was very young being terrified of being alone. I cannot precisely remember why but I do know I was haunted by nightmares at a very young age and I had (and still have) a vivid imagination.

So it struck me that being out in the bush at night alone, in what quite literally is the middle of nowhere may lead to just letting go of that tight wound spring that is hyper vigilance and yes, fear. I resolved that if there are a pack of dingoes, giant man eating pigs or spirits of the Australian land out there then so be it. If something happened to cross my path and wish me harm then I would fight to my utmost ability to survive. I am neither small, nor weak and have trained and taught martial arts in a competitive full-contact environment. But until the reality of a confrontation occurred I resolved to let go and be one with the night and the forest. It was to be a confrontation with fear. I was going to force myself to face fear, naked and alone. I hoped to come to know it intimately, to know it for what it is and let it go. Like a muscle held under tension for too long that eventually and spontaneously gives up, relaxes and lets go.

So did I get home? Of course I did and I was fine - that's why you're reading this story now.

The Clarke Brothers

Info courtesy of cultureandcreation.com.au
Image courtesy of nedkellysworld.com

When the Clarke brothers, Thomas and John, were sentenced in 1867, the Chief Justice described the bushrangers as 'the scum of the earth, the lowest of the low, the most wicked of the wicked [and yet] are occasionally held up for our admiration....It is the old leaven of convictism not yet worked out'.

The Clarkes' territory ranged from Yass to Goulburn and over to Braidwood, and their crimes included thieving horses, nine robberies in two months, and feloniously wounding a black tracker.

In 1866, under the Felon's Apprehension Act 1865 (NSW) the Clarke brothers were declared outlaws for reasons of 'robbery, violence and murder'. In 1867, four 'special' constables sent to capture the bushrangers were found shot dead near Jinden Station.

Although charges were never laid for the shootings, shortly afterwards, the reward for the Clarke brothers' capture stood at £5000, second only to the Kelly brothers. Both were hanged at Darlinghurst Goal in 1867.

Brave Ben Hall

Info courtesy of cultureandcreation.com.au
Image by Samuel Calvert

Ben Hall was said to have taken up bushranging at the age of 22, in 1861, after two wrongful arrests and 'to meet the man who ruined his happiness' when his wife ran away with a former policeman. After a wrongful arrest, on suspicion of being an accomplice of bushranger Frank Gardiner, he spent four or five weeks in the lockup until he was released due to lack of evidence. A second arrest when he was mustering his horses also foundered due to lack of evidence.

When Hall returned to Wheogo, after the second wrongful arrest, he was devastated to find that his house had been burned down and his stock lay dead, perished in the yards for lack of water - the sliprails had not been dropped by the arresting officers. This shocked the other settlers who remained sympathetic.

Not long after that, Hall joined up with Frank Gardiner and his gang who robbed from Yass to the Weddin Ranges. As Australian-born men, they had excellent knowledge of the country and were known as great horse riders.

Ben Hall took over as leader of the gang after a robbery at Eugowra, when Frank Gardiner absconded to a new life in the north. Over a few short years, he committed over 600 robberies but he never killed anyone, and this contributed to his image as a popular folk hero. In 1863 the whole gang bailed up the entire town of Canowindra, shepherding everybody into Robinson's Hotel and instructed them to eat or drink all they wished - at the gang's expense. The 'party' lasted for three days until the 14 dray drivers warned Hall that the river was rising and that they needed to leave before they were stranded.

There were plenty of sympathisers who offered them safe hiding places and who in turn were often rewarded with a share of the goods. Ben Hall was also seen as a 'Robin Hood' figure, stealing from the rich and redistributing the booty to his supports, family and friends.

The original arresting officer, Sir Frederick Pottinger, a baronet, was said by Hall, in a statement to Inspector Morton, to be threatening and bullying him because he could not catch the bushranger Frank Gardiner. In 1864, the Melbourne Punch lampooned the police as fashionable and working country women - scrubbing and cleaning 'scouring the country after Bushrangers'. In 1865 Pottinger was recalled to Sydney, having neglected his duty when he rode in the races at Wowingragong and failed to notice Hall's gang there on the course. While Pottinger resigned his commission, his actions were described with the dubious term of 'even Blind Freddy couldn't see it'.

The activities of Ben Hall's gang and the inefficiencies of the police were discussed almost daily in the NSW Parliament. As a result, the government rushed through the Felons Apprehension Act 1865 (NSW). The Act enabled the gang to be outlawed and made it possible for anyone to shoot them, rather than arrest them and go to trial. People named in the summons were expected to give themselves up. Anyone found to be harbouring or assisting the bushrangers were also considered to be felons.

Ben Hall's hiding place was betrayed to police by an accomplice who was safeguarding Hall's escape money. Troopers arrived at Ben Hall's camp before dawn, but waited until sunrise until they could identify him. When the plain clothes but armed men emerged from the bush, Hall ran in the opposite direction before being shot in the shoulder and back.

Hall called out to this friend Billy Dargin, an Aboriginal tracker who was close by (trying to take him alive), 'I am dying! I am dying! Shoot me dead', Hall having previously vowed 'They'll never hang Ben Hall'. The other troopers opened fire after he hit the ground. The police report stated that 30 bullets were found in his body.

The Witch of Kings Cross - Rosaleen Norton

Info courtesy of LL Staffers
Photo courtesy of freedomschoolrecords.com

Once a fringe figure of a very conservative Australia society, Rosaleen Norton since her death in 1979, has become cult figure in esoteric circles for her visionary artwork. In her time she was portrayed as the epitome of wickedness. This was a facade she was quite happy to flaunt to the public and media, loving to shock conservative minds.
From a very early age, Rosaleen exhibited a non conformist rebellious nature. When she was 14, the headmistress of her school, Chatswood Girls Grammar, became the first in a long line of people to identify Rosaleen as a corrupting influence on others, and duly expelled her for producing 'depraved' drawings of vampires, ghouls and werewolves. She later studied for two years at East Sydney Technical College under the noted sculptor, Rayner Hoff who encouraged her 'pagan' creativity.
She experimented with self hypnosis and automatic drawing for years, devising rituals which would put her into a trance state in which she could explore other dimensions. Her paintings and drawings for the most part were depictions of the myriad of gods, demons and other entities with whom she communicated and caroused with on these journeys.
Rosaleen was now a renowned figure in the infamous Kings Cross district of Sydney, home to prostitutes, criminals, artists and would-be cosmopolitans. She was attracting a steady stream of sensationalist media attention. Originally she enjoyed the attention and played upon the public persona. She certainly looked the part, her eyebrows plucked into high arches, her face framed with jet black hair and curves which resembled her paintings. She was also named as the leader of a witch cult, which was really nothing more than a few friends gathering at her flat. This was however enough for the tabloids to expand into something more elaborate.
By the 60's Rosaleen was starting to slip away from public attention as she increasingly found the small minded media tiring. Her liberated ideas were now no longer so shocking in an age of free love and open drug use. She quietly continued to create her visionary artwork and sell to any who were interested.
A decade later she had become a complete recluse confining herself to her close circle of friends. In her final years her health started to fail before she was finally admitted into the Sacred Heart Hospice, diagnosed with cancer. Here even to the last, surrounded by nuns and crucifixes, she remained unrepentant and committed to her beliefs, dying on December 5th, 1979.

Tracker Alec Riley

Story and photo of photo by Dane Millerd

The late, great Alec Riley learned his remarkable tracking skills from 'full blood' Aborigines while living in his childhood home town of Condobolin in NSW in the early part of last century.

Tracker Riley and his family moved about the countryside and he had little formal education however his tracking skills, physical fitness, communication skills and strong moral beliefs made him an outstanding tracker. He worked for the Dubbo Police Force between 1911 and 1950 and in 1939 he became the only 'Tracker First Class' in NSW and two years was promoted to the rank of Sergeant Tracker.

In 1943 he achieved another first for Aboriginal people when he was awarded the King's Police and Fire Service Medal for Distinguished Service.

A modest man dedicated to his work, he often worked alone and outside of hours to solve cases including the publicised Desmond Clark case in the Pilliga among many others. An even-tempered man, he never argued with anyone and spent alot of time talking and counselling prisoners at Dubbo Gaol.

Riley was renowned for getting people to go straight and not to break the law.

The photo above is on display at Dubbo Gaol and shows Lord Wakehurst presenting Tracker Alec Riley with his commendation. Tracker Alec Riley was truly a remarkable man.

Nosey Bob

Story by Dane Millerd
Image courtesy of Warren Fahey

Nosey Bob (Robert Howard) was the NSW hangman circa 1882 until his retirement in 1904. He was responsible for the executions of numerous prisoners throughout NSW from Darlinghurst where he began as a Deputy through to Dubbo. He was also credited with hanging one Andrew Scott, also known as Captain Moonlite.

Nosey Bob's career nearly didn't happen, a cab driver, Bob drove all the 'snobs' of the day until a bad accident that resulted in a horse kicking his face in changed all that. Many from the upper class would not be driven by him after that such was the contempt and ridicule he had to endure because of his face.

Said to be NSW's last hangman, Bob was also known to show compassion for his victims families, often helping with money and supplies after executing their dearly beloved. Yes, Nosey Bob is a rare person indeed.

Harold Holt

Story courtesy of Wikipedia
Photos courtesy of Daylife

Harold Edward Holt was an Australian politician and the 17th Prime Minister of Australia.
His term as Prime Minister was brought to an early and dramatic end on December 17, 1967 when he disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach near Portsea, Victoria, and was presumed drowned.

On the morning of his disappearance Holt, friends Christopher Anderson, Jan Lee and George Illson and his two bodyguards drove down from Melbourne to see the British lone yachtsman Alec Rose sail through Port Phillip Heads in his boat Lively Lady to complete a leg of his solo circumnavigation of the globe, which started and ended in England. Around noon, the party drove to one of Holt's favourite swimming and snorkelling spots, Cheviot Beach on Point Nepean near Portsea, on the eastern arm of Port Phillip Bay. Holt decided to go swimming, although the surf was heavy and Cheviot Beach was notorious for its strong currents and dangerous rip tides.

Holt was a strong swimmer and an experienced skindiver, with what Holt's biographer Tom Frame describes as "incredible powers of endurance underwater". However, his health was evidently far from perfect at the time of his death—he had collapsed in Parliament earlier in the year, apparently suffering from a "vitamin deficiency", and this raised fears among some senior Liberals that he might have a heart condition.

In September 1967 Holt had suffered a recurrence of an old shoulder injury, which reportedly caused him agonising pain, and for this he was prescribed strong painkillers. He ignored recent advice from his doctor Marcus de Laune Faunce not to play tennis or swim until the shoulder healed and reportedly obtained a prescription for morphine from another doctor. Tom Frame also records that Holt had already got into trouble twice while skindiving earlier in 1967—on the first occasion, while snorkelling at Portsea in May, he got into severe difficulties due to a leaking snorkel and had to be pulled from the water by friends, gasping for breath, blue in the face and vomiting seawater.

Ignoring his friends' pleas not to go in, Holt began swimming but soon disappeared from view. Fearing the worst, his friends raised the alert. Within a short time the beach and the water off shore were being searched by a large contingent of police, Royal Australian Navy divers, Royal Australian Air Force helicopters, Army personnel from nearby Point Nepean and local volunteers.

This quickly escalated into one of the largest search operations in Australian history, but no trace of Holt could be found.

Two days later, on December 19, 1967, the government made an official announcement that Holt was presumed dead. The Governor-General Lord Casey sent for the Country Party leader and Coalition Deputy Prime Minister John McEwen, and he was sworn in as caretaker Prime Minister while the Liberals elected a new leader.

There were many rumours surrounding Holt's death, including claims that he had committed suicide or faked his own death in order to run away with his mistress. The mystery became the subject of numerous urban myths in Australia, including outlandish but persistent stories that he had been kidnapped by a Chinese submarine, or that he had been abducted by a UFO.

Unknown Japanese Airman

Story and photo of photo by Dane Millerd

During WWII, Darwin was under heavy bombardment from the Japanese.
Slowly but surely, the enemy worked their way down through the Asian-Pacific rim until finally reaching the Top End.

For taking Darwin would open up the rest of Australia to attack. Both the enemy and Allied Forces knew this.

It was at this time that many Japanese began underlining their reputation as Kamikaze warriors, often sacrificing themselves and using their aircraft as flying projectiles in aid of their cause.

It was difficult to combat against and the Australians did well to hold off the Japanese for as long as they did before American troops and support arrived.

The picture of a photo above is from the War Museum in Darwin. It is an unmarked grave of one of those Japanese soldiers.

If you are ever in Darwin the museum is certainly a place to go and see and pay respects to those Australians who made the ultimate sacrifice for us during the war.

Wallanthagang

Story by Jim Smith
Image by Deefer Bloomfield

Wallanthagang was the small man-like creature, but very thickset and strong. He wore a lot of pretty feathers in his hair, and carried a large bundle of light spears. He obtained his food by catching parrots, which he speared in the feet, so that their bodies might not be damaged for eating. He frequented the thick tea-tree scrubs and brush in the swamps near Cambewarra Mountain, in the Nowra district, because parrots are usually very numerous about there. He had a bag slung over his shoulder in which he carried these birds.

Only one of these men are ever seen at the same time, and his camp fire has never been observed, nor any place where he has been camping or resting. The clever old black fellows can sometimes hear one of these animals calling out yau! Yau! Yauh! If a black fellow met Wallanthangang in the bush he would not speak, unless first addressed. He would then imitate what the man said, as if trying to learn the language.

The black fellow would probably think this boy-like personage was poking fun at him, and give the Wallanthangang a clout. He would then rush at the black fellow, and catching hold of him, throw him several feet into the air and let him fall heavily upon the ground. This would be repeated many times in quick succession until the man became very sick at the stomach and quite helpless.

Wallanthangang would then carry the man to a bulldog ant's nest and lay him down on top of it, so that these insects might sting him until he recovered.

The Bumbling Brit

Story by Leon Cuffitt
Additional info courtesy of AT
Photo courtesy of Life

So far Local Legends have told you a number of tales of survival in the Australian outback however this next yarn takes the cake.

It goes something like this - In September 2006 in Alice Springs, 50-year-old English tourist Martin Lake was bestowed the nickname “the Bumbling Brit” when he got lost, in the words of local police, “within shouting distance of help”.

Wearing a black T-shirt (in oppressive heat as you do) and shorts, with no water, no hat and an almost-flat phone battery, he wandered off the path while looking for the old telegraph station north of town and wasn’t found for three days.

After apologising and receiving a stern lecture from NT rescue services, less than a week later he became lost again, less then a mile from the exact same spot! The helicopters and search parties were organised once more, to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars for local taxpayers, and Lake was re-rescued, this time after four days of wandering.

It’s believed that he returned to the area because he dropped something the first time around and wanted to retrieve it.

The depths of wetness never cease to amaze.

Yaroma

Story courtesy of yowiehunters
Image by Dan Ledlimer

The Yaroma creature closely resembles that of a man, but of greater stature, and having hair all over the body. Its mouth is large, which enables it to swallow a black fellow whole, without mastication so the legend goes. There are generally two of these monsters together, and they stand back to back, so they can see in every direction. Their method of locomotion is by a series of long jumps (like Springheel Jack), and at every jump their genital appendages strike the ground, making a loud, sudden noise, like the report of a gun, or the cracking of a stock-whip.

Yaroma's have short legs and large, long feet, of a different shape of the feet of a human being. When one of these monsters is heard in the vicinity of a native camp during the evening, the people keep silent and rub their genitalia with their hands, and puff or spit in his direction. Some of the headmen or doctors' shout out the name of some locality in a long way off, and the Yaroma is supposed to depart to that place. If they cannot be dispersed by this means, the men take sticks which have been lighted in the fire-a stick in each hand - and strike them together to throw out the sparks. This usually causes the Yaroma to disappear into the ground, making a flash of lights as he does so.

If a man be pursued by a Yaroma his only means of escape is to jump into a water hole and swim about, because these creatures cannot wet their feet. They have long teeth which they sharpen on rocks in the high ranges; and some of the old men say that they know of rocks where there still remain marks of this grinding.

One of the last of the Aborigines of the Blue Mountains, declared there was a Yahoo [Yowie] living in the neighborhood of the Devil's Hole near Narrow Neck. He even volunteered to take a European acquaintance to the exact spot and leave him there to interview the creature at leisure, but the offer was declined.

Captain Moonlite

Info courtesy of Wikipedia
Image by Dane Millerd

Andrew George Scott baptised in March 1845 and a man who would later become a soldier and a priest, eventually morphed into the revered Auastralian bushranger Captain Moonlite.

The trouble for Scott began when in May 1869 he was accused of disguising himself and forcing bank agent, Ludwig Julius Wilhelm Bruun, a young man whom he had befriended, to open the safe. Bruun described being robbed by a fantastic black-crepe masked figure who forced him to sign a note absolving him of any role in the crime. The note read "I hereby certify that L.W. Bruun has done everything within his power to withstand this intrusion and the taking of money which was done with firearms, Captain Moonlite, Sworn."

Bruun claimed the man sounded like Scott but no gold was found in Scott's possession. Scott in turn accused Bruun and local school teacher James Simpson of the crime who then became the principal suspects in the minds of police and left for Sydney soon afterwards.

It was alleged that for several months, Scott lived off the money stolen from the bank, hobnobbing in Sydney's high society and entertaining actors at after theatre parties. Near the end of 1870, he began to pass worthless cheques and was arrested while trying to leave for Fiji aboard a fraudulently obtained yacht. He was sentenced to 12 months in Maitland jail. In 1872 he was charged with stealing the gold at Mount Egerton; he escaped whilst on remand for a short time before his recapture. He appeared before judge Sir Redmond Barry on July 24th, 1872 and received a sentence of eleven years jail. Despite some evidence against him, Scott claimed innocence in this matter until his dying day.

Scott was released from HM Prison Pentridge in March 1879. On regaining freedom, Scott met up with James Nesbitt , a young man whom he had met in prison - considered by many to be Scott's lover, and trading on his tabloid celebrity as "Captain Moonlite" began a career as a public speaker on prison reform.

However this reputation came back to bite him. Throughout this period Scott was harried by the authorities and by the tabloid press who attempted to link him to numerous crimes in the colony and printed fantastic rumours about supposed plots he had underway.

At some time during this period Scott seems to have decided to live up to this legend and assembled a gang of young men, with Nesbitt as his second in command and the others being Thomas Rogan (21), Thomas Williams (19), Gus Wreneckie (19) and Graham Bennet (18). Scott met these young men through his lecture tours or through brothels.

Inspecting Superintendent of Police John Sadleir, a Victorian police officer claims Scott sent word to infamous bushranger Ned Kelly, asking to join forces with him but that "Kelly sent back word threatening that if Scott or his band approached him he would shoot them down". The reasons for Kelly's refusal are unclear, though it is worth noting that Kelly was a Catholic Irishman, and Scott, Anglican Scots-Irish.

Scott seems to have never received the reply as his gang left Melbourne in the later part of 1879, and traveling north crossed into New South Wales to look for work, far from the police surveillance that stymied any opportunity of employment in Victoria. While traveling through the Kelly's area of operation, the gang were frequently mistaken for the Kelly's and took advantage of this to receive food and to seize guns and ammunition from homesteads.

Scott's gang bailed up the Wantabadgery Station near Wagga Wagga in November 1879 after being refused work, shelter and food. By this stage they were on the verge of starvation, after spending cold and rainy nights in the bush and in Moonlite's words succumbed to "desperation," terrorising staff and the family of Claude McDonald- a wealthy squatter. Scott also robbed the Australian Arms Hotel of a large quantity of alcohol and took prisoner the residents of some other neighbouring properties- bringing the number of prisoners to 36 in total.

A small party of four troopers eventually arrived, but Scott's well armed gang held them down with gunfire for several hours until they retreated to gather reinforcements- at which point the gang slipped out.

The gang were then holed up in the farmhouse of Edmund McGlede until surrounded by a much more substantial police force. During the following shootout, Senior Constable Webb-Bowen was shot and killed, as was Wreneckie. Nesbitt was also shot and killed, attempting to lead police away from the house so that Scott could escape. When Scott saw Nesbitt shot down and was distracted, McGlede took the opportunity to disarm the gang leader and with the other members wounded, or captured on attempting to flee the fire fight came to a close.

During the trial Scott claimed all guilt and allowed his young confederates to put all the blame on him, with them claiming to have been deceived as to the nature of their expedition, however both Scott and Rogan were given death sentences.

Scott was hanged in Sydney on January 20th, 1880.

V8 Super Jesus

Story and photo by Dane Millerd

Every year he fronts and every year he seems to win. Yes, I am talking about Wheely Bin Champion and extraordinaire the mercurial V8 Super Jesus.

As the picture reveals, V8 Super Jesus held off an elite field to claim another Easter Wheely Bin race at Lightning Ridge and he is already talking about returning next year.

"I'll be back for sure," said the champ in an exclusive back in April.

"I love it and I can't wait til next year.

"Hopefully I can win again."

With competitors such as Trashed and Wheels of Fire, it was never going to be easy to win the 2010 event but V8 Super Jesus, with God in tow, powered to a famous victory. A win for the ages according to many.

Get to the Ridge in 2011 and watch history getting made.

Territorians

Story and photo by Dane Millerd

Over the years there have been many amazing stories of survival and stupidity from the Top End. In many regards, most read the local papers for that reason alone.

Here are Local legends Entertainment we have given you a suggestion of stories from the Top End - rare people, places, specimens and events but when this writer saw this at a recent crocodile jumping tour, it was a photo op too good to ignore. It also made us wonder how many rare yarns from the Top End there actually are and how many we may be missing.

While we all know about Crocodile Dundee and Jock-a-dile Undie, so here is a recap of some of the craziest stories from the Top End -

When Mat Wilkinson, his son Jay and their Victorian friends Tim and Guy Mason went cruising up the river fishing none of them knew what was about to happen next - who would've thought they'd have saw a croc with a stubbie? Yes folks you heard right - a croc drinking a stubbie.

Or what about the croc thrown in the slammer by Senior Constable Wade Marshall and Parks and Wildlife Ranger Phil Wise dubbed the Jailhouse Croc? Apparently it had wandered into the jail area during floods and inadvertently gotten stuck in the jail yard.

But one of the amazing stories must surely go to the lucky punter who upon being taken by a croc and death rolled, awoke a short time later on a river bank sore but alive and swam his way to safety. In a word - crazy!

Yes, the Top End is filled with amazing croc stories so keep sending them in folks!

Ghindaring

Story by LL Staffers
Info courtesy of yowiehunters
Image by Dan Ledlimer

According to the Darkinung people, there is a mythical malevolent creature locked into Aboriginal folklore that resembles a man whose body had a red glow like burning coals. His name is Ghindaring.

Ghindaring had stationed his abode in rocky places on the sides and tops of mountains. A perfect viewpoint to see everything it is proclaimed and fathers used to warn their sons to keep away from such spots.

Ghindaring's image is marked upon the grounds at their initiation ceremonies, with a vessel containing human blood laid upon his breast. This provocative spirit is not one to be aroused.

Watch this space for more on mythical Aboriginal people.

The Sandman

Story and photo by Dane Millerd

He calls himself 'The Sandman' and for good reason, for his sand works are renowned all over the country.

Normally, during the Dry, you will catch the Sandman at Mindil Beach Markets in Darwin and he is usually one of the more popular exhibitors each Thursday night.

"I enjoy what I do and love expressing myself," he said.

"It's a good outlet and allows me to create and hopefully please people.

"That's all you can really ask for in a job or life isn't it?"

While each Thursday still presents challenges such as stopping kids from trampling his creations or getting enough sand to finish his project, it is all part of the journey and he takes it in his stride.

"You can't get too annoyed or take yourself too seriously," he said.

"And I don't have time to anyway, I can't let the sand dry out!"

While he may not be Picasso, the Sandman is without a doubt a true local legend.

Micki vs Jandamurra

Story and image of 'Micki' by Percy Warrul
Info courtesy of Craig Roberts at Australian Traveller

In the late 1890s, while working for the WA police in the southern Kimberleys, an Aboriginal from the Bunuba tribe named Jandamurra, helped capture a large group of his own people.

Seeing their suffering, Jandamarra rebelled, shot a white trooper, freed the captives and stole some guns. It was the beginning of one of the most remarkable local legends in Australia's history.

The story of an Aboriginal bounty hunter gunning down a white trooper raised local tensions, and soon the Aboriginal rebel became the most wanted man in the Kimberley.

For nearly three years, Jandamarra lead authorities off the beaten track throughout the Kimberley. His hit and run style raids were the first time European tactics and guns were used against them, and it was signal that Jandamurra and his people would not go quietly; they would stand up and defend themselves and their native lands.

Jandamurra's extensive knowledge of the country and surrounds allowed him to 'disappear' and helped fuel rumours that he may not have been human at all.

When Jandamarra couldn't be caught, the police brought in Micki, an Indigenous tracker from an opposing tribe.

Could a mere mortal track down a legend?

With skills equal to Jandamarra's, Micki did what was seemingly impossible for white troopers: he unravelled Jandamarra's bush tricks, broke down his resistance, tracked him down and shot him dead at his Tunnel Creek hideout.

Micki, the Indigenous tracker, had killed the Aboriginal rebel.

In the end, Jandamarra's body was decapitated and the head sent to England to be displayed as a trophy.

General Leeroy

Story and photo by Dane Millerd

Throughout the annals of history there have been people inextricably linked by a common ideal - Batman and Robin, Paul and John and Torvill and Dean. The same can be said about General Leeroy and Feral Kev, the yoda's of ute musters throughout the state who are competitors but friends nonetheless. They are the ultimate Aussie double act.

Like his good mate and muster rival Feral Kev, General Leeroy loves his ute. More than just a vehicle, his ute and all the trappings that go with it are apart of the 'lifestyle.'

It is a choice that has recently seen he and Kev immortalized in a new Jayne Denham music clip and seen he and Kev go head to head in ute musters all over the state.

"I love my ute and love the ute musters," Leeroy told Local Legends last year at the Cessnock ute muster.

"I probably love rum just as much though."

Like Kev, Leeroy has invested a lot of his own time and money to his beast and it is a head turner no matter where he goes.

"Yeah, it's a beauty. My pride and joy," he said.

Yes General Leeroy is a rare bloke of the highest order and we haven't even scratched the surface yet.

Watch this space for more.

The Crocodile Hunter

Info and photo courtesy of www.listverse.com

Stephen Robert Irwin, known simply as Steve Irwin and nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian wildlife expert and television personality.

He achieved world-wide fame from the television program The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series co-hosted with his wife Terri Irwin.

Together with her, he also co-owned and operated Australia Zoo, founded by his parents in Beerwah, Queensland.

He died in 2006 after his chest was fatally pierced by a stingray barb.

RIP Barefoot Bushman

Story by Dane Millerd
Photo by Scott 'Spock' McAndrew

It seems to be the dreaded curse of the crocodile men. First, the mercurial Steve Irwin passed away in tragic circumstances and now the pioneer of Australian documentary filmmaking Malcolm 'The Barefoot Bushman' Douglas died suddenly in a freak car accident yesterday on his Broome family property.

It has been confirmed by WA State Police that Douglas was killed when his vehicle hit a tree on his property, the Malcolm Douglas Wilderness Wildlife Park, in the north-west of the state. Douglas was also one of Australia's leading conservationists.

Douglas has been doing the circuit for over four decades and was the original who traversed the Australian Outback recording his adventures, producing dozens of wildlife documentaries and television shows long before messrs Mangle, Hogan and Irwin.

69-year-old Douglas was considered the bagwhan of the documentary field in Australia but he will be equally remembered for his efforts and dedication to conservation particularly of the crocodile. His Crocodile Park opened in 1983 to huge success, with tourists from around the world flocking to see and feed his reptiles.

"What you see is what you get," Douglas said in an interview in 2009.

"I'm not fake and I don't pre-plan takes. It's all real. There's no helicopter on standby if something goes wrong. In places like the Kimberley - one mistake and you're dead."

Douglas is survived by wife Valerie and children Amanda and Lachlan.

Black Sal

Story and image by Dane Millerd

In the early 1900s there was a prominent Aboriginal woman who lived in the Northern Tablelands. Her name was Sarah Walker or 'Black Sal' and she was a frequenter of the then Gilgai Hotel. Black Sal would make the arduous trek to Auburn Vale where she worked and it was upon one of these trips that she claimed to see a 'gorilla man.'

Although sightings were more common in those days there were a variety of reasons given for what it could be from Aborigines with excessive hair like the Gundangurra in the Blue Mountains who had excess cover to protect them from the cold through to the actual existence of a hairy man - a yowie or a Ginka as some locals referred to it.

A Ginka by loose definition was a hairy spirit man unlike the flesh form we give to yowies and the bigfoot.

Black Sal was not the only one convinced she'd seen a Ginka. For at Horsestealers Gully on a fishing expedition, one Alfred Wright and his band of fishermen claimed to see the same thing while trying to catch fish. Wright described it as 'human-like' just like Black Sal had and then the party watched it disappear.

Could it have been true? Did the Ginka or yowie really exist in these parts?

While this does not directly explain the sightings by Black Sal or Alfred Wright and his crew, it may shed some light on what some people were capable of just to get some attention. Still, if in fact it were true that yowies and their like do not exist then that would mean there are a lot of hard up bushmen out there looking to play a practical joke.

Doesn't seem too practical does it?

Harold Lasseter and the Gold Reef

Story and image by Dane Millerd

"What good is a gold reef worth millions? I would give it all for a loaf of bread!"

Harold Lasseter was born on September 27, 1880 at Bamganie in Victoria, Australia.
He was self-educated, literate and well-spoken, but largely described as an eccentric and unecessarily opinionated. He travelled far and wide in both Australia and the United States and worked in a variety of occupations. He married twice and had five children.

Lasseter was made famous by his sensational claim, first made in 1929, that as a young man he had discovered a fabulously rich gold reef, a proposition now known as “Lasseter's Reef”, in central Australia. This claim was never verified.

Lasseter convinced the Australian Workers’ Union to fund the trip and gathered a small party to accompany him back to find the reef. It didn't take long for the troupe to encounter disaster.

A series of accidents, rough terrain and the increasingly bizarre behaviour of Lasseter forced the search to be called off yet Lasseter pressed on, determined to find his gold reef.

Lasseter had been trying to rediscover a 16-kilometre reef of gold that he claimed contained gold ‘as thick as plums in a pudding’, worth £60 million, somewhere between the Ehrenberg and Petermann ranges, west of Uluru, in Central Australia.

Disorientated, he became separated from the expedition, continuing on alone.
His body was found several months later. His diary was in a cave - a poignant record of his lonely death and concern for his wife. It also revealed that he believed he had rediscovered his reef.

His body was found and buried in March 1931 by Bob Buck, a central Australian bushman and pastoralist sent to search for Lasseter, and was later re-interred in the Alice Springs cemetery.

There is still plenty of conjecture about Lasseter's Gold Reef and its existence as well as the validity of Lasseter the man himself. Some authors have even claimed he duped many unsuspecting folk out of a lot of money before returning to the United States.

Subsequent efforts to find the reef have resulted in further deaths for those looking for the unlikely fortune. Many still attempt what has been occasionally labelled - Australia's greatest wild goose chase.

Whatever the case, Harold Lasseter's fascinating tale continues to capture the imagination of millions of Australians and his legend burns as brightly as ever.

To Birdsville and back - Tom Kruse

Story courtesy of LL Staffers
Image by Dane Millerd

Esmond Gerald (Tom) Kruse MBE (born 28 August 1914) is a former mailman on the Birdsville Track in the border area between South Australia and Queensland.

In 1936 Harry Ding bought the mail contract from John Penna and Kruse began his first run on January 1st of that year. Kruse bought the mail contract in 1947. He sold the contract in 1963.

Kruse worked the Birdsville Track mail run from 1936 to 1957, driving his Leyland Badger truck. He delivered mail and other supplies including general stores, fuel and medicine to remote stations from Marree in north-west South Australia to Birdsville in central Queensland, some 325 miles away.

Each trip would take two weeks and Tom regularly had to manage break-downs, flooding creeks and rivers, and getting bogged in desert dunes.

He became famous as the result of John Heyer's 1954 film The Back of Beyond, and in the year after the film's release, in the 1955 New Year Honours, Kruse was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for "services to the community in the outback.

The Bride to be ...

Story by Paul Denham and Millie Ford, additional information courtesy of John Sullivan and John Godl.
Photo courtesy of On The Borderland

When Eliza Donnithorne met a young Englishman by the name of George Cuthbertson, employed as a clerk by a shipping company, it appeared to be the beginning of a romance written in heaven. Cuthbertson soon began pursuing her and quickly captured her affections, undoubtedly a breath of fresh air and liberty for a young woman trapped in a suffocating guilded cage. The class divide was presumably seen as an unbridgeable chasm so their relationship had to be carried out in secret, clandestine meetings and stolen moments in the wild pastures of Camperdown Cemetery were the norm and it was here where they were often spotted by the sexton. As Eliza continued spending more time away from home her father became concerned and on becoming aware of the relationship between the young couple irrupted, infuriated he forbade his daughter to ever see her unworthy suitor again. But his ultimatum fell upon deaf ears and whenever he departed on business Eliza would send one of the trusted servants with a message to Mr Cuthbertson, announcing their opportunity for a romantic rendezvous. George would then ride out on horseback to Camperdown Lodge, was seen riding into Newtown like an American cowboy, where the couple would spend as much time as possible together.
Mr Donnithorne was known in business circles for his quick temper, the fuse of which drew shorter with each passing year and declining health.
In spite of his opposition the relationship between the couple developed to the point it was futile opposing it further, Mr Donnithorne gave his consent for them to freely court, probably in hope the elimination of romantic intrigue would make Eliza see how unsuited George was for her. However it had the opposite effect, it inevitably led to a proposal of marriage, an outcome he had obviously dreaded. When informed he tartly told his daughter that even though she was marrying beneath her he would no longer oppose the union, a note was sent to George advising him to present himself at Camperdown Lodge if he wished to hear something to his advantage. Upon arrival James led him into the study where they had a frank discussion, it was made clear that he didn't really want to hand over his lovely daughter and if George made a false move after the wedding he'd be hit with a series of legal mallets. The fact he was just a clerk and not a wealthy blue blood like the family into which he aspired entry was a cause of embarrassment for the venerable Judge Donnithorne, who demanded he resign after the marriage and live off an allowance with Eliza at Camperdown Lodge.
Following weeks of preparations the wedding day arrived along with fashionably dressed members of colonial society, a steady stream of onlookers crowded King Street eager to catch a glimpse of the wedding party as it departed for the nearby church. In her room Eliza was, with the assistance of bridesmaids, laced into the heavy corset of the fashionable wasp-waisted era, tightening the laces until she fitted into the narrow top of her wedding dress.
The front of Camperdown Lodge was lined with carriages drawn by well groomed horses, their coachmen and equerries standing by the wheels or sitting stiffly on their seats ready for the cavalcade to St Stephen's for the ceremony. The appointed hour of George's arrival came and went; time passed, but still no sign of the groom. Hungry wedding guests were impatient to devour the exquisite feast marveled at in the long dining room as Mr Donnithorne tried to reassure them the delay would soon be overcome, however it was obvious the wedding would not take place and sensing an impending scandal guests started leaving as tactfully as possible.

James made excuses but had to announce to sympathetic guests that the wedding was to be postponed. At that moment Eliza descended the stairs in her wedding dress to ascertain what was happening, entering the long dining room to witness several of the remaining guests picking at the food while servants began removing other portions. She was horrified and screamed at them to leave the wedding feast alone so it would remain perfect when her groom arrived. By this time the anxiety of her long wait had taken its toll on her gentle nature, she fainted away and was carried to her room rambling and crying.

She remained in an emotional state for several weeks demanding that the wedding finery be left untouched, her father honouring these wishes in the interests of her mental health. The doors leading into the long dining room were closed and locked, the wedding feast remaining untouched, but soon tumbling to decay at the mercy of swarms of cockroaches and mice.
Unknown to all at that time Eliza was carrying George Cuthbertson's child and several months later gave birth to a daughter, Anna, who was taken from her and placed with the family of a servant (Mrs Anna Kelly) to avoid the inevitable scandal illegitimacy would cause at Eliza's level of society. She was later told the child had died at birth, which would only have exacerbated her emotional distress. She suffered a difficult pregnancy and resulting health problems kept her bedridden for sometime, after she regained her health she never again left the confines of Camperdown Lodge, she refused to see all callers and friends who made attempts to comfort her. She insisted that the front door be left ajar and fastened with a heavy chain so her groom could easily announce himself, a candle burned by the door at night, and to deter burglars a mastiff was tethered behind.
She ordered all the windows of Camperdown Lodge be closed with drapes drawn and shutters nailed shut, dismissed all but two servants (Sarah & Elizabeth Bailey) and having placed the house in a state of suspended animation abandoned the greater extent of the interior to fall to decay in total darkness whilst she waited patiently for George to return. Discharged servants recalled how she wandered the house clad in her wedding dress and allowed the wedding feast to rot on the table, late night passersby reported seeing her drift through the now uncultivated gardens and overgrown grounds like a ghost dressed in black, her face concealed.
All her external needs and communications were conducted by her two loyal servants who, as the years rolled by, suffered a constant barrage of questions about their mistress from curious locals and shopkeepers but refused to answer any questions or comment in anyway about Eliza during her lifetime. Both women lived in the servants quarters of Camperdown Lodge and were almost as reclusive as their mistress, never marrying and only leaving the property to conduct official business or visit relatives from time to time.
No one knows why George Cuthbertson left the heartless way he did: did the prospect of spending the rest of his life being lorded over by James Donnithorne frighten him off - was he removed against his will or was he paid off? We will never know. He next surfaced in India where he may have worked for the East India Company for a time, before dying in Delhi in 1858 from wounds inflicted during the sepoy rebellion.
Eliza Emily Donnithorne died on 20 May l886 aged 60 of heart disease. She was laid to rest beside her father in Camperdown Cemetery, not far from where George probably stole his first kiss from her so many years earlier. Camperdown Lodge was placed on the market as the Bailey sisters cleared away what remained of the wedding feast in the long dining room, 40 years after it had been prepared and presented.
At the time of her death Eliza wouldn't have been able to imagine how profoundly the world outside had changed. Sydney was no longer a small trading port but a major city. Australia no longer a ruff and ready patchwork of colonies but a nation moving towards independence. Yet Eliza Donnithorne remained suspended in its past.

More Harry Butler tales

* Harry Butler and the Carpet Python.

The Truckie with the Dummy

Story and photo by The Lizard King

There are many classic local Aussie legends and this one is no different.

Earlier, we bought you the tale of Australia's Oldest Truck Driver, Pete Winsor. Pete was a classic and like many of his colleagues, covers a fair amount of territory. Our next profile is no different.

The man, known as the Truckie with the Dummy is legendary around the traps, particularly in western NSW and his legend shows no signs of fading despite a current battle with cancer. He has many stories but none better than this.

It was many years ago when he was driving a road train that this particular Truckie was pulled over by a cop. Unbeknownst to the cop who had pulled over the Truckie, the cop inadvertently got into a slanging match with the Truckie insisting both he and his partner/ colleague step out of the vehicle.

When the Truckie tried to reason with the cop that his wing-man was in fact a dummy it fell on deaf ears, forcing the officer to demand the other occupant vacate the truck so he could search them both.

Finally, the Truckie intimated that his 'friend' was not a dummy but rather a mannequin.

Astonished, the cop asked why he travelled with a mannequin in his truck. The response was simple - 'I have the mannequin to keep me company on my long trips,' the Truckie explained.

'It doesn't say much and is a real good listener. That's how it should be.'

Ned Kelly

Story by LL Staffers
Image by Dane Millerd

Edward "Ned" Kelly (June 1854/June 1855 - November 11, 1880) was an Irish-Australian bushranger. He was seen by some as a cold-blooded killer, one of the worst. Others saw him as a folk hero, for his defiance of the crown. He was renowned for his metal armour, most notably his helmet.

Kelly was born in Victoria to an Irish convict father, and as a young man he clashed with the Victoria Police. Following an incident at his home in 1878, police parties searched for him in the bush. After he killed three policemen, the colony proclaimed Kelly and his gang wanted outlaws.

A final violent confrontation with police took place at Glenrowan on June 28, 1880. Kelly was captured and sent to jail. He was hanged for murder at Old Melbourne Gaol in November 1880.

His notoriety has made him an iconic figure in Australian history.

JESSIE Update

JESSIE UPDATE

PHOTO: Jessie and Christina mucking around as they always did during the early years of their friendship. The two women shared a bond that until recently had not been detailed or covered adding further fuel to the view there is still a lot more to learn about Jessie and her life.

This photo is courtesy of Di Moore, the living granddaughter of Elizabeth Jessie Hickman. Di lived for nearly seventy years thinking her real biological grandmother was Marmie (Christina) after Christina raised Jessie's son Hedley as her own. Jessie had asked Christina to raise the child among a wave of personal turmoil in her life just before WWI.

Years later, Christina would go on to marry Arundel Pryor while Jessie reconciled with Hedley's father Ben Hickman, by marrying him three weeks later. Jessie's marriage didn't last however, before long she was back in the Wollemi, living the predatory life of a bushranger.

NOTE TO READERS: The new book by Dianne Moore is currently not available as it is still in production. Please watch this space for more updates on Jessie Hickman including interviews, videos and announcements.
We thank you for your interest and cooperation and we will notify you in due course regarding this publication.
Should you have any information or would like to contribute to this legend or any other story, please contact us via the contact page on our website or email -
media@local-legends.net

Thanks for visiting www.local-legends.net

Shadow People sightings

Story and Photo by Dane Millerd

Talk of Shadow People has often raised more eyebrows and questions then it has any meaningful evidence. Victims, witnesses and respondents have often claimed that Shadow People skirt on the periphery – they hide in the corner of one’s sight, never really revealing themselves for prolonged periods of time.
Symptoms that are linked with such sightings include sleep paralysis, night terrors and cold sweats among a litany of other claims such as unexplained phenomena like phantom winds. These are ingredients that are normally reserved for fiction books and have all the hallmarks of a Dean Koontz novel according to the many cynics that exist in our society.
Whatever the case, many still stick to their stories regardless of the ostracism.
One witness named Natalie from Lawson in the Blue Mountains, claimed that during one encounter when she was frozen in her bed, there were many people occupying her room. Originally sceptical and of the belief it may have been a prowler, Natalie soon realised she was dealing with something much different when the shadows began to infiltrate her body.
“There was nothing I could do,” she said.
“There was no form or being to explain the shadows or how they could have gotten inside my house.
“I asked around and got my boyfriend to do the same and I was surprised at how many people had experienced similar phenomena,” said Natalie.
“While it doesn’t explain how this happened and I doubt I will ever get that answer, it does make me feel a little better knowing that others have gone through this and lived to tell the tale.”
While no one can be certain of the motives of these shady entities or what it all means, we can be sure that Natalie’s claims are in line with many others we have spoken to about this phenomena.
We can also be sure that if our preliminary enquiries are anything to go by, it won’t be the last time we hear about the Shadow People.

The Pilliga Half Man

Story by Ando
Photo by Dane Millerd

New residents of Coonabarabran Bert and Janice Wilson had recently purchased a small acreage nestled on the fringes of the Pilliga Scrub in central western NSW. Bert, a former truckie from Sydney, had decided to retire to the bush with his wife of 28 years. The house was slightly run down and had clearly been vacant for some time, so the real-estate agent was relieved to finally sell the place. Bert and Janice moved in on a warm February day in 2001. The heat of the day made it difficult to sleep at night, and Janice who had always had trouble sleeping would make a habit of watching trash TV until the wee hours.
One night shortly after moving in, Janice got the shock of her life. She had left Bert snoring away in bed and made her usual journey to the TV room to try and cure her insomnia with late night Letterman. She'd been lying on the couch watching TV for half an hour or so when she was startled by the sense of movement behind her on the veranda. She sat up quickly and turned around to look through the window above the couch, but whatever had caught her attention was not visible. Slightly disturbed she went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea. As she walked back into the TV room, she had a clear view straight out the window above her couch into the front paddock. What she saw staring right back at her on the veranda just below the height of the window pane was what appeared to be the upper torso of a badly burnt man leaning forward on his arms, the whites of his eyes lit up brilliantly by the full moon. She froze in fear before screaming and waking up Bert who stumbled out of bed to see what the commotion was all about. Janice explained what she had seen staring through the window and how she had felt something was on the balcony as she watched TV. Bert ran out onto the balcony with a rifle, but the half man was no where in sight.

Neither of them slept the rest of the night, and they moved out as soon as possible.

They explained their story to the real estate agent, who then told them about the old alcoholic loner who had lived with his mother in the house up until the late 1970s. He had been clearing a fire break on the edge of the property when the tractor he was in rolled over cutting him in half. His mother found him days later after the bushfire had moved through. They buried him on the property near the house. Similar tales of ghostly peeping toms and a hideous half corpse that runs on its hands are known around Coonabarabran and in the Pilliga Forest.
The area is also known for an array of strange creatures and sightings however the Pilliga Half Man is among the most bizarre.

The Face

Story by Adam Phillips, courtesy of www.bitey.com
Image by Dane Millerd

In his prime, my father was a Rugby League football hero and played for the ‘Country’ team against ‘City’ in the early to mid 70′s.
On one occasion, the entire team travelled by bus to a town called Queanbeyan, and this incident took place when my mother (Von) and another footballer’s wife (Judy) were travelling together by car to meet their husbands and see them play. They had been driving for maybe 6 or 7 hours and it wasn’t to be too long before they would arrive.
Anyone who has ever driven at night on an empty country road would know that whatever falls under the headlights are the only things you can see outside the car. Apart from that, the occasional bright star on clear nights and the glow of distant town lights over the black horizon.
I love night driving. Every time I travel out to the country to visit my parents, I always like to stop the car at least once along the way and turn off the headlights, just to experience the clear country sky and the sounds of open space at night (something you just don’t get in the city)
But back to 1973…
On this particular night, there was a bright half-moon rising behind the car. Outside of the headlight pools they could see a rolling, pale landscape striped with long black tree shadows. The landscape was slightly hilly and the road gently winding. The women had been talking for most of the way, but after a few hours even the most talkative people fall silent. And they did. As the car moved through solid hill shadows and speckled tree shadows, Von was lost in her own thoughts while driving and Judy was on the verge of sleep.
They rounded a corner and there on the side of the road sat a small group of kangaroos. At sight of the car they scattered, some cleared the nearby fence in smooth leaps, but a few bounded across the road straight into the path of the car. Von hit the brakes and narrowly missed hitting one of them.Suddenly both women were wide awake and buzzing with adrenaline. There’s nothing quite like a roo on the road to snap a driver back to attention.
A few short comments passed between the two women but no sooner had the pulse slowed, when cresting a small hill and then down into a dip, both women saw clearly in the light of the headlights a large face on the road, larger than a car and as wide as the road itself.
It was the face of a dirty-looking man with a black beard and long straggly hair, the eyes looking off to one side. At first glance it appeared to be painted on the road, but as the car came towards it, the eyes moved to look directly at the women, then the entire head turned to face them as the car moved over it at speed.
Von gasped sharply, and Judy screamed. At that moment, both women knew that it wasn’t a trick of the eyes. The fact that they had both seen it and it appeared real, frightened them both even more. There was no bump under the car so it was definitely a flat image, but it had appeared photographic in it’s detail and had moved with life-like clarity. They didn’t stop the car, and continued on until they reached the motel where they told their husbands all about it.
In hindsight and among other details, they described the fact that it was just the head, no shoulders or neck. Also that it was in colour, which ruled out the possibility of tree shadows on the road playing tricks. My mother once drew a picture of the face as she had seen it on that night, but it’s long gone. Should get her to do another one huh?

The Lawnmower Man

Story and photo by LL Staffers

67-year-old man Claude Harvey has pushed his lawnmower up the Queensland coast from the golden strip of the Gold Coast to tropical Cairns to raise money for charity.
Claude Harvey left the Coast in July and arrived in Cairns in far north Queensland this week after pushing his lawnmower over 2,000 kilometres.
He has raised roughly $40,000 along the way for child protection advocacy group - Bravehearts.
"I wanted to do something to help them and this seemed like a good way."
But the walk was not always such a great success.
"The first year I did it, I raised 30 cents and last year I raised $39,131.00," he said.
Claude explained how he is pleased his "mower-thon" is over.
"The journey has been pretty good to be honest - I've had some ups and I've had some downs but mostly, it's been really good," he said.
Mr Harvey says he had many requests to mow lawns.
"People all the time ask me to mow their lawns," he said.
"But I'd never get where I was going if I did everyone's lawns."
Claude and his rickety old Victa are now retired.
Mr Harvey timed his arrival in Cairns to coincide with White Balloon Day on September 7 - a day dedicated to combating child sexual assault.

The night I hit my scone in Scone

Yarn by Ken Jones
Photo by Paul Denham

I often think of a saying I’d learned, being “You’ll Never Walk Alone”
I, most certainly was not alone, the night I hit my scone in Scone.
There I stood on centre stage, reciting the story of some young nutter.
When my heart began to disengage and my ventricle had a huge flutter.

In future I’ll be careful, when telling yarns by Mister Macarthur.
When the old ticker stops tickin’ ya neither Arthur nor Martha.
An empty sack won’t stand against a wall and that’s why I went down.
The paving stones said “Mr Jones, hit us hard with your crown”

That’s exactly how I proceeded as I did my Kenny thing.
But I kinda sortta wasn’t really there and didn’t feel anything.
Annette, Steve & Michael came to the fore, as I was told much later.
They kept me pumpin’ until Adam & Rob came with the defibrillator.

One hit, two hits, to a total of four big jolts.
I must have been a stubborn b---ard, they upped it ta three hundred volts.
Then they took me to the Hospital where my little grandies were born.
They had to hit me a couple more times then stitched where my scone was torn

Back in the ambo, then down to Newie and into the Mater Cardiac ward.
They told me what had happened and they thought I’d had the sword.
Whatever Hospital we might be in, be it Newie, Singo, The Brook or Scone.
Drs Abbot & Warner & the Nurses are the kindest beings I have known.

Dr. Seah and his team did a C.A.B.G. job, they are the very best.
And Dr. Silberberg and his crew put a defibrillator in my chest.
Now I’m home and convalescing, getting a little better each day.
Some hair is gone from the top of my scone and the rest is turnin’ grey.

I will ease off being an engineer, but my futures lookin’ bright.
Am just gunna play my guitar and sing and possibly write and recite.
So now I’ll be forever grateful, as I draw my each and every new life’s breathe
Then close my story with a parody from the original “Old Bards” MacBeth.

Thanks to all at once and to each one in Stockton and the Upper Hunter Zone.
Whom I ask and invite to see me recite, but never ever sconed again in Scone.

Amelia Mannix and the Mine Shaft

Story and photo by Millie Ford

The mystery of an unmarked grave at old Top Stannifer has been solved.
For many years Darrell Barnes has been intrigued by the burial site his late father Keith told him about.
Very little was known about the child, until Norma Wallis of Mardi on the Central Coast wrote to Darrell and sent him the inquest into the death of Amelia Mannix, who lived with her family at Top Stannifer.
She was six-years-old when she died on August 19 in 1883 after falling into a derelict mine shaft.
Norma, who used to live in the area, found out about the Mannix family from a descendant and wanted to inform Darrell after he wrote a poem about the grave.

Darrell said he was pleased the mystery had been solved.

“There are no ruins left out there of old Top Stannifer, just a lonesome grave in bushland,” he said.

“My dad believed it was a child of the Mannix family because he used to do a lot of tin mining in the area and was shown the grave site by Bede McCann.

“Bede had the information there was a grave there from his mother and my dad did mine around where it was but left that spot.”

In her letter to Darrell, Norma spoke of the Mannix home, which was used as an overnight stop for stagecoaches travelling between Armidale and Glen Innes and beyond.
Darrell said Amelia’s parents Patrick and Johanna Mannix had suffered a lot of tragedy.

“They had eight children and four of them died at young ages of terrible causes,” he said.

In the inquest to Amelia’s death, it is written that she fell down the mine while walking and talking with her older brother, Patrick.
He quoted on the day of the inquest that when she went to pull wattle blossoms off a tree, she fell backwards into the mine.

“It was just a tragedy and I am glad that we now know the background of the burial site and who the child is that is buried out there,” Darrell said.

“The mine shaft she fell down is still out there and the grave is not far from where the old tin smelter was.”

Over time, the grave had been restored but a bushfire many years ago burnt out the railing surrounding it.
Now there is only a cross marking her name and a circle of rocks at the grave site underneath the wattle trees and acacia elms.

“Hopefully we will be able to get another fence put up around it, but it is in a hard spot to get to now with all the overgrowth of the bushland,” Darrell said.

Chasing George 'The Barber' Clarke

Story by Dane Millerd
Image courtesy of GT

In 1991 Kevin Costner released the multi-award winning epic Dances With Wolves that traced the self-discovery of a Civil War Officer’s transformation into a North American Indian and his struggles maintaining that ideal.
In the early 1800’s George ‘The Barber’ Clarke escaped from the colony and was the first European to settle in the district. He resided on the Namoi with the Gamilaraay Gunn-e-darr tribal clan for years, immersing himself in their ancient culture and traditions.
Clarke spoke the language, adopted dress, customs, put himself through body initiation rituals and even went to the extent of painting himself black and taking two Gamilaraay wives! He was accepted by the clan as one of their own and they regarded him as having ‘returned from the dead.’
As time passed, white settlement increased in the district and Clarke, already a wanted man, began stealing cattle from pastoral land with his Gamilaraay family. Cattle rustling, as it was known, had reached such a height among the family that a set of stockyards and hut were established near the lagoon now named after him, Barbers Lagoon.

Not far from the lagoon is an impressive mountain called Barbers Pinnacle because it was his favourite vantage point and a look-out post.

It didn’t take long for Clarke to be recaptured. He was then sentenced as a convict labourer for Benjamin Singleton of the Hunter Valley. Each time Clarke escaped he would be caught again and punished before finally being deported to Tasmania and hung for his bushrangers crimes.
It is legend that Clarke had taken a literal, spiritual and deep rooted belief in the ancient proverb – ‘The more you know, the less you need,’ and it was the same way he lived his life. He died in 1835.

Peter Ray

Story by Dane Millerd
Photo by Paul Denham

Peter Ray has always had an interest in military history and collectibles. In fact, he has a collection second to none with tanks, vehicles and an arsenal from Australia's wartime years. His collection includes photos, books, records and just about any wartime related thing you can think of.
"I have always had a keen interest in our wartime history," he said.
"I have a great respect for our achievements.
"It has always been a big part of my life."
A very big part.
Ray has sheds that hold the majority of his collection and while the hobby has cost him plenty it has also been richly rewarding. He has met a great number of historians, enthusiasts and people over the years and he also holds a military theatrical license.
"I have worked on many films like X-Men Origins: Wolverine and I enjoy it," he said.
"It is good to put back into society in some way with my collection."
Ray shows no signs of slowing and is looking at extending his garage of collectibles.
"I am keen and will do it for as long as I can, or the bank balance allows," he said.
"Or as long as the wife lets me!"

Sam Poo - The Chinese Bushranger

Story and Pic by Dane Millerd

In colonial times it was not uncommon for the arm of the law to launch a campaign of propaganda against outlaws and bushrangers. Some of what was published being true yet other claims being mere slanderous gossip and toxic hearsay. To this day it is still debated whether Sam Poo, Australia's only Chinese bushranger, may have been a victim of such a wave of lies.
There is no denying Sam Poo held up the Coonabarabran Bank in the 1865 and escaped to Scabby Rock with a small fortune of gold. His accomplice was caught and Sam hid out in an old asbestos mine at the rock (one of two in the area known as Scabby Rock) which is now covered.
Without fear or fervour, Poo used to rob everyone and was incredibly smart. He realised that Asian fossickers would hide gold in their hair and make them shake the precious stones loose. He was also known to be fairly adept with his hands having lead a successful life off the means of others as a pick-pocket. As a result of his trade and these curious abilities he was also wealthy.
Yet robbing the underclass and holding up a bank were not the real acts that earned the ire of the law. Wrath of such a grandiose scale is only possible when one takes a life. The greater the crime, the greater the attack and trial by public against the citizen.
It had all started when Sam Poo reacted to Sgt. Ward shooting a boy but the yarn was changed (conveniently) to Sam Poo raping and even killing a boy. Sam Poo did however, kill the bank teller and a cop in Coonabarabran when he took the gold. That had been done out of necessity to survive not out of some pseudo-pleasure.
Sam Poo hid for as long as he could but Ward was revered in these parts. He was also corrupt and owed a lot of favours but yet he was a cop and the establishment had to respond. Respond in kind they did.
Sam Poo was eventually caught and with his capture came the death of the legend.

The Legend of Banno and Asho

Story submitted by Ed Di Mallren
Source and additional information and image provided by Associate Professor Kojihiro Matsuda and http://www.m24maritime.heritage.nsw.gov.au/
http://www.afloat.com.au/afloat-magazine/2009/february-2009/No_Bodies

What if two Japanese men had escaped a midget submarine off the coast of Sydney during World World II and began a new life in Australia? It would be big news right? Right.
More than 67 years ago three Japanese midget submarines made their way into an allied infested Sydney harbour. Buoyed by success throughout the Pacific, the Japanese would have had a one of the harbours most expensive waterfront views had they been able to submerge and enjoy it. Two of the subs were dealt with and destroyed by the allies yet one always remained unaccounted for. It would become one of the great Australian wartime and maritime mysteries. That night of May 31st, 1942 a local legend was born.
In November 2006, a group of divers called 'No Frills Divers' found the Japanese midget submarine M24 off Bungan Head, Newport in the Northern Beaches. The vessel was strangled in shark nets over 50 metres below on the ocean floor. It was still intact and in reasonable condition.
Questions began to surface as to the whereabouts of the missing crewman on the Japanese midget submersible and their post-attack steps are carefully retraced by expatriate historian, Associate Professor Kojihiro Matsuda.

"As my colleagues and I think, the crew did not die but abandoned their sinking midget submersible by jumping-off and going ashore at the Collaroy Basin," said Matsuda.

"The damaged midget M-24 drifted on, empty, and sank quietly off Bungan Head. It was still dark, on the south end of Fisherman's Beach, as Ban (Banno) and Ashibe (Asho) brushed the soft northern beaches sand from their feet and put their highly unpopular polyester socks and rubber-soled, lace-up, special submariners shoes back on.
"They easily skirted the tank traps that had been laid along the beach, laughing quietly, because as far as they knew; no tank-landing was being considered. Smoking a navy-issue cigarette he had kept dry in a cellulose acetate dry bag, superior officer Ban made the decision to proceed north by land to the end of the peninsular, confident that they would be able to signal the mother sub from the headland for a belated pickup." Matsuda further explained - "that upon reaching the narrow sandy strip behind Collaroy Beach which ran beside the recently upgraded Pittwater Road, they saw on the other side of the road what they thought was a concrete bunker. It was in fact the local cinema, with The Wizard of Oz spelt out in belatedly dimmed incandescent bulbs. Wooden power poles and weatherboard houses lined both sides of the unkerbed but upgraded road."
Banno and Asho headed north and soon they wpuld stumble into the quiet coastal settlement of Narrabeen. For them it would signal the beginning of a new life in Australia.

*Watch this space for more on Banno and Asho.

*Associate Professor Kojihiro Matsuda is an historian and an authority on this subject, and lives in Orange, NSW.

(This story is a theoretical but plausible scenario, for which there is some, but far from conclusive, evidence. The photos are whimsical and meant to illustrate the concept behind the tale. It is in no way intended to detract from the bravery of the Japanese submariners nor Australian and Allied servicemen and women.)

Australia's Oldest Truck Driver Keeps On Truckin'

Story by Dane Millerd
Photo by Peter Lorimer

Pete Winsor is not your average truck driver.
At 8o years young he is Australia’s oldest interstate truck driver chalking up 66 years behind the wheel of his rig.
In that time, Pete reckons he has driven close to 9million kilometres from his hometown of Gunnedah to Warwick and just about everywhere to the east, west and in between.
When asked what was his secret for keeping so active in an industry that has such a heavy burn-out rate, Pete could only put it down to one thing.

“Like most bushies, I learned to go without water, so I do!” Pete explained.

“I make up for it by having a couple of schooners every night after I’ve knocked off work,” he confided.

Even today Pete still drives 3000 kilometres a week for local haulage operator, Percy’s, as a casual driver and he is currently on his 13th truck.

“Yeah, I’ve gone through a few – more trucks than girlfriends,” he laughs.

“I remember one old favourite truck I had about 40 years ago that got swamped out near Barren Junction (far west NSW) and I was lucky I went prepared,” he said.

“As a truckie you learn pretty quickly that every night is different whether it is in a motel or camping in your swag under the stars or sleeping in the cab. So I always take my own food just in case.”

“I needed it at Barren Junction because I was flooded in for over a week.”
Pete Winsor started his career behind the wheel as a 15 year-old, carting logs for Underwood Brothers Timbers in the Pilliga – the biggest state forest in NSW.
Back then he used to live at Baradine and would get up at 4am every morning to make it to work on time.

“I drove for two years without a license and the cops used to turn a blind eye because I didn’t get into any trouble,” Pete explained.

“It wasn’t until my 17th birthday in June 1945 when the local police sergeant pulled me over and told me to come in and get my license.

“So I paid 15 bob and signed a piece of paper and have had an incident-free driving career for 66 years since – touch wood,” Pete continued.

Nowadays, Pete gets tested annually but he doesn’t mind as he realises it comes with the territory. He is due for another test this June on what will be his 81st birthday.

“I don’t have a problem with it, in fact I’d be more worried if they weren’t testing people my age.

“Having said that, they should probably be testing more people half my age!”
Pete readily admits that if he wasn’t truck driving he would find it tough to keep himself occupied.

“I’m not much of a house person and I gave bowls the flick after a while,” he said.

“I love getting out in the scrub and checking things out because each time it is a different adventure.

“You get to see so many beautiful places and meet so many great people.”

When pressed on what his favourite place was in Australia, Pete gave a wry smile.

“Gunnedah mate! There’s no place like home.”

Pete politely offers one more piece of advice.

“You should check out whether I’m Australia’s youngest truck driver as well.

“Now wouldn’t that be a yarn!” he says.

Indeed Pete it would.

Men in black

Story by Matthew Scott
Image by Dane Millerd

Another "legend" I've been fascinated with since I was a kid is that the Blue Mountains is a secret UFO base. I've heard so many stories about that and have I got a story for you! When I was 16, a friend of mine and his girlfriend and another girl I was very fond of and who will all remain anonymous, were in Springwood and we decided to trek down to the chasm in the growing shadows of the ghost gums. It took us about three hours. When we got to the bottom river where one of the girls sprained her ankle and almost immediately we had to turn back. I was leading the way back up the path (with ‘sprained ankle girl’ on my shoulders) when I saw a guy in the woods about 50 feet in front of us. He was dressed in a black suit and had on Jim Belushi type ‘sunnies ’.

He just stared at us.

I kept walking then I noticed blood everywhere! I told my wild accusing mind it couldn’t be real but my eyes were ahead of me and I looked again. It was over the rocks, path, and trees!
My pals and I were starting to get a bit spooked so we sped up. Then I looked around and saw four more of the guys in suits, standing in the middle of the bushes, wearing identical clothes, all leering at us. I knew of the supposed UFO base and had grown up with ‘Lost In Space’ but this seemed frightening and real so I sped up.
Over a period of about 10 minutes we saw about five more men in suits and more blood everywhere. No one uttered a sound. No one dared for fear of being rock cover!
After we hadn't seen many men in suits for about five minutes I had to stop to rest. The two girls were so spooked by the blood and the creepy guys, they were crying. Being the curious person I am, I told them I had to go back to see what it was all about. A cold steely silence flooded the room. I still remember that moment like yesterday.
They tried to talk me out of it but I was determined. I walked back through the path we had just walked on. All the guys were gone and all the blood had been washed away! I walked up and down that bit of path for at least an hour trying to find something, but there was not a trace of the distinguished men in suits or the blood ever being there. I remember everything vividly, succinctly and scariest of all, constantly.

Hubcap Larry
Where does Hubcap Larry get his hubcaps ?

Story and photo by Dane Millerd

In the tiny village of Birriwa, population nominal, a sleepy hamlet in the central west of New South Wales, lives Hubcap Larry.

“Gee she’s a looker, how long you had her?” Larry asked me pointedly.

Hubcap Larry has an extravagant collection of hubcaps, about five hundred wouldn't be far off the mark, and that's only the ones that adorn the perimeter fence! There are at least another thousand scattered around his property.
“I always loved hubcaps and collecting,” Larry explained.

“As you can see I am a bit of a horder!” he laughed.

Hubcap Larry uses his prized items for an array of purposes from, well, hubcaps for his many vehicles, dinner plates and even Frisbees for the many dogs that live on the property.

“Yeah, I have plenty of uses for the hubcaps,” Larry says.

But as I stood there listening to the Emelda Marcos of wheel covers, I couldn’t help wonder where he accumulated them from over the years.

“Hahaha, well that’s a little secret!” Larry chuffed looking over towards my girlfriend sitting in the car.

“Gee she’s a looker, how long you had her?” Larry asked me pointedly.

“What my girlfriend?” I replied.

“No, the car.” Larry retorted.

It was then when I knew it was time to leave Birriwa and Hubcap Larry.

So if you ever drive through Birriwa keep an eye out for Hubcap Larry, oh, and keep the other eye on your wheels !

The Black Queen

Story and Photo by Dane Millerd

Joan Andrews was 4’8” and 85lbs wringing wet.
The Black Queen, her domain constructed of bottles in Lightning Ridge, was hand built by this very dedicated and amazing woman, who became a stonemason and extraordinary artist at 60 years of age.
It took Joan nine years (1979 - 1988) to complete the three miners cottages incorporating some 14,000 bottles and cans into 34 of the world's most beautiful designed feature walls. The cottages are also the best maintained of all 32 homes built from bottles around the world today thanks largely to new owners Roger and Gale Collins.
“When we stumbled upon the Black Queen it had been up for sale for five years,” said Gale.
“Joan was 84 years of age still conducting tours through her three cottages.
“It was the first week of our trip around Australia and I had this feeling I had been to this place before,” she said.
“A strong sense of dejavu came over me and I said to my husband – we have to get this place.”
They did and now it is Australia’s foremost lamp museum and further discovery between the old and new owners lead to the realisation that not only were Joan and Gale born on the same day but so too were their husbands.
Funnier still was the fact that while Joan and her husband John built the cottages dedicating their hard earned to the unique landmark, Joan made a memorial to her toy dog Jenny who ironically died the same year as he husband John.
“Apparently Joan was still annoyed that John had built a retaining wall without consulting her, so he never got a memorial,” said Gale.
“While she loved them both that little dog meant the world to her.”
Now Gale and Roger live at the Black Queen in Lightning Ridge eight months of the year and transport their lamps to and from Sydney as the removalists will not touch the priceless collection. A collection that includes lamps from Czar Nicholas II, King Louis XIV, US President Benjamin Garfield and an air-loom that came from the Versace family.

“Thanks to the Lightning Ridge community’s tunnelling exploits we have to transport them ourselves every time we move between Lightning Ridge and Sydney.

“We microdot and register our lamps as you do with such an extensive range.
"They are now a real feature of the Black Queen establishment.”

The Washpool Mystery

Story by Kathleen Davies
Photo courtesy of Geraldine Yabsley

WILLIAM EDWARD HAYDON, 75, 5ft. 11 in., was well built, had a fair complexion, receding grey hair, blue eyes, usually wore spectacles, had artificial dentures, a right arm permanently stiff at the elbow and bent at approximately 90 degrees. He had a forearm resting across his abdomen, large scar on his head, and was wearing a grey felt hat, dark grey woollen shirt, dark grey Canadian jacket, blue-grey serge trousers, black woollen socks, black boots and braces the day he went missing. He had wandered from camp at the Washpool State Forest, near Baryulgil, on April 28, 1965.
So began the Washpool Mystery and one of the biggest missing person hunts seen in the modern era.
Just like a scene from an Australian drama movie, the events of April 28, 1965, unfolded in what was then, and still is now to some extent, rugged mountain wilderness country on the New England Tablelands in Northern New South Wales. The renowned Cedar King, big Bill Haydon, had gone missing in this rugged country. The call went out across the state for help with the search to find him, a search that was to last many weeks at its peak, and involve civilians, police and army personnel on foot, in vehicles and in the air. It was also reported that there were some travelling the country on horseback helping with the search, a search that was to reveal nothing concrete. A search that only seemed to add fuel to the rumours that had already started building and circulating in those first few days.
The missing persons and incident report describes in detail the identifying traits of Bill including his arm, which was permanently bent at the elbow due to an accident years earlier. It has been a nagging point of discussions between family members over the years that his glasses, artificial dentures, boots and pieces of clothing or metal buckles have never been found. Several have commented that someone might have stumbled across these things, or parts of them. These types of things take longer to break down in the bush, so it is probably a legitimate question.
After more than forty years, a coronial inquest was finally held into Billï¿½s disappearance, the results of that inquest was eventually handed down in early 2008. An open finding was all that could be given with the evidence available and the significant lapse in time.
The story revolves around a self-made wealthy pioneer, the valuable Red Cedar timber trees of NSW, and the beautiful, yet unforgiving Australian landscape. It also encompasses a mystery that remains unsolved after more than 40 years, and a family's search for the truth.
The Cedar King, William (Bill) Edward Haydon, a man who spent his life carving a name for himself in the Australian bush, building communities and raising his family, disappeared during an expedition in search of valuable Red Cedar timber trees in the rugged mountains west of Grafton in Northern New South Wales.
Many rumours surround Bill's disappearance in wild mountain country, country that has changed little over the past decades. Sensational headlines in many news publications of the era screamed foul play. His family, however, hold to the belief that it was a simple case of misadventure, an unfortunate accident. This event, reminiscent of similar tragedies recorded in early Australian folklore, happened in our lifetime and many family members involved in the initial search are still alive today. As time is of the essence, the race began in 2005 to record any information people may have about Billï¿½s disappearance before they too leave this earthly existence and take their memories with them. Given the length of time that has elapsed since 1965, the age of those people involved is fast taking a toll on health and memories. Understandably they are keen to get their memories down in writing as the years quickly advance.
The rumours of foul play, sinister undertones and constant gossip have stung deeply since that day in 1965 when Bill went into the Washpool forest in search of Red Cedar trees and was never seen or heard from again.
Since the search ended several months after Bill disappeared, family members had not ventured back to the Washpool, except for grandson Peter Haydon who went back to work on a nearby cattle station. Some, like granddaughter Geraldine Yabsley, had not been there at all prior to research trips for her family history documents during 2005 with me, Kathleeen Davies. In 2005 things changed for the family of the Cedar King as they gathered to make a sentimental journey back in time.
The 74-year old bushman, William (Bill) Edward Haydon, was one of Kempsey's favourite sons. This was the town on the New South Wales Mid North Coast where Bill based himself for much of his adult life.
No-one saw him leave his campsite in the dense bush of Washpool State Forest where he travelled to extract timber. He just never came back, was never seen or heard from again, leaving behind him a gaping hole in the family and communities left to mourn his disappearance.
Watch this space for extracts on the new book by Kathleen Davies and Geraldine Yabsley.

The Gorilla Man

Story by Dane Millerd
Photo reconstruction by Paul Denham

It was about 1912 when a number of bushmen were sitting around a camp near Delungra. They were all spreading yarns about dreadful happenings, when one of the men a Mr. Smith, who hailed from Guyra, explained the following -
"A certain wild Irishman who I will only call Terry, who lived out at Guy Fawkes, was always ready to play a practical joke. He was a very tall man, with unusually long arms, a clever bushman, a fast runner and the uncanny capacity of getting through the bush on the darkest of nights.
"One of his favourite pastimes was to haunt the campfires of passing drovers and give them a fright. He would cover his body with a chaff bag and some willow root and approach their camps on a dark night making awful noises by blowing through a bullock horn," explained Smith.
"Being a very good shot with a stone at long distances he would supplement this noise by throwing stones into the campfire and would then rapidly run around the camp and throw stones from the opposite direction. All the while he was still making terrifying noises.
"Yet this was one simple way explanation as to how being a big man with long arms running around in the dark could aggravate a situation or a legend. Then again ...

Call off the search - Margaret Clement

Story by Dane Millerd
Photo reconstruction by Paul Denham

Margaret Clement was born in 1881 and she was the third of six children born into a well-to-do family. In their heyday, social networking with the Clement family was par for the course for a who’s who of the Victorian latte set. In time that would all change for Margaret and sister Jeanie, the last survivors of the family and it would spiral out of control.
The realisation of how far the Clement’s had slipped first came to public attention with the death of Jeanie in 1950, when police waded through miles of swamp to retrieve her body from a decrepit, decaying mansion lacking basic amenities such as tank water and surrounded by dense scrub and piles of rusting food tins. Journalists interviewed Margaret and fashioned the story of the 'Lady of the Swamp', an eccentric gentlewoman with only a dog as her companion, who carried provisions home in a sugar bag, read detective stories by kerosene lamp, and lived on memories of past social glories.
When she disappeared toward the end of May 1952 and a week of extensive searches in appalling conditions failed to find her, Margaret became the central figure in a media-sensationalized 'whodunit'. The police could uncover no motive for foul play, but the press, dismissing prosaic explanations, fashioned a Gothic tale of fallen splendour, buried stolen gold, skulduggery, abduction and murder.

In their frustration they called off the search.

In the end the eye of suspicion fell on neighbours Stanley and Esme Livingstone who had befriended Clement, promised her life-tenancy of an on-site cottage and in 1951 bought Tullaree, which they improved and sold twelve years later at a handsome profit. Accusations and counter accusations flew when Margaret's nephew Clement Carnaghan, whom she had disinherited in 1951, unsuccessfully contested her will in 1955.
Whatever the case, Margaret Clement's disappearance was never solved.

The Ford Man Of Sandy Hollow

Story by Dane Millerd
Photo by Paul Denham

In the not so sleepy Sandy Hollow, you will find a place that is known for its wines, mines, and a booming jillaroo population.
Sandy Hollow also has the Tourist Hotel where adorning the walls are jars of death-adders – another thing the village is known for, says a jillaroo.
Which brings us to Paul Bass, another attraction in the tiny hamlet.
He bought his first car at 13 back when many his age were riding BMX bikes and now he has over 250 cars. He swears half of the Hunter Valley has been conceived in them and they date as far back as a 1924 Dodge.
“Thank Christ it’s not a two-hour parking zone because I’d never pay the fines,” he said.
Paul Bass or the Ford Man of Sandy Hollow as he is also known loves his cars. In fact, only few things in life rival his obsession with the vehicles.
“I also collect Picture magazines,” he laughs.
“And I collect motorbikes and love a beer!”
In fact, beer was the currency for most of the cars in the yard and he reckons that if he had kept the beer cans as well it would be a yarn in itself.
Every car in the yard has a story and with one look across the lot you know he’s not lying.
“The Fairlane ambulance has taken a few home in its time,” he said.
“And one bloke rolled one of the cars and lost his ear.
“Now it’s still in here somewhere!”
“One Melbourne Cup Day I went a bit crazy in one of them and nearly got speared by a windscreen wiper through the windscreen which was not good.”
The Ford man doesn’t sell the cars because the oldies love having them on their property and they are also good for spares. He won’t sell a wheel-nut such is his love of his collection.
And he is also in the process of brainwashing his young bloke.
“Yeah I’m working on him,” he laughs.
There is also the added drama of wombats digging holes under his cars that eventually sends the car to an early grave.
“It’s funny because sometimes I’ll peer in an old vehicle and see a wombat in the driver’s seat.”
But when pressed on what he would choose between his love of cars, grog or his missus Paul hesitates for a moment.
“I’ve gotta say the missus because she could wash the cars,” he laughs.
“And pour a good beer!”
Dare we ask about your favourite combi?

Monash in Kelly Country
Story By Charles Silvestro.
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One of Australia's greatest heroes is seen daily by some people who are mostly oblivious not only to his great contribution to this country but also his legend that carries over from his childhood.
Sir John Monash looks at us from the flat tones of the One Hundred Dollar note, a face of stern leadership from humble beginnings.

His father Louis Monash ,moved the family from Melbourne to Jerilderie in 1874, as a result of the depression, where he managed the General Store, and where young John soon began to show his academic talent at the local school. He became Dux in 1877, so his mother moved him back to Melbourne and into Scotch College.

The boy took the reins, and stood frozen on the spot till Mr Kelly came from the bank guns blazing, grabbed the reins from the boy and rode off out of town.

After an "interesting" time at school, he attended Melbourne University and eventually graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering and Law, and was later to become the Vice Chancellor of that very same Institution.
Monash was a part time soldier with the rank of Colonel when WW1 broke out, and so was given command of a brigade, eventually working his way to Lieutenant General in Command of the entire Australian Army Corps by the time the war ceased.
In 1918, he received a Knighthood presented by King George V, in France at his battle headquarters.
Two years later, Sir John was given the task of creating the State Electricity Commission of Victoria.
Much has been written in history about Sir John and the war, but very little is known of two other interesting segments of his life.
In the first, Sir John, along with several other compatriots, initiated and conducted the very first ANZAC Day ceremony at a training camp in Egypt on the 25th April ,1916. He was also instrumental in writing the inscription on the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne.
But perhaps Sir Johns most infamous story goes right back to his childhood.
One day in sleepy Jerilderie, a man rode into town with one intent, to rob the Bank of NSW.
He stopped his horse out the front of the Bank, and noticing a small boy sitting on the porch, said, "Boy, hold my horse". The small boy peered up and sheepishly said, "are you Ned Kelly ? "
"yes, boy" came the reply , "now hold my horse till I come back".
The boy took the reins, and stood frozen on the spot till Mr Kelly came from the bank guns blazing, grabbed the reins from the boy and rode off out of town.
That small boy was Sir John Monash.
This story has been told over the years and in many ways, and the strange thing is that Sir John has never confirmed or denied it, and so the legend lives on.
Sir John's connection to Anzac Day, the 25th April, and Remembrance Day is even more intriguing.
In a final co-incidence, when Sir John's father was naturalised (from German/Jewish stock) in 1856, (which also happened to be 25th April), the presiding Justice of the Ceremony was none other than Sir Redmond Barry, the famous Hanging Judge, who, 24 years later was to preside over Ned Kelly's trial and sentenced Ned to Hang at 10am on the 11th Day of the 11th Month. Just one hour later and the co-incidence would be one of the most bizarre in Australia 's History.

John Loughman - Bushranger - Kurrajong NSW

(AKA George Armstrong) (1808-1832)

Story by Paul Denham

Perhaps the greatest Irish-Australian love story never told is that of the Hawkesbury based, New South Wales, bushranger John Loughman (pronounced Lukeman), one of our original bushrangers from the 1830’s.

It all started when John was just a boy in Ireland and his love of a girl.

Yet his girl was sent away to another world.. the colony of NSW.

• John Loughman’s cave today
in Grose Wold
(near Kurrajong NSW)
Photo by Paul Denham

John pushed Jane on O'Malley's swing and the romance led them to a situation in the local market place when Jane sneakerly fingerlifted a copper finger ring.

The store owner caught sight of this and yelled to the nearest trooper "Thar be theft in my market"

Upon the trooper arresting Jane Bailey, John advanced the store owner with some quality yarn, a few coins and a wink and the store holder then dropped the charges with the Red Coat Police Trooper.

"Sorry" said the store holder to the trooper. "She has paid for the ring in full. It was my mistake."

On the spot as though nothing else mattered, John took the stolen ring from the trooper,
dropped his body low, and slipped the copper ring on her finger. John proposed to his beauty Jane to be his wife for all time. Jane was only 15 and John just turned 16, they ran happily off to their own families to tell the great news of their love, courtship and engagement to be married.

That day was the last day they would encounter each other within their home land.
The English authority had another idea.

Jane was soon sent to Bathurst NSW and some years later John was sent to Green Hills. (Windsor)

Not long into his term, Loughman broke free and escaped into the foot hills of Kurrajong, leaving a trail of clever survival.

Unwittingly, Loughman had earned the wrath of Archibald Bell Snr. Esq. a magistrate in Windsor for stealing guns from one of the Judges's relatives at Belmont (North Richmond NSW).

Eight years later...

A devout Catholic, Loughman offered to hand himself in provided the local priest would help locate Jane and marry them first. The priest agreed and Jane began to make the trek across the Blue Mountains to find her first love.

One love, two countries and a thousand sleepless nights!

What happens next? Only on Local Legends!

Billy Blue
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William (Billy) Blue by J. B. East, 1834, courtesy of State Library of New South Wales.
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Story by Charles Silvestro

Australia's first true eccentric character was the then well known Billy Blue.
Convicted in 1796 of stealing sugar for his chocolate making business, he was transported to Australia for seven years and upon arrival was described in the record as "Negro Sailor", although he may really have been a freed African American slave from colonial New York, rather than from London.

Macquarie whimsically called him "The Old Commodore" and the name stuck with him for the rest of his life.

After serving the last two years of his sentence in Australia, Blue married an English born ex convict named Elizabeth Williams, and the couple went on to have six children.
Eventually he was noted as being on the list of citizens to support the overthrow of Governor Bligh and when Macquarie arrived, Blue was appointed Harbour Watchmaster with Constable status in 1811.
With this he acquired a home overlooking Sydney Harbour which was known as "Billy Blues Cottage."
Blue also ran the ferry service in the Harbour and up the Parramatta River to which Macquarie and his wife were regular travellers.
In 1817, Blue was granted eighty acres of land at the headland to Port Jackson, and it became known as "Blues Point".
He was also given convict labour, which some viewed as a reversal of form, a black man with convict labour was not taken lightly at the time.
He quickly saw the potential for a boat service to this area and soon built a fleet of ferries. Macquarie whimsically called him "The Old Commodore" and the name stuck with him for the rest of his life.
A year later he was arrested for smuggling rum (which he claimed he found in the harbour, strapped it to his boat and was "returning" to shore,) but he failed to name his accomplices and was jailed for a year.
Blue had many other brushes with the law, and often roamed the streets dressed in his trademark Naval Uniform, Top Hat, and a sack on his back cursing and generally behaving badly.
He regularly boarded incoming vessels to the harbour as they docked and welcomed them to Sydney as "Commodore".
He somehow avoided jail again when he was convicted of manslaughter after throwing a rock at a boy who was tormenting him.
Blue died on 7th May 1834 and left a legacy of street names and places behind, Blues Point, Blue Street, Commodore Crescent, Blues Point Tower were all named after this loquacious character.
However, the real legend of Billy Blue surrounds the origins of the term, "True Blue".
Was it attributed to Billy ?

Arthur 'Tarz' Campbell

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Story by Dane Millerd
Photo by George Devine (Photo taken in Victoria Park, Inverell, NSW in 1947)

Arthur 'Tarz' Campbell was certainly a jack-of-all-trades. If he wasn't walking on stilts he was always up to something such was his upbringing and training. He also got the nickname 'Tarz' because he was considered somewhat of a Tarzan during his time. Campbell is also the namesake of the first explorer to discover 'Green Swamp' or Inverell as it is now known in the northern tablelands of NSW.
Campbell was extremely popular in his day and only gave it all away when vagrants tried to fell him at an exhibition in the city towards the end of his career. He certainly is a local legend.

Arthur 'Tarz' Campbell 1947

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Ray McMahon

Story by Dane Millerd
Photo by Andy Redgrave

Ray McMahon has spent plenty of time in the Australian bush. He has seen more than most. A curator at the Oberon Museum, Ray has many legends stories from his extensive travels. Yet none is as bizarre as the rare discovery of a camera in the Blue Mountains National Park in 1988.

“It meant nothing at the time but one of the men in those photos and that truck was none other than Ivan Milat."

“I had the family with me and it was my young fella who found it,” Ray explains.
“There was a campsite converted into a fort and there were tents, backpacks, .22 shells and marijuana plants all over the place.
“There was also a weird looking camera.”
“We left not long after, and later developed the 8 photos that were on the film. I approached a local policeman to show him the pictures and asked him to accompany me back out there to clean it up.
As Ray and the policeman cleaned the site, a truck came down the dirt road toward them. The driver of the vehicle was the same man from the photos Ray had developed and shown the officer.
“It meant nothing at the time but one of the men in those photos and that truck was none other than Ivan Milat. Gives me shivers thinking about it!” Ray said.
Milat would be later charged as the Backpacker Murderer. He is currently serving multiple life sentences in Goulburn’s Super Max Prison.
You can see Ray McMahon on Local Legends TV - The Dragon Rapide: Gone, Not Forgotten

To See All Sea's - The Life & Times of Table Dave

Story by The Lizard King
Photo by Paul Denham

DAVE THURSTON was only 17 years old when he decided to start building his dream. It was a 40 foot ferro cement sailing vessel built in a back yard in Western Australia. His aim was to complete a lap around the world. Dave saved a thousand dollars to make his voyage. When he finished the boat, Dave set off on his pride and joy, unannounced and without fuss.

"I could have shot him dead and thrown him over but I'm a peaceful man"

During his voyage he wanted company and met up with a man who seemed to be a good bloke.
Little did Dave know this good bloke was a drug pirate. Dave was held at gun point in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and forcefully directed to Panama. "It was a game of staying awake" says Dave. "Whoever fell asleep lost control of the helm!" The mental battle lasted over 3 weeks at sea and whoever fell asleep also lost control of the pointed gun.

"I could have shot him dead and thrown him over but I'm a peaceful man, I didn't have the nerve to be a murderer. Yet he could have shot me and I knew he wouldn't flinch at the chance, but I also knew he couldn't sail."

"So it was a stalemate. It was a mind game and the open sea was the challenge."

Two days away from Panama Dave regained control and held the gun. He tied the pirate below the deck and radioed the Coastal Patrol. He claimed that his vessel had been hijacked and requested help. Dave remained awake for the entire time and a day later the Coastal Patrol boarded.

The problem was the Coastal Patrol personnel could only speak Spanish and Dave couldn't. The pirate communicated easily with the Coastal Patrol as he could speak the language fluently. The Pirate claimed that he was the owner and DAVE was the pirate.

Dave was arrested and sent to jail in Panama. In the meantime the real pirate escaped but before he did he opened the sea cocks on Dave's boat and it started to slowly sink to the bottom right there at the jetty !

Luckily, another sailor recognised Dave's boat (he had met Dave out on the sea) and had him released from jail and his boat was saved from being totally submerged.

Because of this 12 year voyage and after his Panama incident he claimed he was at one with the Karma of the ocean on his journeys. Whales directed him from the eye of fierce cyclones, dolphin’s showed him passages through reefs and flying fish would fly into his boat for eating when he was hungry.

Facing over 60 feet high seas alone and terrifying,and howling gales, Dave reckons land is too easy. “I would love to be lost in the desert compared to that!”

“I have to say that perhaps the greatest thrill a man can have is being at the mercy of the sea. In an instant, like women themselves, they can make or break you!” Dave laughs with his now pirate grin.

As for the future?
“I still have my sea legs so you can never ever say never!”

For more about Table Dave visit:
www.thurstontables.com

Uniquely Australian

Story by Sharni "The Moth" Montgomery

Chris McClelland was born in Sydney, in February 1942. He was educated at The King’s School where he received his only formal art training and he won the school’s art award in his final year.
He then spent the next 43 years in the outback of Australia, the last 21 years as manager of Tupra, a large sheep station of 40,000 sheep, in the Riverina region of western NSW, Australia. Nowadays though, Chris is drawing full time in Hay. The drawing (right) is a sketch named “Uniquely Australian” about a female echidna with her young. The attention to detail in this work flows throughout all of his artistic creations.

Watch this space for more stories from The Moth!

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Ernie Dingo

Info courtesy of Wikipedia
Image courtesy of Vrroom

Ernie Dingo AM (born July 31, 1956 at Bullardoo Station) is an indigenous Australian actor and television presenter originating from the Yamatji people of the Murchison region of Western Australia.
Born Ernest Ashley Dingo at Bullardoo Station, he was the second child of nine. He grew up in Mullewa with his family.
Dingo's film career commenced in the 1980s and he appeared regularly on screen through the 1990s. He appeared in Bruce Beresford's 1987 drama The Fringe Dwellers and worked on the 1988 docu-drama biopic Tudawali. He had a major supporting role in the international comedy blockbuster Crocodile Dundee II in 1988. He appeared as himself in the 1989 comedy Capuccino and had a major role in the 1991 Wim Wenders film Until the End of the World.
In 1993 he starred in Blackfellas and he had a lead role in 1996's Dead Heart. In 1998 he starred in Somewhere in the Darkness. In 2010 he returned to the silver screen with a role in the Aboriginal musical Bran Nue Dae along with Jessica Mauboy and Geoffrey Rush.
Ernie Dingo is truly a local Aussie legend.

Wife 4 Sale
Ralph Malkins was sentenced to 50 lashes and 3 months gaol after leading his wife around with a rope around her neck to a public place in Windsor NSW. Spruiking the sale of her in September 1811, she was sold to Thomas Quire who paid for her on the spot with sixteen pounds in money and some yards of cloth.

The wife agreed on the sale claiming her new possessor would make her a better wife than the wretch she had parted with. She was transported to the Coal River for an indefinite time.

The Human Blowfly

The Human Blowfly, Johnny Grant is possibly one of the best crop duster pilots in Mid West NSW. Many will contest the fact of what qualifies who is the best but Johnny is up there with the pick of them. The autonomy of his particular job allowed Johnny Grant to go anywhere and everywhere. It was the type of life and freedom many envied.

Johnny however, had a reputation from others of knowing every unmarried single woman between Orange NSW and Outback Victoria. He had the nose of a blowfly. Bushies’ claim he would fly in with a sixth sense and land in the front yards of single women like a fly to a turd. Johnny Grant was a talent on many fronts.
Perhaps one of the more famous stories involving the Human Blowfly occurred one day at a regional field day. Under flying power lines, missing promotional props, people, tractors, displays, and fairy-floss, Johnny put on an aerial show for all to see before he landed, unscathed like a fly.
Since then he is forever known as The Human Blowfly!!