Who's a Thorny Devil?
Info courtesy of University of Western Australia and Ants Online Photo by Paul Denham
The Thorny Devil or Moloch horridus, is an Australian lizard. It is also known as the Thorny Dragon, Mountain Devil, Thorny Lizard, or the Moloch and is the sole species of genus Moloch.
A colourful and spikey critter, it grows up to 20 cms in length and can live up to 20 years. It is coloured in camouflaging shades of desert browns and tans; these change from pale colours when warm to darker colours when cold.
The species is entirely covered with conical spines that are mostly uncalcified. It also features a spiny "false-head" on the back of the neck, the animal presents this to a potential predator by dipping its real head.
The Thorny Devil's body is ridged in structure, and enables the animal to collect water from any part of its body, which is then channelled to the mouth. It inhabits arid scrub and desert over most of central Australia. In particular, it inhabits spinifex (triodia) sandplain and sandridge desert within the interior and mallee belt. Its distribution largely coincides more with the distribution of sandy and sandy loam soils than with a particular climate in western Australia (Pianka and Pianka 1970).
More Panther sightings south-west of Sydney
Story by LL Staffers Image courtesy of Bessie Head
Over the past few months a 30 kg panther has been sighted in the south-west rural areas of Sydney and it has the locals in a quandry.
Chris Cateris said he saw a big cat about two months ago while searching through Sydney Water Catchment land near Warragamba for his lost horse.
Mr Cateris, who was allowed by authorities to search the area, said he saw what looked like a a large black cat crossing a dirt track in bush.
"I couldn't believe my eyes," he said.
"I walked onto this dirt track when this big black cat, which certainly looked like a panther, appeared about 25m from me from in the shrubbery," he said.
"It was about 1.8m long, black, with large paws and a very long, straight tail. It stood in front of us for about three or four seconds in the middle of the dirt track before it bolted back off into the shrubbery and long grass.
"When it ran off it leaped really high and was moving very fast. My mini fox terrier, who was about half-a-metre behind me, just froze. She was absolutely petrified."
Other reports of big cat sightings have occurred all over the region in the past few weeks.
"It's no real surprise," said Rex Gilroy.
"Big cat sightings have been occurring in the area since the 1950s."
Saint from a century old photo
Story by LL Staffers Photo courtesy of Phil and Mick Cahalane
Twins Phil and Mick Cahalane, 46, own a family photo with a strange history.
The picture was snapped more than a century ago in Scotland and shows their great-grandfather with the image of a “saintly” figure.
They first saw the photo as children, when their mother produced it at a family gathering.
“What I heard was that he had gone on a boat trip out in the ocean somewhere and a really bad storm came through as he was fishing,” said Phil.
“He started praying because he thought he was going to die. The storm passed and because he thought it was safe, he kept fishing, and that’s when he caught most of his fish.
“When he got to land he took a photo with all the fish he caught and this image showed up in the photo.”
The boys have been told the image was St Teresa of Avila.
Mick said his mother used to carry it around with her up until her death last year.
After that, their father carried it in his wallet until he died six months later.
At that point the family discovered it in their father’s possessions.
“I’m not a real big believer but this shows people that maybe something is out there, and that gives people hope,” Mick said.
Tasmanian Tiger sighting
Info courtesy of www.tasmanian-tiger.com Photo submitted by Ira Maughan
A man of 47, resident of the area and publicity officer for the College of Technical and Further Education (TAFE), Launceston, who we will call Bob, gave this version of events to authorities after a double sighting of a Tasmanian Tiger.
I was with my wife in Launceston to see a movie one spring night. I think it was 1982 … it could have been 1981. We left the movie about 10 o'clock and drove home on the Lilydale Road. We were living at Lalla at the time and were in the process of selling our restaurant. The night was very clear but dark. It had rained and the lights of the car shone off the road and bush very brightly.
As we came down the hill just below the Mt. Arthur School, I noticed two animals of medium to largish size standing on the road about 100 metres ahead. I slowed because they looked different for some reason. At first I thought they were two Alsatians but knew almost immediately they were not. One of the animals was standing fully on the left side of the road and the other (a bit smaller) stood on the edge of the road about 10 metres on. They were standing so that we had them both side on in full beam. Both animals were looking into the light but did not seem to be blinded.
First I noted the erect ears and rather large head. Their colour was light brown, just like the dog we had at the time … sort of a light mutt brown. I thought, Oh, my goodness, it's a tiger! By this time I was within about ten metres of the two. Still they had not moved. It was almost as if they were disdainful of the car. If I had not applied the brakes I would have struck the larger of the two. Still they did not move.
It was now I noticed the strange tail which seemed to be too big to be swung. I also noticed the stripes which ran down from the top of the back to the flanks. The tail struck me because of the large hump on the rear. It reminded me of our farm dog which had recently been hit by an auto and the accident resulted in a protruding hip and made our dog a bit crippled. The tiger (that's what I believe they were) moved in much the same way, as if it had something wrong with its back.
By now the smaller animal had disappeared. I swung out to miss the larger animal and stopped about 30 metres along the road. I said to my wife, "Don't say a thing. Think of what you have just seen. Put it in your mind and let it burn there." I paused for about one minute, neither of us saying anything, drove to the Mt. Arthur Road and turned around. The animals were gone when we returned. I drove to the nearest place to turn around again and stopped. "Now," I said to my wife, "what did you see?"
In a very quiet voice (I remember that well) she said, "I just saw a tiger." Then, more loudly and excitedly, she said, "We just saw a tiger!"
I concurred immediately by shouting something like, "Holy smokes, that is just what we saw! We saw a Tasmanian Tiger! We saw TWO Tasmanian Tigers!" I blew the horn and yelled excitedly. I don't know what my wife did.
We did not stop to get out to look. It seemed pointless. Instead, we drove home very quickly and began calling our friends: Dr. Stan Gottschalk, Tony and Sue Walker, Penny and George Richardson and a few I can't remember. We were very excited.
However, our friends, all very sophisticated and well educated, tended to accuse us of 'seeing things' or having been to a party. Our excitement faded quickly to a bit of embarrassment. However, we knew what we had seen.
The following day I called the Parks and Wildlife people. After a bit of umming and ahing, I was able to speak to someone who showed a little interest. I remember him asking a few questions, not particularly scientific, and then he said, "Yes, it looks like you saw what you saw. Now, will you do us a favur and shut up about it? Don't tell anyone." I don't believe he asked me my name and there were no follow up calls by the Parks and Wildlife people.
Since that time we have been reticent about telling others about our sighting.
Ghost tales of the Great Southern Land #4
Info courtesy of www.haunted.com Image courtesy of www.betterphoto.com
Another selection of rare ghost tales from Oz.
* STATE LIBRARY, MELBOURNE - A woman in white who patrols the children's book section, a lady in a red dress and a piano that plays itself are some of the ghostly experiences here.
There is also a mysterious apparition, reported by staff members over many decades, on level six of the great dome.
* CRAIG'S HOTEL, BALLARAT - The publican, Walter Craig, dreamed of winning the 1870 Melbourne Cup with his horse Nimblefoot, but told friends the jockey in his dream was wearing a black armband.
Craig died before the big race.
Nimblefoot won, with his jockey wearing a black armband in memory of the publican.
* ELEPHANT BRIDGE HOTEL, DARLINGTON - Built in 1842, the hotel is haunted by the ghost of Adeline Satchwell, daughter of the original publican.
Adeline was born there in 1861, had two husbands and 10 children, and died there in 1943.
* PORT FAIRY CEMETERY - It is the spookiest cemetery in Victoria, according to a ghost hunter.
One of the spectres is Lloyd Rutledge, who fell down stairs and broke his neck in a nearby mansion in 1858.
In a botched funeral, the horses bolted and his body fell into his grave. He rises every December 17, the anniversary of his burial, to visit his old house.
* Watch this space for more ghost tales from our Great Southern Land.
The Ghost at Dianne Groat's grave
Story by Dane Millerd Photo courtesy of Will Flower
Legend has it that right near the grave side of 12-year-old girl Dianne Mary Groat is the ghost of an eleven year old boy. There is also reports of strong sulphur smells and overpowering floral scents emanating from the St. Bart's cemetery site.
Hazel Magann of Lethbridge Park in Sydney's west has been studying ghosts and spectres in the west and north-west for years and remembers the night the young boy spoke to her.
"He said an older lady was sitting there cuddling him," she said.
"Later we found out that the little girl's grandmother was buried next to her.
"There is a lot that goes on at the cemetery here in Prospect," said Hazel.
Windows rapping, doors closing, cool winds and ectoplasm are just some of the strange occurrences that make up the average day at the cemetery.
"A Sea Captain known as Benjamin Hallen roams the perimeter of the cemetery," said Hazel.
"He was speared to death in 1844 and walks around with a lit up face.
"That is one of the many reasons why we always go to church in pairs," chucked Hazel.
Yes indeed.
Australia's Impressive Rock Formations
Info courtesy of www.gondwanaet.com Photo of 'The Rock Men' by Paul Denham
Below is a selection of some of the most impressive rock formations in Australia. While there were many worthy recipients we couldn't name them all.
Uluru - The Most Famous Rock Formation in Australia The most famous of them is Uluru, aka Ayers Rock - the "big red rock in central Australia" only reached by an airplane or by a car. Uluru is the world's largest monolith.
Devil's Marbles Devils Marbles, the round rocks balancing in a heap on top of each other near Tennant Creek in Northern Territory, are easy to access from Stuart Highway and very popular on photos. The local Aboriginal People called them the eggs of Rainbow Serpent, but geologically they are a dome of intrusive red granite that has been exposed by erosion and then weathered into these impressive rounded boulders.
Murphy's Haystacks - Other Strange Rock Formations in South Australia Murphy's Haystacks, the strange rock formations on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, are made of about 1.5 million years old pink granite which is quite extensive in the area. The boulders have been formed by uneven weathering only about 100,000 years ago. About 30,000 years ago they were covered by a sand dune, which has now eroded away. As with Remarkable Rocks, the reddish colour of Murphy's Haystacks is caused by a species of lichen.
Nullarbor Coast Nullarbor Plain is an endless treeless desert in south-western SA and south-eastern WA. There are no remarkably strange rock formations in that desert, but the coast of it is aligned by amazing cliffs made of Tertiary limestone.
The Pinnacles Desert - Surreal Rock Formations The Pinnacles Desert north of Perth, in Nambung National Park in Western Australia is one strange place to be. It is a desert of yellow sands and surreal limestone pinnacles that have been exposed by erosion. There are different theories about how these pinnacles formed but sure it is a different sight and a great place to take photos.
Victoria's Most Famous Rock Formations - The Twelve Apostles The famous Twelve Apostles on the coast of western Victoria are about 50m high limestone stacks that have been, and still are, eroded by waves. Consequently, many have collapsed since they were named 12 apostles - at the time of writing only eight were left. They are a popular attraction on the famous Great Ocean Road, and well worth a visit.
Tasmania's Most Impressive Rock Formation - Tasman Peninsula Less famous but even more impressive than the Cradle Mountain, Tasman Peninsula has got some amazing dolerite formations. Dark, mafic rocks are normally not common in the Earth's crust, where light-coloured, felsic rocks such as granitoids are much more common. Mafic rocks such as basalts and dolerite are more common in the Earth's mantle but end up on the Earth's surface through volcanic activity.
Other Strange Rock Formations in NSW - Mungo National Park Mungo National Park in the inland NSW is known for its arcaeological significance, but it has also got the 33km-long eroded sand dune - the Walls of China. The area used to be an ancient lake bed, a part of a chain of lakes between Willandra Creek and Lachlan River. Since the lakes dried up about 14,000 years ago, wind has been eroding the fragile sand dunes and left behind some amazing outcrops.
Panther sighted in Don Valley, Victoria
* Panther sighting in Don Valley, Victoria.
Phantom Cats
Info courtesy of Wikipedia Image courtesy of Mysterious Australia
Phantom cats, also known as Alien Big Cats (ABCs), are large felines, such as jaguars or cougars, which have been purported to appear in regions outside their indigenous range. Sightings, tracks and predation have been reported in a number of countries and states including Britain, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Finland, Denmark, Hawaii, and Luxembourg.
As with other aspects of cryptozoology, the study of Phantom Cats is considered by mainstream science to constitute pseudoscience or fringe science. In general, scientists reject the possibility that such mega-fauna cryptids exist, because of the improbably large numbers necessary to maintain a breeding population and because climate and food supply issues make their survival in reported habitats unlikely. This is not everyone's view however with many such as Rex Gilroy claiming to have seen the creatures.
The Blue Mountains Panther is an alleged phantom cat reported in sightings in the Blue Mountains area, west of Sydney, New South Wales for over a century. Speculation about the Blue Mountains Panther includes the theory that it is descended from either circus or zoo escapees, or is a descendant of a military mascot.
Video footage showing a large black cat near Lithgow was examined by a group of seven zoo, museum, parks and agriculture staff, who concluded that it was a large domestic cat (2–3 times normal size) based partly on its morphology and partly on the behaviour of a nearby normal-sized domestic cat. Then again ...
Starry nights near Stawell
Story and image by Dane Millerd Additional info courtesy of John Pinkney from the book 'Great Australian Mysteries'
Stephen Swanwick had been apart of a small group who had been watching for nearly 12 months. The regulars who congregated to a quite valley each night and watch the light show. Swanwick had shot reams of footage to prove it.
"You can see there core and they can turn from orange to red to bright yellow," he said.
"They pulse in concert and just glow."
The weather bureau does not use balloons in the area and the lights were too low to be stars and too large to emanate from insects or animals.
Swanwick also claimed that the egg-shaped lights would float above the gorge.
In 2002 the story was picked up by the media but from all reports the journalist who broke the story, Mark Dunn, knew no more about the lights when he left then when he had arrived. The lights had disappeared from the Grampians.
Bob Hawke - Yard Glass Champion
Info courtesy of www.nswalp.com Image courtesy of www.wynnummanly.com.au
Robert (Bob) James Lee Hawke was born on the 9th of December 1929, in Bordertown, South Australia, though he was raised in Perth, and educated at the Perth Model School, and at the University of Western Australia. He joined the Labor Party there in 1947, gained degrees in Law and Arts (Economics) and was selected to go to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in 1953. In Oxford he wrote a thesis on wage-fixing in Australia for the degree of Bachelor of Letters; more infamously, he entered the Guinness Book of Records for the fastest consumption of a yard glass full of beer.
According to Wikipedia, a yard glass (for the uninformed) is a very tall glass used for drinking a yard of ale. The yard of ale usually contains around 2.5 imperial pints (1.4 l), depending upon the diameter. The glass is approximately 1 yard long, shaped with a bulb at the bottom, and a widening shaft which constitutes most of the height.
The glass most likely originated in 17th-century England where the glass was known also as a "Long Glass", a "Cambridge Yard (Glass)" and an "Ell Glass". It is associated by legend with stagecoach drivers, though was mainly used for drinking feats and special toasts.
Drinking a yard glass full of beer is a traditional pub game. The fastest drinking of a yard of ale in the Guinness Book of Records is 5 seconds. Prior to that record, Hawke set a new world speed record for beer drinking: a yard glass (approximately 3 imperial pints or 1.7 litres) in eleven seconds. In his memoirs, Hawke suggested that this single feat may have contributed to his political success more than any other, by endearing him to a voting population with a strong beer culture.
Throughout the 1970s Hawke's public profile as ACTU leader became more prominent, and he maintained for himself and the position a reputation for moderate, reasonable, consensus-style negotiation.
After many years of speculation that he would enter Parliament to lead the Labor Party, Hawke was preselected for the seat of Wills in Melbourne in 1980. Through the next three years, he remained a much more popular figure than either the Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser or the Opposition Leader Bill Hayden, and in 1983 he was first chosen as Opposition Leader then elected Prime Minister of a Labor Government.
He was later defeated by Treasurer come backbencher, Paul Keating.
The Gubba
Info courtesy of Jim Smith (first published at yowiehunters) Image by Samy Sorles
In contrast with other creatures of local mythology which were known to many neighboring tribes, the Gubba had a fairly local distribution. The first record I have found is in an 1826 letter to the editor of the Australian Newspaper from "Colo" (George Sutton Jnr) of Bathurst:
"An evil spirit haunts the native woods. They at times have most alarming fears and believe it sometimes comes when they are asleep, crushes them to death and takes their women and children. Whether there really is any creature in these woods capable of destroying man, it is hard to say - yet nothing of the kind has ever been seen by our people. I am inclined to think that this creature, which they so much dread, is one of their imaginary beings."
The next reference is in Lang's 1875 book "Historical and Statistical Account of NSW". Speaking of caves, which contain hand stencils in the Ben Bullen area, he says -
"The natives of the coast had an idea that a malicious spirit called Koppa frequented such caves and they subsequently never made use of them as places of shelter."
Bernard O'Reilly grew up in the Kanimbla and Megalong Valleys and his family had contact with Gundungurra Aborigines including William and Fanny Lynch and William Russell. Scattered through "Cullenbenbong", O'Reilly's autobiography, are a few references to Gubba.
"Gubba lived at the head of the creek [Cullenbenbong Creek], and black men kept well away from it. Gubba was a debil debil that hounded their tribe and they spoke his dread name in a whisper."
Fanny Lynch often spoke in a low voice of Gubba, a malignant spirit which hounded their tribe. She would often look over her shoulder and roll the whites of her eyes as she spoke the dreaded name. Fanny had once seen the Gubba.
"Long time ago a little grey feller." She put her hand down to show how little. "Littler than Wombat; I see him beside me" - her eyes lit with terror - "and then he was gone." There could have been no doubt from Fanny's sincerity and terror that she had seen Gubba and that Gubba was something very horrible.
O'Reilly says that the white settlers also heard and were terrified by the sound of Gubba.
"It had the quality of infecting all who heard it with that unreasoning terror associated with the Supernatural, and those were men who were hard to scare, men whose lives are wedded to the lonely bush, and who knew the sounds as a child knows his alphabet, dauntless old settlers who had fought bushfires and Myall blacks with unswerving courage. What was this sound that struck terror into their hearts as no wild cooee of the killing Myalls had ever done?"
Some thought it was a bird or beast of the darkness, which came from the caverns deep down in the heart of the mountains and returned there before dawn. Others thought it to be Supernatural, but what it was we shall probably never know. For nearly thirty years have gone since it was last heard; Gubba has gone back to where it belonged whether it be in the heart of a mountain, or in the gloomy land of restless spirits. Perhaps the most convincing part of the material side was the terror of the animals - dogs never failed to show complete panic, and for days remained cringing and afraid. Even the most staid horses invariably bolted, a procedure which always had the full approval of the rider.
Thomas Moore
Story and photo by Dane Millerd
On April 6th, 1897, a 64-year-old hawker from Ireland named Thomas Moore was convicted of murder at Dubbo Circuit Court. He was sentenced to hang on June 24th of that year.
While little is known about Moore's early history, aside from the fact he arrived on the boat the 'Great Western' in 1886, he was said to be a very religious man.
In fact so religious that he would never travel on a Sunday and would always carry a Bible and a Roman Catholic prayer book.
As a condemned prisoner, he wore leg irons in his cell and spent most of his time reading and taking in daily visits from the Sisters of Mercy.
He was also one of the many executed by renowned hangman, Nosey Bob Howard.
His death was a blight on Nosey Bob's impressive record as an executioner, for Bob had not allowed for Moore's weak neck muscles when administering the hanging of the convicted murderer resulting in an unspeakable decapitation in front of a shocked crowd of onlookers at Dubbo Gaol.
Currently, there is an exhibit dedicated to Moore at the prison for public viewing.
Yuam-bir
Info courtesy of yowiehunters Image by Steed Litten
Barrallier said in 1802 that the Gundungurra 'believed in an evil spirit'. Feld recorded its name as Yuam-Bir, he said:
"The tradition about Yuam-Bir is that they killed him two hundred years ago, that is many generations back, at Tamaroora (which they called Dtham-bur-war-ing). They fought him there for two days, and smashed him into the ground with nulla nullas, so there is now no devil or hell (place of punishment after death), for their dead. Their only dread is the devil scouts."
Feld describes two frightening predatory creatures that were "scouts" of Yuam-Bir - the hairy Gubba and the winged Dthy-wan-gong.
Feld recorded from the Burragorang Aborigines information on the Dthywangong:
"They had another superstition about a spirit they called Dthy-wan-gong, who lived among the rocks, and had enormous wings, with which he extinguished their camp fires, killed them and then ate their livers."
This is perhaps the same creature as the Gobung described in the Echo legend series - "a huge bird that flies low with wide flapping wings" that lived in the Devil's Hole, Katoomba. Cuneo mentions "Twans" - "Spirits who take the form of birds" or "gins with Emu's feet". They are supposed to carry off the spirit of the dead. They caused an illness of Queahgang (supposed a daughter of the leader of the Nattau band Murrengurry) who "was bewitched by a spirit that came in the form of a bird called Twan".
Mumuga
Story courtesy of Jim Smith Image by Daniel Dreml
Aboriginal Dreamtime tells of the legend of Mumuga. For those who don't know, Mumuga is another fabled monster of the Thurrawal, possessing great strength and residing in caves in mountainous country.
The Mumuga has very short arms and legs, with hair all over his body but none on his head. He cannot run very fast, but when he is pursuing a black fellow he evacuates all the time as he runs, and the abominable smell of the odor overcomes the individual, so that he is easily captured.
According to Aboriginal folklore, if the person who is attacked has a fire stick in his hand, the stink of Mumuga has no effect on him.
Yes the Mumuga is a very rare creature indeed.
The Wonambi
Story by Percy Warrul and LL Staffers Image by Percy Warrul
Wonambi species are not pythons. It is a genus currently consisting of two species of very large snakes. It is a type of constrictor known as Morelia and a member of a now extinct family classified as Madtsoiidae.This genus was a part of the extinct megafauna of Australia. The two type of species are Wonambi naracoortensis, that reportedly grew up to six metres long and the Wonambi barriei.
The Wonambi would use the element of surprise to catch its prey with many experts promoting the notion that it was ambush predator. Rather than using venom, the animal would kill its prey by constriction. The head of the animal was small, restricting the size of its prey but the Wonambi's strength was second to none and unquestioned.
Wonambi naracoortensis lived during the Pleistocene Ice Age period, in natural sun-traps beside local waterholes, where they would ambush kangaroo, wallaby and other prey coming to the water to drink. For this reason, children were forbidden in Aboriginal culture to play at such places, and only allowed to visit when accompanied by an adult.
It was given the name Wonambi from the description, by the local Aboriginal people, of a serpent of the Dreamtime. This serpent, a mythological being commonly referred to by both Aboriginal people and Europeans as the Rainbow Serpent, were often held responsible for the creation of major features of the landscape. The Wagyl of the Western Australian Noongar people is thought to correlate to the South Australian people's Wonambi.
Ghost tales of the Great Southern Land #3
Story info courtesy of Warren Fahey Photo by Adam Gormley
POLLY MCQUINN Strathbogie near Euralla has a ghost that goes by the name of Polly McQuinn. The ghost has been there for years. Polly appears at a certain waterhole that carries her name after she drowned there accidentally in the early days. Not a place to go alone.
RICHMOND BRIDGE GHOST Richmond Bridge in Tasmania has a headless man, an overseer, who was extremely cruel and was subsequently murdered by convicts and thrown in the river. He continues to haunt the bridge.
TROTTING COBB There is a headless horseman who holds his head between his ribs and elbow as he rides a snow white horse through the Riverina. If seen he can certainly make your trip through the picturesque district an interesting one.
The Horny Emu
Story by LL Staffers Image courtesy of Waterways Wildlife
Patrena Arriston from the Top End is on a mission. She has appealed for help to stop a sexually frustrated male emu trying to herd her into its nest at the wildlife sanctuary she runs in Katherine.
"My seven-year-old emu Edward began sitting on an empty nest last year and now chases me when I come close to it.
"It is starting to get a bit frustrated and when I go in there to pet it or feed the chooks and stuff like that, I sort of get rounded up," she said.
"It keeps circling me and I have to get a palm frond and hold it up and sort of push it away."
Emus can grow up to two metres tall (6'6") and weigh up to 45kg.
"There is an available female emu about 800km away but I don't have a trailer to bring it to the property and hoped someone may be able to help with transportation.
"I just thought maybe if there is somebody out there who could be coming up that's got a bit of spare room and wants to put an emu in the back that would be great," she explained.
"I know trucks are pretty full, I suppose. But there might be someone out there that might be able to help us."
The Chain Man
Story and image by Dane Millerd
It is a story only Stephen King could write. In the buzzing town of Gunnedah in north-west NSW, there is a legend about the Chain Man.
To those in the know, the Chain Man got his name from dragging chains along the road at the resident 'lovers lane' - Porcupine Lookout, often scaring unsuspecting couples as they shared intimate, tender moments in the back seats of cars.
One particular story revolves around the Chain Man coming right up to the vehicle of one young couple, frightening them to the point of paralysis. This went on for years much to the chagrin of local authorities.
While the Chain Man has been quiet for some time now since attracting serious attention, his true identity has been debated and is still discussed by all and sundry. Short of naming names, one interesting theory resides around the ghost of a man who was chained to a concrete pillar during the town's early years. Older generations say he haunts the Lookout, determined to exact revenge on the town and its residents having finally broken the shackles of his human life.
Whatever the truth, the legend of the Chain Man lives on even if the hauntings have ceased.
The Gobungs
Story info courtesy of yowiehunters Image by Dan Ledlimer
When the Governors were being pursued by the Police [1900], and evading them by day, the Aborigines at the local camp felt great interest in the chase, and were much exercised as to whether these blacks were ordinary men, or really "Gobungs".
If they were not caught, it would prove their supernatural origin. The "Gobungs" is in reality a huge bird that flies low, with wide flapping wings; but Aborigines believe it can turn into a dog, or into a man. If the Governors were really "Gobungs", what would be easier than to change shape their shape. The troopers would only see a heavily winged bird flapping away through the trees, and think nothing of it; or a dog could come to the troopers' side and trot there in safety. Who would suspect a dog?
In the form of a man, and it could get close enough to the trooper to touch him with the tip of only one finger, the trooper would immediately fall dead, but that would be a very difficult feat, and not like it to happen. The creature has been seen in Katoomba, and this is the story: -
A girl (an Aboriginal) was coming up from the Glen to the Katoomba camp to visit one of her countrywomen. For the sake of the short cut, she came through the "Devil's Hole" - always a gloomy, weird place. After climbing a part way up she looked around and saw a man climbing below her. Feeling a little nervous, she tried to hurry, but the climb was so stiff that she could not make much headway.
Glancing back again, she saw the man was gaining on her, and she began to feel quite alarmed. Then the fear, that grows in the hole and clutches at the heart, together with the fear of the man, drove her heading up the path, till breathless and spent she reached the high rocks that guard the entrance.
Here, looking in dread over her shoulder, she saw the man still nearer and started to run. Behind, she could hear the tramp of his feet, as he too broke into a race of pursuit, steadily growing closer. She felt like a wild hunted Wallaby, up the little hills, across the valleys, stumbling over stones and logs, with always that pursuing sound ringing in her ears and clutching at her sobbing breath. At last she came within sight of her destination, and racing on, fell in a dead faint at her friend's doorstep.
Just then, her friend opening the door, saw the man race up to the garden gate, change into a bird and fly away.It was the "Gobungs".
Australia's Wanshang Dole
Story and image by Dane Millerd Extra info and description provided by Jim Smith
A trawl through the annals of history reveals that the lives of man and canine are closely intertwined. In fact, many researchers claim that it is because of the canine more than any other animal that is largely responsible for man being where he is today. There are also unsubstantiated claims that dogs make humans live longer.
Wild dogs or wolfmen throughout history include the Wolfman of Uttar, the Tantanoola Tiger that many like the Thyllacine equally claim is as much cat as dog and then there is the Wanshang Dole of Asia which here is comparatively also known as the Rock Dog. There are few if any "Rock Dogs" left in the upper Blue Moutnains today. Some claim there is one and he sits up in a cave of Devil's Hole watching the people go up and down.
According to reports, the Devil's Hole is a parting in the cliffs somewhere under the Boar's Head Rock near Katoomba, and is often used by foot passengers who want to take a short cut to the Glen. It is very narrow and treacherous.
It is an ideal watchpoint and location for the legendary Rock Dog of the blacks. There he sits, day after day, high up in his dark cave, watching and watching, and watching the passers-by, and choosing out his likely prey. Some lonely traveler may hear a weird rustling away up on the rock, or see a stone drop as if from nowhere, or catch the glint from a fiery eyeball as the dog moves around in his lair, but they will never see him, for it is only at night that he prowls about, and then will attack and carry off for food the person who is foolish enough to try and get through the hole after dark.
The only thing that serves anybody at all is that he will not eat white people - only blacks - and the blacks won't go through the Devils hole at night according to Aboriginal legend.
Tracy spoils Christmas
Story and Photo of photo by Dane Millerd Original courtesy of Darwin Cyclone Tracy Museum
On Christmas Eve 1974 in Darwin, home to roughly 50,000 people at the time, a cyclone named Tracy hit and changed the lives of many forever.
Cyclone Tracy didn't discriminate, hitting all of the urban sprawl including idyllic Fannie Bay, Parap, Nightcliff, Alawa, Jingili and even as far away as Howard Springs and reached speeds of 260kms/hr.
Yet four days before most Territorians didn't even pay attention to it. There was no real reason to they thought. Tracy was a tropical low and sat 600kms off the coast of Darwin in the Arafura Sea with no sign of becoming one of Australia's most infamous natural disasters.
As Christmas neared, warnings from the Darwin Cyclone Warning Centre intensified and by 9.00am on Christmas Eve the cyclone was at the south-west tip of Bathurst Island. By the time the cyclone had dissipated and vanished into the Gulf country the unofficial toll stood at 49 with 16 missing and close to $1billon in damage.
Ghost tales of the Great Southern Land #2
Story info courtesy of Warren Fahey Image by Ed Di Mallren
THE MARTINET MAJOR OF MONARO Known for mistreating his convicts, the Martinet Major of Monaro is a well known story. One day a convict revolted and threw stones at the major.
He was promptly hanged. His ghost came back to haunt the major sending him to the brink.
One night the Major's cattle were released at midnight, bells were rung at odd hours and the ghost would appear at the foot of his bed singing bawdy songs.
The Major eventually returned to England.
DAVIS THE PEARL DIVER The residence of the Anglican bishop of Broome has the ghost of a well-known Pearl buyer called Davis who died 1913.
He was a Jew who acted as rabbi and the bishops house was originally his home. Recent bishops have seen him attired in robes and hat.
QUINN'S LIGHT When a yellowish eagle shaped light appears every now and then locals call it Quinns Light, named after John Quinn, the first man to see it.
It is situated near the Go Go Billy ranges in the Daudaman Valley.
* Watch this space for more.
Hairy Yeti Crab
Story and photo courtesy of Squidoo
Kiwa hirsuta is a crustacean discovered in 2005 in the South Pacific Ocean. This decapod, which is approximately 15 cm (6 inches) long, is notable for the quantity of silky blond setae (resembling fur) covering its pereiopods (thoracic legs, including claws). Its discoverers dubbed it the "yeti lobster" or "yeti crab."
Kiwa hirsuta was discovered in March 2005 by a group organized by Robert Vrijenhoek of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Monterey, California and Michel Segonzac of the Ifremer and a Census of Marine Life scientist using the submarine DSV Alvin, operating from RV Atlantis. The discovery was announced on March 7th, 2006. It was found 1,500 km (900 miles) south of Easter Island in the South Pacific, at a depth of 2,200 m (7,200 feet), living on hydrothermal vents along the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge. Based on both morphology and molecular data, the species was deemed to form a new genus and family (Kiwaidae). The animal has strongly reduced eyes that lack pigment, and is thought to be blind.
The "hairy" pincers contain filamentous bacteria, which the creature may use to detoxify poisonous minerals from the water emitted by the hydrothermal vents where it lives. Alternatively, it may feed on bacteria, although it is generally thought to be a carnivore.
Although it is often referred to as the "furry lobster" outside the scientific literature, Kiwa hirsuta is a squat lobster, more closely related to crabs and hermit crabs than true lobsters. The term "furry lobster" is more commonly used for the family Synaxidae.
UFO at Katherine Show
Story by LL Staffers Photo by Adam Rewuk
The photo above by Victorian tourist Adam Rewuk was taken only hours before a startling, bright Min Min light amazed a swelling crowd at the Katherine Show.
Rewuk did not know he had captured the image of the flying saucer over Katherine Gorge until he looked back over his photos after the holiday. He was shocked.
"Dad used to be a big UFO believer, so when I saw the picture, I thought of him straightaway," he said.
"I took the photo around lunch time, but I saw nothing in the sky.
"I didn't realise it was there until I saw the photo," said Rewuk.
Mr Rewuk said the photo was definitely not that of a plane or a mark on the lens of the camera.
"If I zoom in on the picture, it almost looks like a diamond shape with a bubble on the bottom," he said.
Mr Rewuk said the photo was taken only a few hours before a UFO was spotted at the nearby town show.
Phantom Kangaroos
Story and image by Mardi Lleden
For years there have been sporadic reports of kangaroos in places they simply should not or could not be. The phenomena is known as 'phantom kangaroos.'
Specifically, the phenomena occurs largely in areas where there is no native population making it presumably unjustified that it could be a kangaroo. Some explanations put forth are escaped zoo or circus animals, or publicity stunts by local businesses using photographs from Australia.
Others suggest outbreaks of such sightings are a form of mass hysteria.
Phantom kangaroos are most commonly seen on roadsides, usually at dusk or dawn, by motorists. It is quite easy to misdiagnose what is real from what is not in such instances which is another reason why the term was first coined.
The Double Decker Dog
Story by Dane Millerd Photo by Paul Denham
For the uninformed, the Double Decker Dog has been not just an Aussie development but a global legend for eons. Whenever there has been more than one dog fair chance you will find the Double Decker Dog. Other names for this creature include, Six Paw and the Perpetual Pan Licker.
There are a variety of ways for dealing with this amusing yet annoying creature and some include the broom and the hose although a litany of methods have been suggested such as throwing a thong. While it has been raised that these methods work with most animals please do not try any of these on the Eat-a-lot-a-puss. We will deal with that at a later date.
As resilient as the Double Decker Dog is, like most mammals it has a penchant for food and other dogs and these remedies have also been suggested.
Whatever the case, the Double Decker Dog shows no signs of extinction for it has truly asserted itself in the mainstream of pop culture.
The Principality of Hutt River
Story by Snoopy Mars Photo courtesy of Mardi Lleden
In 1970 the Hutt River Province was founded after a wheat farmer formed his own country within Australian borders after a disagreement with the government. If you are ever between Kalbarri and Port Gregory in Western Australia stop and visit the 50-odd square km Hutt River Province it is definitely worth a look.
Prince Leonard also has a queen, Princess Shirley of Hutt and has started printing his own stamps. The Prince and Princess welcome visitors so stop at the Geraldton tourist Information Centre and they will give you a map when you go in to get your visa for Hutt River Province. You can get your passport stamped on entry as well.
Info courtesy of Amazing Australia - This is the story behind this independent country;
The government of Australia was worried about a huge wheat surplus in 1969 and imposed quotas on all the WA wheat growers. Mr Leonard Casley was only permitted to sell a small percentage of the 1,500 acres wheat he planted and stood to lose heaps of money. When his appeals for a higher quota kept being knocked back, he started a bit of legal investigation. An ancient English law he found says that if your livelihood is threatened by the state, you are entitled to ‘secede’ your land from the state. Though he had no legal experience or training he turned his farm into an independent country and himself into HRH Prince Leonard. As residents of an independent country, none of the 30 or so people who live in Hutt River Province pay taxes to the government of Australia and none receive any benefits from it. There were still more disagreements between Hutt River Province and Canberra and in 1997 Hutt River Province actually declared war on Australia.
Bustard Bird or is that Bastard Bird?
Story and photo by Paul Denham
The Bustard Bird is one of the largest birds in Australia. it can vary in colour from grey-brown to white and its markings can also be different. Commonly there are black and white marks on the wings of this mysterious creature.
To the casual observer, the Bustard can appear to be an aloof 'bastard' walking with head held high as if its you know what doesn't stink. This is largely an act, for the creature is very fidgety and nervous and when disturbed or threatened, will walk away slowly, head held high and still watching.
The Bustard is also a strong flyer and this particular species is also referred to as the Plains Turkey or Wild Turkey. It is found in the inland and tropical north of the continent. These omnivorous creatures spend most of their time in open grasslands and usually search for their food after dark.
Due to mankind, the bird was once on the verge of extinction however changes have been made that have allowed numbers to begin to grow once more.
Ghost tales of the Great Southern Land #1
Story and image by Ed DiMallren Info courtesy of Warren Fahey
You can canvass the great wide land and find a whole array of ghost stories. Some are as old as the nation herself while others are relatively new. Whatever the case they all have one thing in common - they certainly make the hairs stand up on the back of the neck!
POLLMANN Near Narrandera in NSW there is a place called The Murdering Sandhills and it got its name for a reason. If you listen closely you can hear the sound of a ghostly wagon regularly and is said to be that of a man called Pollmann who had stashed a large amount of money and was then murdered by three brothers who were hawkers in the area.
THE GERRINGONG GHOST A local Gerringong identity, an ex-Englishman, was known to always carry a handy sum of gold sovereigns with him. One night, he was seen drinking at the local Kiama pub and was quite drunk. Two men offered to take him home plus his sheepdog. He was never seen again. Some time later a man was camped in the bush near Gerringong and was woken by a noise, he looked up and saw a dead man with a sheep dog licking his bloody face. Beyond the man he saw two men laughing and talking about the 40 coins they had stolen. The next day the man reported the apparition and police discovered the man's burnt body of the Englishman and his dog at the same site. They are said to still haunt the spot.
THE GHOST OF DOG TRAP ROAD This ghost was a hoax invented by larrikins of the Stone Push who frequented Stoners Vauxhill inn during the 1870's. They used to go out after nightfall and one of their number, attired in a white sheet, would place himself in a position to be seen. The group were finally caught by three young men - one a merchant of Crown Street, Parramatta, and given a good horse whipping.
* Watch this space for more.
The Flannelette Ghost of the Kowmung #2
As retold by Jim Barrett to Local Legends Entertainment. Photo by Snoopy Mars
Below is Bob Batty’s account of the Colong Caves Ghost as retold in Jim Barrett's books while apart of the Catholic Bushwalking Club. It is worth the read for this story alone.
"I was camping below the arch. I awoke in the middle of the night to get a drink and saw a figure by the light of the dying embers.
Originally I thought it was one of the party getting up for a drink or to go to the toilet, but then realised it wasn’t and thought it was rock climber or bushwalker that had stumbled upon the camp.
"As he neared, the figure became agitated and streaked past me at a terrific pace.
Strangely, the figure made not a sound as it sped past, nor did it displace any air."
Even now they say if you camp at the caves the ghost reappears.
Watch this space for our clip on The Flannelette Ghost of the Kowmung coming soon.
In the meantime, please let us know if you have anymore stories on the rare local legend.
The Underground Dragon of Wellington
Story and image by Dane Millerd
For years the existence of Megalania has been debated. Some claim to have seen the giant lizard at Jeremie and Woodstock in the central-west of NSW though these reports have been unconfirmed.
Of more substance is the claim of an 'Underground Dragon at Wellington,' near Dubbo.
Legend has it that during WWII Japanese POW’s escaped from Cowra gaol and scattered throughout the countryside in a bid to gain freedom. A select few hid in a cave at Wellington and while it is not known as to the fate of these POW’s what is known is that the cave was not a hideout for long.
The dragon forced them out and many farmers in the area back in the day often told stories of the dragon breezing down onto the plains to nestle and laze. The legend is still largely promoted even today depending on who you ask.
Whatever the case, the underground dragon of Wellington has held plenty of intrigue for people for generations.
Tracks - Robyn Davidson
Story by Deefer Bloomfield Photo courtesy of Tom Wilson
When Queensland suburbanite Robyn Davidson had an epiphany in 1977 deciding to track across the Gibson desert with nothing but a dog and camels, it was the beginning of one woman’s solo trek across 3000kms of Australian Outback.
Her preparations and taming of the temperamental camels are also a feature of her story and it took her nearly two years, not counting the countless hours spent looking for them every morning before each day’s leg of her voyage.
Robyn set out on her dangerous journey in 1977 practically by herself – dog and four camels aside – to learn about the desert and its traditional owners. She came back an infamous hero who’d walked at times clothed in nothing but her own skin.
Cat country
As reported to wanderinn.wordpress.com Story by Shane 338 Photo of Lithgow panther courtesy of mysteriousaustralia.com
I had lived in Daylesford all my life until I left several years ago, this story I tell you now I never reported to authorities, or even family, and I had a good reason why.
Everyday after school and on weekends I would ride my dirt bike all around and through the Wombat State Forest. This one particular day I will never forget, I cant even sleep tonight thinking about it.
As I was riding my motocross bike through a track called Coopers Lane, which I was familiar with as part of the track is very windy with tall hedge like shrubs growing on the side, making it hard to see around the corners.
Because of this I rode with caution, standing up on my bike cruising through the track, until directly in front of me appeared a long sleak black figure. It darted out of the shrubs alongside me, hugging the inside of the track. It went down and then around the corner with the sun beaming down on its beautiful black coat.Then it disappeared as fast as it appeared.
For the life of me I had no idea what it was , I have rode through the thickest parts of forests, have seen most animals on my travels, this was like Satan himself.
It was long, like 6 feet, low to the ground like a snake, travelling at stealth speeds and making no noise and kicking up no dust as it ran. It was blacker than anything wild I've ever seen.
Yes I was frightened, but I was never under any threat, it seemed scared of the bike. I was 16 at the time , and was going through family issues, hence my escape on the bike. I didn't know what it was, I remember telling my mum about it, she dismissed it, as being a dog or fox. I wasn't as convinced.
So it stayed with me all my life , until I started hearing about the sightings, but at that stage years had passed, and the issue of why I didn't say anything earlier or when it happened seemed a greater deal than the actual sighting itself.
So I say to you reading this, I did see a panther in the Wombat State Forest near Bullarto, in 1988. Those of you who have seen it, will know what I'm saying.
ANOTHER SIGHTING AT BACCHUS MARSH
Story by Jamie
I saw a panther near Bacchus Marsh in 1989. I was 19 years old at the time. I was out shooting with two mates at the time. We all saw it on a rocky hill side as we drove down a hill. We shined a spot light on it. It was jet black and moved very sleekly. The light reflecting in its eyes was green. I don’t know if any expert can tell if that makes it a panther of not. My mate Nick shot it from reasonably close range. He had 5 mins before killed a fox from twice the distance. The panther (or what ever it was) jumped up over the ridge without a noise. I chased after it…very scared that it would be wounded just over the ridge. When I got up there – within say 10-20 seconds…it was nowhere to be seen. It never made a single noise. It was seriously spooky!. We never reported it, didn’t know where to?. I told my uncle who live in Ballarat. He then told me the story of the American soliders who apparently let some go. I prefer to think its some sort of native cat.
Editor's note - Evidently there seems to be an array of big cats in Victoria and these sightings have shown no signs of subsiding from the Grampians Puma to the Bullarto Panther. Do you have a story? Let us know.
The Flabbit
Story and image by Dane Millerd Info courtesy of Max Hale, Pat Green and LL Staffers
In 1985 the then Daily Mirror newspaper claimed to have unearthed the mysterious "flabbit" - a flying rabbit with wings claimed to have been photographed on the banks of the Colo River. It sent the nation into raptures.
The Flabbit became the focus of a cult following, with T-Shirts, posters, stuffed toys and even a song produced in celebration of its uniqueness. TV coverage was also given to the event at the time.
For days the search for this bizarre creature - a rabbit with wings - continued. Finally the paper had to confess to being the victim of a hoax. The gig was finally up.
Despite being finally exposed as an elaborate taxidermist’s trick with Roy Rottingham named as the brains behind the illustrious hoax, the flabbit lives on in the hearts of locals and in the traditional ‘throwing of the flabbit’ at the Colo Wilderness Family Picnic Day each year.
G'day from Yabby Mick
G'day folks, Yabby Mick here.
As you all know I have had a passion for yabbies for years. In fact I tried my first one before I even learned to walk. Ever since then it has been a match made in heaven and I have been fascinated with the little destructors ever since.
I remember a story I once heard about a bloke and his dog. They went out into the scrub looking for yabbies but the man failed to tell anyone what he was doing or where he was going. This is a 'no no' of the highest order when travelling in the Australian bush. It is also advised not to wear thongs and shorts for you never know what might jump up and take a bite.
Anyway, this bloke was hunting for a catch when a large rock rolled onto him, trapping him against a hard place. He couldn't move and the dog sensed there was a world of trouble ahead and took off.
Now this is where the story gets interesting. You may not eat yabbies but yabbies will sure eat you and it was then, when trapped in knee high water, that the little critters began eating at the man's feet. Surely this was no way to die?
As the hours passed and the man became more desperate, the yabbies continued to munch their way through the soles of his feet and toes. The pain was becoming excruciating and surely it would only be a matter of time before they began trying to take a bite out of something else! The man started calling for his dog.
As darkness approached, his canine friend, like all good dogs should, came back to the site with help and fortunately the man was rescued thereafter. Without a doubt it was a lucky escape and goes to show the old adage still rings true - "All's well that ends well." Yeah, right!
The Shooting of the Emmaville Panther PART 3
Story and Image by Dane Millerd
*Continues on from PART 2
Around the time of the shooting of the Emmaville Panther word had gotten about that it had escaped from a travelling circus. The travelling circus had been to Old Bolgamildi and for many this seemed to account as to why the creature would be in the bush. A younger animal, presumed to be it's cub, was born after escape. For a while, the skin was left in an office enabling anyone interested to inspect it and as a guarantee to the truth of their story. Harry would later speak out claiming that he had never claimed it was a panther but instead, had an independent source verify that fact. All he knew was that it wasn't a native Australian. He also did not recollect any strangers coming to inspect the animal hide after it was shot. Years since this incident the mystery of the Emmaville Panther has only intensified. Farmers from Emmaville to the top of the Great Divide have seen the panther. One farmer has even stated he saw the beast take his sheep and he is not alone. The legend of the Emmaville Panther shows no sign of fading.
The Boianai Visitants of 1959
Story by Bill Chalker Image by Dane Millerd
In 1959 Papua New Guinea was still a territory of Australia. June of that year saw the spectacular sightings by Father William Gill, an Australian Anglican missionary, and 37 members of his Boianai mission. Gill made notes about the experience, which the media obtained. Stories appeared in August, causing a sensation. I have had two extended interviews with Reverend Gill and was impressed with his quiet and certain manner in relating the events. What follows comes from his own account of the affair.
Only the day before the sighting, Gill had composed a letter to the Reverend David Durie, Acting Principal of Saint Aidan's College at Dogura, to accompany a report regarding a UFO sighting made by Stephen Moi, an assistant teacher at Gill's mission.
'Dear David, Have a look at this extraordinary data. I am almost convinced about the "visitation" theory. There have been quite a number of reports over the months, from reliable witnesses. The peculiar thing about these most recent reports is that the UFOs seem to be stationary at Boianai or to travel from Boianai. The Mount Pudi vicinity seems to be the hovering area. I myself saw a stationary white light twice on the same night on 9 April, but in a different place each time.
I believe your students have also sighted one over Boianai. The Assistant District Officer, Bob Smith and Mr Glover have all seen it, or similar ones on different occasions again, over Boianai, although I think the Baniara people said they watched it travel across the sky from our direction. I should think that this is the first time that the "saucer" has been identified as such.
'I do not doubt the existence of these "things" (indeed I cannot, now that I have seen one for myself) but my simple mind still requires scientific evidence before I can accept the from outer space theory. I am inclined to believe that probably many UFOs are more likely some form of electric phenomena, or perhaps something brought about by the atom bomb explosions, etc.
That Stephen should actually make out a saucer could be the work of the unconscious mind as it is very likely that at some time he has seen illustrations of some kind in a magazine, or it is very possible that saucers do exist, but it is only a 50/50 chance that they are not earth made, still less that they should carry men (more likely radio controlled), and it is still unproven that they are solids.
'It is all too difficult to understand for me; I prefer to wait for some bright boy to catch one to be exhibited in Martin Square. 'Please return this report as I have no copy and I want Nor, (Rev. Norman Crutwell) to have it. Yours, Doubting William Anglican Mission, Boianai. 27/6/59'
The events of the next day converted the doubting William, as the next letter graphically indicates.
'Dear David, Life is strange, isn't it? Yesterday I wrote you a letter, (which I still intend sending you) expressing opinions re: The UFOs. Now, less than twenty-four hours later I have changed my views somewhat. Last night we at Boianai experienced about four hours of UFO activity, and there is no doubt whatsoever that they are handled by beings of some kind. At times it was absolutely breathtaking. Here is the report. Please pass it round, but great care must be taken as I have no other, and this, like the one I made out re: Stephen, will be sent to Nor. I would appreciate it if you could send the lot back as soon as poss.
Cheers, Convinced Bill'
As indicated by his notes, Gill saw a bright white light in the north western sky. It appeared to be approaching the mission and hovering about 100 metres up. Eventually 38 people, including Gill, teachers Steven Gill Moi and Ananias Rarata, and Mrs Nessle Moi, gathered to watch the main UFO, which looked like a large, disc-shaped object. It was apparently solid and circular with a wide base and narrower upper deck. The object appeared to have four 'legs' underneath it. There also appeared to be about four 'panels' or 'portholes' on the side of the object, which seemed to glow a little brighter than the rest. At a number of intervals the object produced a shaft of blue light which shone upwards into the sky at an angle of about 45 degrees.
What looked like 'men' came out of the object, onto what seemed to be a deck on top of it. There were four men in all, occasionally two, then one, then three, then four. The shaft of blue light and the 'men' disappeared. The object then moved through some clouds. There were other UFO sightings during the night. Gill described the weather as variable sky scattered clouds to clear at first, becoming overcast after. He estimated the height of the clouds at about 600 meters. The first sighting over the sea, according to Rev. Gill, seemed to be about 150 metres above the water all times. The main UFO was clearly visible and seemed mostly stationary during the twenty-five minutes of observation.
Astonishingly, the aerial visitor put in a repeat performance the following night, 27 June. Gill prepared another statement.
'Large UFO first sighted by Annie Laurie at 6 p.m. in apparently same position as last night (26/6/59) only seemed a little smaller, when W.B.G. saw it at 6.02 p.m. I called Ananias and several others and we stood in the open to watch it. Although the sun had set it was still quite light for the following fifteen minutes. We watched figures appear on top four of them, no doubt that they are human. Possibly the same object that I took to be the "Mother" ship last night. Two smaller UFOs were seen at the same time, stationary.
One above the hills west, another over- head. On the large one two of the figures seemed to be doing something near the centre of the deck, were occasionally bending over and raising their arms as though adjusting or "setting up" something (not visible). One figure seemed to be standing looking down at us (a group of about a dozen). I stretched my arm above my head and waved. To our surprise the figure did the same. Ananias waved both arms over his head then the two outside figures did the same. Ananias and self began waving our arms and all four now seemed to wave back. There seemed to be no doubt that our movements were answered. All mission boys made audible gasps (of either joy or surprise, perhaps both).
'As dark was beginning to close in, I sent Eric Kodawara for a torch and directed a series of long dashes towards the UFO. After a minute or two of this, the UFO apparently acknowledged by making several wavering motions back and forth. Waving by us was repeated and this followed by more flashes of torch, then the UFO began slowly to become bigger, apparently coming in our direction. It ceased after perhaps half a minute and came no further. After a further two or three minutes the figures apparently lost interest in us for they disappeared "below" deck. At 6.25 p.m. two figures re-appeared to carry on with whatever they were doing before the interruption. The blue spotlight came on for a few seconds twice in succession.'
Gill has described how he and the mission people called out to the men, even shouting at them, and beckoned them to descend, but there was no response beyond what has already been noted. Two smaller UFOs higher up remained stationary. By 6.30 p.m. the scene had remained largely unchanged, and Gill records that he went to dinner. Subsequently critics were to question this, why would someone walk away from such an extraordinary sight? 'I'm always asked this question,' Gill has said, 'either in puzzlement or with a sneer.
Having had about four hours of this sight on Friday night, we were not nearly so interested when it returned on Saturday night, especially after we were unable to persuade it to land. You must also keep in mind that there was nothing eerie or other worldly about any of this. It was all so ordinary, as ordinary as a Ford car. It looked a perfectly normal sort of object, an earth made object. I realised, of course, that some people might think of this as a flying saucer but I took it to be some kind of hovercraft the Americans or even the Australians had built.
The figures inside looked perfectly human. In fact, I thought they were human, that if we got them to land we would find the pilots to be ordinary earthmen in military uniforms and we would have dinner with them.
At 7.00 p.m. the 'No. 1 UFO' was still present, although it appeared somewhat smaller. The group of observers went to church for evensong. After evensong, visibility was very limited with the sky covered in cloud. Nothing else was seen that evening. At 10.40 p.m., a very penetrating, 'ear splitting' explosion woke up people on the station. It sounded like it had come from just outside the window of the mission house. Gill felt it did not sound like a thunderclap. Nothing had been seen, but the whole sky was overcast. Other less compelling activity occurred the following night. Then it seemed the Boianai visitants had gone. But the controversy had just begun.
Reverend Gill was at the time of his sightings already scheduled to return to Australia. This presented civilian groups with an excellent opportunity to assess the credibility of the reports.
All investigators found Gill to be very impressive. This led one of the leading civilian groups, the Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society, to view the Gill reports as constituting the most remarkable testimony of intensive UFO activity ever reported to civilian investigators. They were unique because for the first time credible witnesses had reported the presence of humanoid beings associated with UFOs. The major civilian groups of the day, in a spirit of new found cooperation inspired by the significance of the Boianai observations, distributed copies of Gill's sighting report to all members of the House of Representatives of Australia's federal parliament.
A letter accompanied the report, signed by the presidents of the participating civilian UFO groups, urging members of parliament to press the Minister for Air for a statement about the attitude Air Force Intelligence had to the New Guinea reports.
On 24 November 1959 in federal parliament E.D. Cash, a Liberal member from Western Australia, asked the Minister for Air, F.M. Osborne, whether his department (specifically Air Force Intelligence) had investigated the reports. The minister's reply did not address this question, but instead focused on the general situation, indicating that most sightings of UFOs were explained and 'that only a very small percentage, something like 3 per cent of reported sightings of flying objects cannot be explained'. A representative of one UFO group was advised by the Directorate of Air Force Intelligence that the Department was awaiting 'depth of evidence' on the New Guinea sightings.
However, the department had not even interviewed Gill. Finally the Minister for Defence requested a report and the RAAF interviewed Gill on 29 December 1959, some six months after the sighting. Gill's recollection of the visit is that the two officers from Canberra talked about stars and planets and then left. He heard no more from them.
As one might expect, Gill's account was dismissed by the RAAF despite its extraordinary nature and the number of witnesses. The senior interviewing officer, Squadron Leader F.A. Lang, concluded:
'Although the Reverend Gill could be regarded as a reliable observer, it is felt that the June/July incidents could have been nothing more than natural phenomena coloured by past events and subconscious influences of UFO enthusiasts. During the period of the report the weather was cloudy and unsettled with light thunder storm. Although it is not possible to draw firm conclusions, an analysis of rough bearings and angles above the horizon does suggest that at least some of the lights observed were the planets Jupiter, Saturn and Mars.
Light refraction, the changing position of the planet relative to the observer and cloud movement would give the impression of size and rapid movement. In addition varying cloud densities could account for the human shapes and their sudden appearance and disappearance'.
My own close analysis of the reports suggests that the RAAF 'explanation' of either known planets seen through fast moving cloud, or natural phenomena' does not bear up.
Over the years there have been a number of 'explanations' put forward to account for the Boianai sightings, including astronomical misidentification, hoax, cargo cult effects, and that Gill had myopia and astigmatism. (In fact at the time he was wearing correctly prescribed glasses). None of these satisfactorily address the evidence. Dr Alien Hynek, and staff at his Center for UFO Studies, went to great lengths to investigate and research the affair.
Hynek and Alien Hendry, the the centre's chief investigator, concluded the 'lesser UFOs' seen by Gill were attributable to bright stars and planets, but not the primary object. Its size and absence of movement over three hours ruled out an astronomical explanation. My own discussions with Gill led me to the same conclusion.
Most recently there was an attempt at explaining the whole affair away by suggesting that Gill and the other witnesses were confused by a false horizon, and that all they had been watching was a brightly lit squidboat and crew too busy to do more than just wave at the people on shore. This idea is not tenable when one realises that Gill was certain that the object he saw was at a 30 degree elevation in the sky. A more radical attempt to dispose of the Gill case came from UFO sceptic Daniel Cohen in his book Myths of the Space Age.
The Boianai visitations are enshrined in a classic piece of Australian fiction. Novelist Randolph Stow's 1979 book "Visitants", which has the Boianai visitations as a backdrop to a striking story of confrontation and disintegration, emerged from Stow's experience as a cadet patrol officer in Papua-New Guinea. He was an assistant to the Government Anthropologist. His novel opens with this sentence: 'On 26 June 1959, at Boianai in Papua, visitants appeared to the Reverend William Booth Gill, himself a visitant of thirteen years standing, and to thirty-seven witnesses of another colour.'
The Boianai 'visitants' still stand as remarkable evidence for an impressive aerial anomaly and are regarded as some of the best entity reports on record. At the time of writing I spoke again with Gill. He still remains puzzled by what he saw and was pleased that an authority like Dr Hynek had independently interviewed him and some of the other witnesses and travelled to the site. While he accepts that the sightings remain unexplained, he questioned my characterisation of some attempts to explain them as 'silly'. He felt that these 'explanations' were serious attempts to bring understanding to the events. I think that attitude encapsulate the integrity of Gill and the reality of the affair.
In 1973 Alien Hynek visited Australia and Papua New Guinea and found six of the witnesses to the Boianai events. They all supported Gill's version of what had happened.
.....based on Reverend Gill's own written statement prepared on location in 1959 and interviews with Gill I undertook, in particular in 1978;
See also "Papua/Father Gill revisited", International UFO Reporter, November and December 1977 (CUFOS) and Jerome Clark, "Close Encounters: History's Best Case.", Fate, February 1978. VISITANTS AT BLENHEIM: Dykes 1981, 34-38; Stott 1984, 123-126; Chalker 1992, 349-350
Aussies are rare specimens indeed
Stats you didn't know about Australia courtesy of www.amazingaustralia.com
* Territorians drink 15 litres of pure alcohol each year. This is three times the global average, but Alice Springs residents drank even more, an average 20L of alcohol, and this is a 18 per cent drop since a suite of Commonwealth and Territory government restrictions came into force in 2006.! The only nations that come close to matching Territorians at the bar are the Irish and Czechs, who drink 13L of alcohol (World Health Organisation figures).
* In 2004 Australians consumed only 90 litres of beer per capita, well down from 125 litres in the 1980s, and Australia is now ranked ninth behind countries such as Luxembourg and Belgium, with the Czech Republic on number one with 162 litres per capita. This does not mean Aussies are not drinking much, as wine consumption has gone up to four times the level of the 1960s. For quite a few years the city of Darwin used to have the highest beer consumption in the world!
* Alice Springs' 50,000 residents consume an estimated 7.5 million litres of alcoholic beverages a year.
* In 2004 1.76 billion litres of beer was available to be drunk in Australia, and Aussies drank 85.9 litres of full-strength beer per person. They also drank 15.5 litres of mid-strength beer, 14.3 litres of low strength beer, and 27.5 litres of wine per person.
Bents Basin
Story and Photo by Dane Millerd
Bents Basin scour pool is a large hole eroded into the bed of the Nepean River in western Sydney. It flows through the Lapstone Structural Complex at the downstream and of the Bents Basin sandstone gorge.
The surface area is over 17500m squared and the volume an incredible 157400m cubed. It has a mean depth of around nine to ten metres and a maximum of roughly 22 metres though this has not been completely confirmed.
Temperature differences in the water range from nine to nearly 15 degrees Celsius.
THE LEGEND
Legend has it that Bents Basin is a vacuous hole and a few people have been reported missing at the popular waterhole and camping site over the years.
One particular story relates to missing children and further reports claim that despite its murky history, no bodies have been found and public swimming at the site continues unabated.
Interestingly, it is also claimed that current water quality monitoring programs of the Nepean and the Basin are flawed because they do not sample the whole water column and only surface waters.
As a result, biased assessments have been promoted and the truth as to what lies beneath and what has happened to the few who have disappeared still remain an unsolved mystery.
The Tantanoola Tiger
Story and photo courtesy of Snoopy Mars and Cryptomundo.com, additional reporting Daniel Dreml
There have been stories about the Tantanoola tiger for eons and trying to sift through what is fact and what isn't is an onerous and laborious task. Still, it is filled with an air of anticipation and excitement. The first sighting of the Tantanoola tiger occurred in 1883 when a young man riding near Tantanoola claimed he saw a large shaggy animal leap over a fence with a sheep in its jaws. Others believe two tigers escaped from a travelling circus and this led to panic and mass hysteria in the local area. Children were escorted to school by men with guns, people refused to leave their homes at night and loaded weapons were carried by everyone. It had all the ingredients for a feature film! Tom Donovan, assisted by three other men, managed to shoot a large wild dog (an Assyrian wolf possibly or Wanshang Dole - usually found in Asia) in 1895. It was given to the Tantanoola Hotel which had it stuffed and declared that it was the Tantanoola tiger. It is claimed that in 1911 Robert Edmondson and David Bald were arrested for stealing and killing sheep and that this was the real resolution to the problem - not a feline or wolf but mankind himself. This point is still largely debated. Tom Donovan had the animal stuffed and kept it in a private museum in Nelson. It was placed in a glass case and put on display in the then Railway Hotel which is now the Tantanoola Tiger Hotel.
Latest Report - courtesy of www.cryptomundo.com
A Donovans man says he saw an animal on Monday afternoon [June 1, 2009] that resembled a Tasmanian tiger. Richard Elliott was driving along Dry Creek Road toward Princess Margaret Rose Cave when he observed the mystery animal near a pine plantation about 3.30pm. "At first I thought it was a fox, but it was too long and gangly," Mr Elliott said. "It had a long tail; it definitely wasn't a fox." Mr Elliott said the animal was definitely not a dog or a cat either. It moved into the bush too quickly for him to determine if it had stripes. Mr Elliott said the animal was long and skinny, with exposed ribs. The Tasmanian tiger, or Thylacine, is believed to have become extinct when a captured animal died in 1936. There have been no officially verified sightings of a Thylacine in mainland Australia, but many unconfirmed sightings have been reported in the South East of South Australia, Western Victoria and South Gippsland.
Room with a view - Jhyimy Mhiyles
Story by JJ Photo by Daniel Boud
Perhaps a house should be made of bricks and mortar, aligned aside other houses and presented in a street filled with pot holes and telegraph poles. For one man, this is anything but. This man is local legend, Jhyimy 'two hats' Mhiyles.
Jhyimy 'two hats' Mhiyles is a new-age caveman who declared his abode to be on an overhang perfectly situated on Sydney's world famous swish town, Bondi Beach. His neighbours are the wealthy and cool. And his home is a raw campsite nestled on the cliffside with the vantage point of bronzed babes lounged on the beach.
I go up the Bondi to Bronte cliff walk and find myself in Jhyimy's backyard. I go under the hand rail and jump into Jhyimy's yard which is full of his fine collectables; to sum an abscess of litter. With vigilant steps on this rock-strewn protrusion, I search for the lad who selected this hovel versus the habitual residence. I'm challenged with violent images of my body slumped on the rocks neath the 20 foot cliff drop and my fear of falling is reverberated through stones bouncing off the point of my shoe.
His house is so masterfully assembled from residual objects, undoubtedly picked up from local's debris. There is a tarp for a roof and an old electrical cord for a clothes line, and two upside down garbage bins around a wooden box make up an outdoor setting. And then I find Jhyimy, crouched on the verge of the seaside drop, casually making a cuppa in an old tin can. I sit with Jhyimy and watch him gossip with his friends the local seagulls that stand gallantly next Jhyimy enjoying the chat. They fly away and he focuses his attention on me.
Behind his unkempt fashion and misplaced teeth is a facade of an eloquent man who spends his time in paradise writing poetry on antiquated stained paper. This is his words,
"I jealously guard the privilege of having enough freedom to administer my presence where and when I choose - without that I would be a blessed prisoner."
Jhyimy has won the right to keep his slither of land after all exhausted attempts from the Wavelry Council to expel him. He has already spent 7 years on his priceless claimed rock and will stay there, without a coin to pay. An excellent true story of thumbed his nose at the headquarters of narcism and decadence, making Jhyimy 'two hats' Mhiyles one Local Legend.
The Mothman
Story and image by Dane Millerd
On December 15, 1967 at Point Pleasant, West Virginia 46 people died tragically when the Silver bridge collapsed over the Ohio River. Many claimed to see a mysterious Mothman in the lead up to the event and it is also stated that the Mothman tried to communicate to the many that a great tragedy was on the horizon. Its warnings were not heeded.
The Mothman has not just been sighted in the United States however. For some claim the Mothman has even forewarned people here in Australia of pending doom.
Numerous witnesses, who did not wish to be named in this article, had stated that the Mothman had warned them of horrific events asunder such as fires and cyclones but a combination of limited understanding and disbelief saw these incidents occur uncontested and unchallenged.
The Mothman has been a curious spook story for years and has been seen all over the world since that fateful day in 1967. Where he will pop up next no one knows for sure. What we do know is, he spreads the message of death.
Old Ellen Pollard and Sancho's Hole
Source: "The Annals of Burraga," by Kevin Toole Additional reporting by Paul Denham Photo by Deefer Bloomfield
In the mid 1930's a huge search took place over several days upon the disappearance of Mrs. Frank Pollard (Ellen). She was an elderly women, incapable of walking any great distance. The Police having been notified, a large party, involving most people from the area, searched the countryside for miles without a single clue to her whereabouts. Eventually the search was abandoned and the case of 'Old Ellen Pollard' has remained a talking point to be 'hashed and rehashed', solved and resolved for the next eighty years. Throughout the eighty years of sifting through the case, Mrs Pollard is supposed to have wandered off and became lost, collapsed and died in the bush; she was taken from the area by relations; she fell down a mine shaft; she is at the bottom of "Sancho's Hole", a natural limestone cavity of unknown depth, not more than five miles from her home; she was murdered; and there is even a superstitious inclination with some that she was designated to disappear from the face of of the earth, which she certainly appears to have done; and lastly that she remains to haunt the old home which has long since dissipated. Interesting sidenotes to the story include - somebody tipping chaff down Sancho's hole and it re-appeared in the Campbell river; two cars, one a Peugeot and the other an Austin were of interest to Police when pushed or driven into Sancho's Hole as they thought that people may have been murdered in the wrecks (1950's /60's). These cars were stolen vehicles from Bathurst and since recovered from the hole by NSW Police. Sancho's Hole, pronounced 'SANK-OW'S HOLE' by the locals, (nothing Mexican about this name) has been seen by many tilted mindsets as the ultimate hiding place of riddance and total disappearance of things not wanting to be found. After all, the hole is apparently bottomless.
But what about Old Ellen?
The lives of many came into this world, with thanks to Ellen Pollard.
The story of Ellen Pollard being a local midwife with a sixth sense for being at the right place at the right time brings in another aspect. Knowing the exact labour timing of women in the area on the bush telegraph was certainly a heavenly skill. She would appear just before babies were born, on foot - walking many miles, see through the birth, stay a few days to confirm wellness of baby and mother, then disappear the way she came, on foot into the darkness, snow, sleet, abyss! All this before she became immobile of course.
Well, she might have been an angel?
It seems as if nobody really knew if Ellen was coming or going.
Frank Pollard, the husband of Ellen, may have needed the attention. He may have demanded attention, like the men did back then. It is possible that he could not understand her benevolence to other women. He may have wanted her home, cooking and cleaning for him. Again just a theory. When she was out on her God given duty, Frank may have seen her as a wayward wife? Mrs Frank Pollard, walking around in all seasons through the scrub, alone, going to unknown households, on foot, without his consent! This could have been hard for Frank to comprehend. However, Ellen was an old woman. Frank would have been used to her wayward benevolence. Surely, Frank would have known her by now? Stranger things have happened ... Did he snap under the brown bottle and cement her in the fireplace as legend is told? He may have had a mistress, who was there for him when Ellen was not? It is also possible that one of the fathers of a child born was frustrated that he could not have sex with his childbearing wife. It may be so that a father followed her and did away with Ellen in a fit of lust. Her disappearance obviously shocked many as she was loved by the community. Sancho's Hole, the well known journey to the centre of the earth, was certainly a think pad to any local with ill-intent. Was it the final resting place of Old Ellen Pollard?
Harry the Camel
Story and photo by The Lizard King
As mentioned in an earlier post on Sturt's Australia, many people say that the camel is the ship of the desert. They are also considered a minor agricultural pest despite the effects they have on native vegetation. The camel was seen as an ideal foil for accessing remote areas of the outback and some still rely on it today for business today.Destruction of the wild seemed a small price to pay. After all, consider the damage more synonymous creatures carry out such as the feral pig or rabbit. According to Wikipedia, the first suggestion of bringing camels to Australia was made in 1822 by Conrad Malte-Brun, whose Universal Geography contains the following;
"For such an expedition, men of science and courage ought to be selected. They ought to be provided with all sorts of implements and stores, and with different animals, from the powers and instincts of which they may derive assistance. They should have oxen from Buenos Aires, or from the English settlements, mules from Senegal, and dromedaries from Africa or Arabia. The oxen would traverse the woods and the thickets; the mules would walk securely among rugged rocks and hilly countries; the dromedaries would cross the sandy deserts. Thus the expedition would be prepared for any kind of territory that the interior might present. Dogs also should be taken to raise game, and to discover springs of water; and it has even been proposed to take pigs, for the sake of finding out esculent roots in the soil. When no kangaroos and game are to be found the party would subsist on the flesh of their own flocks. They should be provided with a balloon for spying at a distance any serious obstacle to their progress in particular directions, and for extending the range of observations which the eye would take of such level lands as are too wide to allow any heights beyond them to come within the compass of their view."
Governor Bourke of New South Wales received a report recommending the importation of camels from India to Sydney in 1837. Statewide and local media took up the cattle call claiming that camels were "admirably adapted to the climate and soil" of the undiscovered country. It wouldn't be until 33 years later that camels were brought into Australia in any large numbers. The very first camel — named "Harry" — arrived in early 1840. He was the lone survivor of a quartet aboard the SS Appoline at Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
Today, their numbers now total close to 1,000,000.
The Flannelette Ghost of the Kowmung
Story by Dane Millerd Photo by Paul Denham
In the late 1800s, a wild man named Edward Lannigan, roamed the Kowmung. Like most bushrangers and absconders, Lannigan was a man to be approached with caution. He was known to usurp one's possessions often wearing nothing but a flannelette shirt.
While many can not substantiate when or how he died, it is often stated that on a cool full moon, Lannigan, who would come to be known as the Flannelette Ghost, would appear at the Kowmung river.
It was enough to send shivers up the spine of the most seasoned camper!
In 1965, two rock climbers attempted to climb the limestone bluff out near Colong Caves in the Kowmung and one man fell to an unfortunate death.
When his colleague looked down to see if he could see his fallen friend all he noticed was a man in a flannelette shirt - just like many had spotted Lannigan some 100 years before. Surely Lannigan could not be alive?
The body of the fallen rock climber was never found, as if he had vanished into the side of the mountain and been swallowed up. For many though, keen rock climbers or not, it is enough for them to not go anywhere near the place.
The Flannelette Ghost of the Kowmung certainly is one of the more spookier tales of the Blue Mountains and over time has shown no signs of subsiding.
Cronje - The Wild Brumby
Story by Dane Millerd Photo by Paul Denham
In the renowned Bernard O'Reilly book Cullenbenbong, one short story examines the life of the wild brumby Cronje - the horse that no one could catch.
Cronje, as told by O'Reilly, was a champion stallion and was the envy of many a stockman for his size, strength and intelligence. Time and again, bushies of the region launched raid after raid in a bid to try and capture the prized horse and time and again they came up short as Cronje ducked and weaved his way to safety.
As the stakes began to rise, more and more became involved with the chase, all hoping that they would be the one that would end the rot and capture the prized brumby. Time and again they came up empty handed. Cronje, it appeared, had everyones measure and many could only speculate how good a horse he would be should he be caught, broken and trained.
But it would never happen.
Upon one final assault, local stockmen thought they had cornered the proud beast only to discover that Cronje had more gears then they could have ever anticipated. Not only could the horse go faster and harder but also, Cronje was prepared to do anything and everything not to get caught.
It was enough for one Tom Boyle to declare:
"Goodbye, old cove, we will never run you again."
And they never did.
As Stephen King aptly wrote in his acclaimed novella The Shawshank Redemption:
"Some birds are not meant to be caged, their feathers just shine too bright."
And Cronje's star shone brightest of all.
They're here!
Story and photo courtesy of LL Staffers
The Northern Territory has gone into a frenzy since strange, unexplained lights were seen recently.
For many it is the confirmation of alien arrival, for others it is as simple as children letting off fire balloons and causing a fracas. Whatever the case, it is the talk of the Top End.
Everyone from renowned astronomers to civillians and police say an alien invasion of the Northern Territory has begun.
They say the flares seen across a 360km-long stretch of the Top End coast were probably caused by a meteor shower. Others disagree including some of Australia's most recognised authorities on the subject of aliens.
Some highly-qualified UFO-ologists said they believed the bright lights were space ships on a pre-attack scouting mission. Their objective was to canvass our nation and check us out it is claimed.
Darwin-based UFO expert Alan Ferguson said the flares were obviously aliens.
"This all sounds like UFO activity," he said.
"Meteors usually just flash across the sky and leave a tail.
"But UFOs will stay in the same spot and wobble up and down and side to side. Fast movements.
"That's how they work."
Mr Ferguson said UFOs, like Swedish backpackers and Canberra politicians, nearly always came to the Top End during the dry season.
"It may be just that there are less clouds and we can see better," he said. "Or it maybe that we're outside more during the Dry.
"Or maybe the UFOs are interested in our military activity. There are always more of them about during (Operation) Pitch Black."
Just last month the NT News reported on how one Territory town's invasion by UFOs had been recorded in the world's most famous museum for extraterrestrial life.
The tiny community of Marlinja came to a standstill in June 2008 when UFOs reportedly descended on the town. Now the event has been recorded at the International UFO Museum in Roswell.
Chronology of the Hill End Yowie
Story courtesy of www.hillend.org Drawing courtesy of www.australianyowieresearchcentre.com
The Granites-Macquarie area has long been a common spot for Yowie sightings and the orchards of Hill End are rumoured to have long attracted their nocturnal visits. Old timers often discussed the possibility that the creatures might inhabit the cleft caves, tunnels and shafts that surround Hill End. Their characteristic large footprints are reported to have been found in mud at the back of the saw mill in town, within the last decade. Here are just a few-
Hill End
1900's -A young couple were supposedly killed by a Yowie in Hill End. They were in the habit of walking along a track through thick dense scrub country between their homes. One night they both disappeared. The next day searchers found signs of a struggle at a point which included large indistinct footprints. Further searching nearby in the gully later resulted in the discovery of both their bodies, torn and bloodied. Old-timers put it down to the 'great hairy man," or Yowie, enormous beasts which they had known of since the beginning of the gold rush.
1975 - School bus incident, Hill End Rd, reported by Mrs. Hillary Montgomery. One morning, young Mrs. Montgomery, was driving a school bus packed with children on their way to school outside of town on the Hill End Rd. As they passed a clump of trees, Hillary spotted a hairy man-ape creature squatting on the edge beside the road. She alerted the children, most of whom also saw the strange man beast. As the bus passed the ‘manimal’ ran off into the bush.
Does the Yowie really exist? Many claim it has successfully hidden from man for years and will continue to do so. Others claim it is mystical nonsense. Whatever the case, a rumour is only a rumour that doesn't die.
More Tales from Yabby Mick
Been a bit quiet lately - adjusting to family life. Still into my yabbies though. After the time we last spoke I have made some improvements around the place. I don't run the backyard set up I used to. Nah, I've updated and now there can be no repeats of great escapes. See yabbies are like the staffie's of the wild. They can get into or out of anything. Clever buggers really. You just have to monitor them better. It was all going well, until this morning that is. Turned my back for a minute I did. That's all it took. Two of them got out. Deadfish and Acrobat they are called, a little like my first two dates so I named them after them. Yeah they got out. Don't know how. I'm looking though, so, keep an eye out if you can in case you see 'em. Talk soon
Yabby Mick
The Londonderry Wraith
Story by Paul Denham Image courtesy of Oz Hawk
My next door neighbour Joe, brought home his wife's car on a tilt tray tow truck. I asked him was the missus okay and what had happened? Joe answered the questions in reverse. 'I'm not really sure what happened. She's OK now, but still shaken up.' The car was a total wreck. It had obviously flipped over. 'Jeez she must have had a wild ride'. I said. Joe looked at me strangely. I put my other foot in my mouth and said, 'Well it's not exactly a shopping trolley ding from the Richmond Coles car park.' Joe then spoke softly to me and said - 'I am a bit freaked out mate. She claims that a figure of a person in black ran straight across the road in front of the car headlights last night in the bush section before the houses started on Wiltshire Road. 'She is not sure if she hit this person or thing. She swerved to miss whatever it was and flipped the car. When the car was upside down she screamed for this mysterious person to help her out of the car. She then realised nobody was there. She says it was a black ghost and luckily the kids weren't in the car, they could have died!' Joe claimed that his wife climbed out of the upside down window to see if she hit the figure in black. She called Joe on her mobile phone. 'She scared the hell out of me with her story,' said Joe. When Joe told me where the rollover happened I mentioned the fact that there is an old WWII gun bunker that protected the spitfire warplane airstrip in the bush about 20 metres from the accident. Joe said, 'mate your freaking me out.' 'The missus is convinced she saw what she saw. A few friends and I saw something similar a few years ago on the Appin Road. It freaked all of us out so I can believe her.' By this time, I shut my big mouth and then there was a few moments of silence between us. Joe then said, 'What do you think I should write on the NRMA claim form as a description of what happened?
Newsflash... Jay and Ferret have claimed recently that they have both witnessed an Old Hobbo living at the Bee's Nest. The little known and hard to find location in the Londonderry scrub called the Bee's Nest is about 200 metres from the crash site.
Who knows, this could be the answer to what Joe's Missus encountered that night. But then again it could have been something else!
Have a Rev with Feral Kev!
Story by Dane Millerd Photo by Paul Denham
Some people do up their shoelaces, some do up their home and others do up themselves but for Feral Kev of Emu Plains, he does up his ute and now everyone and anyone will do anything from clean his car to pop their hooters out for a chance to be in a photo. “I first saw the ute in the Trading Post and my mate got it for me in Orange,” says Feral Kev. “He had a ‘feral ute’ as well so I knew he knew what he was doing,” he says. “Then we got on the Bundy cans and the idea came to me. It didn’t happen all at once but I have built it from scratch.” “I could go on forever about the ute and the musters I’ve won,” he laughs. Feral Kev calls his ute ‘Midnight Sun’ or ‘Hoover’ because it sucks up everything in sight and he has also been immortalized in the Jayne Denham country song – “Feral Kev and General Leeroy.” He takes it all in his stride and spends most of his time explaining to people the attributes of his machine. “As you can imagine, I have to do this every time I get pulled over by the cops.” Feral Kev has been a magnet for the police and explains a recent occasion when he had a run in with authority. “I was pulled over one night by two highway patrol officers and as you can imagine, they were really giving the vehicle a once over,” he says. “After all the probing the only thing the cop could say to me was – have you had anything to drink Sir? “I looked right at him and said – if I drive a ute around like this do you think I would be dumb enough to drink and drive it?” recalls Kev. Kev says the ute has its perks such as free entry to certain events and constant adulation though he admits there is one thing though that seems to happen more often than not. “Lets just say that if I was single I’d be able to pick up heaps of chicks,” he says. “IF I was single,” he laughs. Which begs the question. What would you choose between the ute and your missus Kev? He laughs and then pauses for a moment. “Sorry mate, the ute’s not for sale!” So if you’ve ever been a tool in Carathool, caught a wobbi in the Gong or found a funny Gunny honey… nothing can compare to a rev with Feral Kev!
The Black Ghost of the Blue Mountains
Story by Paul Denham Director of Photography Photo courtesy of National Library www.local-legends.net
Thanks Chris Scott for the lead to this story.
The 'Ghost in Black' has appeared many times in the past to many highway travellers. A young women dressed in black may appear on the second bridge. Some claim fatal accidents have occurred here by motorists swerving to dodge the 'Ghost in Black' even in recent days. Victoria Pass is also a location of the 'Black Ice' that freezes the road here in winter where many motorists have lost control. The 'Ghost in Black' apparently appears near the original second bridge built by convicts, on Victoria pass, the descent from Mt Victoria west to Little Hartley on the current Great Western Highway in New South Wales. It is a no stopping zone near a safety ramp for runaway trucks and is to this day one of Australia's deadliest highway locations. Do not stop here as you could be arrested, fined or worse, killed. (Parking and Walking entry permitted via Mt York road entry to Berghoffer's Pass.) It is possible that the Ghostly apparition is that of Caroline Collit from Hartley Vale, a bride at 13 years old, who left her drunked husband William to live with her younger sister Maria. She then became a bride at the age of 12 to another drunked husband John. Both husband's at one time were close drinking buddies. The 'Ghost in Black' has been seen by many in history up to present times. The legend of the Ghost was even written about by one of Australia's well known writers, Henry Lawson. See below. Besides cattle and other stock, Little Hartley was made up of pubs. The Inns were road houses of their own time who housed gentlemen of stature and ladies while the convicts - white slaves and transport operator's steered the wagons and drays either up or down the western end of the blue mountains pass. Usually, well to do travelers waited or stayed at the Inn's then either walked the slope or rode horseback provided by local horsemen and blacksmiths who offered their service as the assent and decline was shear terror to many passengers before and during the times of Cobb & Co. It could take a whole day for teamsters to bring a load up or down. At this time the two sisters lived with the younger sisters' of husband John who was mostly drunk. Things got out of hand and finally Caroline Collit went to a meeting with her estranged husband William, who some say she wanted to get back with, and her sister's husband, John at the Jaggers pub at the foot of Victoria pass near Nioka. Caroline's sisters husband John attacked Caroline's husband William and Caroline intervened. She grabbed her sisters husband John and pulled him away from the fight. She hollered, 'run, run, he has got a stone and will murder you'. These were Caroline's last know words. Caroline's husband William ran and got away from John. What happened next, no living person knows. Caroline was found by Matthew Mall the postal worker at 6 a.m. next morning after following a trail of clothing. Caroline was found dead and naked, assaulted by somebody at the second bridge. Her head was smashed by a stone. John claimed it was Jagger the publican and three of his mates who hit him with a pistol and took Caroline away. John, Caroline's brother in law was convicted of her murder and hung at Bathurst. It is claimed that Caroline Collitt is the 'Ghost in Black' at the second bridge on the Victoria Pass. The second bridge, completed in 1832 is a major feat in engineering (designed by Major Mitchell) as it has hardly been upgraded in 178 years from the convict times of bullock and dray transport. It is still the main route carrying heavy semi trailer and B double trucks from Sydney to Bathurst - Mudgee and beyond over the convict built structure. No road engineer (RTA) has seen through to completion a better idea. Even now when crossing this causeway you may notice shear cliffs over both sides. It is still single lane both ways and you may notice the original sandstone barriers. The second bridge is a chicane on the pass still supporting heavy up hill horse power and down hill brakes. There is also the story about how Major Mitchell snubbed his orders from NSW Governor Darling and built this pass to stand the test of time to his own idea's rather than take orders from a politician. Braking down hill for heavy loads in these early days consisted of cutting timber logs at the top of the mountain and chained as anchors to keep the payload from running over and killing the bullocks. Just under 50 years after the murder of Caroline Collit the 'Ghost in Black', Henry Lawson wrote about it for 'The Bulletin'. He received criticism from not only the press but mainly from his mother.
The Ghost at the Second Bridge
July 18 1889 Henry Lawson's poem 'The Ghost' appeared in The Bulletin. Mary Gilmore (ten dollar note plastic) says that Henry Lawson (ten dollar note paper) and his mother Louisa Lawson quarreled over this poem and from then on Louisa Lawson had no influence over Henry.
The Ghost Written by Henry Lawson 1889
YOU’D call the man a senseless fool,— A blockhead or an ass, Who’d dare to say he saw the ghost Of Mount Victoria Pass; But I believe the ghost is there, For, if my eyes are right, I saw it once upon a ne’er- To-be-forgotten night. ’Twas in the year of eighty-nine— The day was nearly gone, The stars were shining, and the moon Is mentioned further on; I’d tramped as far as Hartley Vale, Tho’ tired at the start, But coming back I got a lift In Johnny Jones’s cart.
’Twas winter on the mountains then— The air was rather chill, And so we stopped beside the inn That stands below the hill. A fire was burning in the bar, And Johnny thought a glass Would give the tired horse a spell And help us up the Pass.
Then Jimmy Bent came riding up— A tidy chap was Jim— He shouted twice, and so of course We had to shout for him. And when at last we said good-night He bet a vulgar quid That we would see the “ghost in black”, And sure enough we did.
And as we climbed the stony pinch Below the Camel Bridge, We talked about the “Girl in black” Who haunts the Second Bridge. We reached the fence that guards the cliff And passed the corner post, And Johnny like a senseless fool Kept harping on the ghost.
“She’ll cross the moonlit road in haste And vanish down the track; Her long black hair hangs to her waist And she is dressed in black; Her face is white, a dull dead white— Her eyes are opened wide— She never looks to left or right, Or turns to either side.”
I didn’t b’lieve in ghosts at all, Tho’ I was rather young, But still I wished with all my heart That Jack would hold his tongue. The time and place, as you will say, (’Twas twelve o’clock almost)— Were both historically fa- Vourable for a ghost.
But have you seen the Second Bridge Beneath the “Camel’s Back”? It fills a gap that broke the ridge When convicts made the track; And o’er the right old Hartley Vale In homely beauty lies, And o’er the left the mighty walls Of Mount Victoria rise.
And there’s a spot above the bridge, Just where the track is steep, From which poor Convict Govett rode To christen Govett’s Leap; And here a teamster killed his wife— For those old days were rough— And here a dozen others had Been murdered, right enough.
The lonely moon was over all And she was shining well, At angles from the sandstone wall The shifting moonbeams fell. In short, the shifting moonbeams beamed, The air was still as death, Save when the listening silence seemed To speak beneath its breath.
The tangled bushes were not stirred Because there was no wind, But now and then I thought I heard A startling noise behind. Then Johnny Jones began to quake; His face was like the dead. “Don’t look behind, for heaven’s sake! The ghost is there!” he said.
He stared ahead—his eyes were fixed; He whipped the horse like mad. “You fool!” I cried, “you’re only mixed; A drop too much you’ve had. I’ll never see a ghost, I swear, But I will find the cause.” I turned to see if it was there, And sure enough it was!
Its look appeared to plead for aid (As far as I could see), Its hands were on the tailboard laid, Its eyes were fixed on me. The face, it cannot be denied Was white, a dull dead white, The great black eyes were opened wide And glistened in the light.
I stared at Jack; he stared ahead And madly plied the lash. To show I wasn’t scared, I said— “Why, Jack, we’ve made a mash.” I tried to laugh; ’twas vain to try. The try was very lame; And, tho’ I wouldn’t show it, I Was frightened, all the same.
“She’s mashed,” said Jack, “I do not doubt, But ’tis a lonely place; And then you see it might turn out A breach of promise case.” He flogged the horse until it jibbed And stood as one resigned, And then he struck the road and ran And left the cart behind.
Now, Jack and I since infancy Had shared our joys and cares, And so I was resolved that we Should share each other’s scares. We raced each other all the way And never slept that night, And when we told the tale next day They said that we were—intoxicated.
Survival of the fittest
Story by Dane Millerd Photos courtesy of Geoff Scott
In the far reaches of the top end, you can be surprised and even killed by a great number of things. Rowdy locals, venomous snakes, sharks and yes, crocodiles all fit the bill. Yet in true Aussie style, a group of fishermen from the Sapphire City had the bizarre experience of not only capturing a bronze whaler but also becoming embroiled in a fight just to keep it.
The five men have become overnight Internet sensations after their up close and personal encounter of a different kind with a crocodile several months ago when it appeared online. The men were fishing in the Northern Territory when a two-metre crocodile launched out of the water and attempted to steal their newly hooked shark. Crocodiles are known to be faster than a horse over a short distance on land so it was no place for the faint hearted. Quick thinking by the men saved the bronze whaler and themselves when they hit it on the snout with a fishing pole and it quickly vanished back into the salty water. A video of the ordeal appeared on YouTube and was picked up by Northern Territory media who are known to have a palate for the exotic.
Almost three months after the incident, fisherman and local businessman Geoff Scott said the group of men couldn't believe the attention they'd received since the launch onto YouTube and everything that has followed. "It had happened awhile ago now, several months in fact but it was a pretty scary experience. "It was one of the last things we thought would ever happen,"he said. "It caught me off guard a bit to be honest." While pleasantries that were bellowed at the time cannot be repeated it is pretty certain there were a lot more things said other "Oh God" and "Oh Golly Gosh" that's for sure. Mr Scott said the group had seen the shark several times before during their stay. He said he had seen and heard stories of dangerous creatures in the area since he began the annual getaway to the fishing haunt over half-a-decade ago. "We knew there was a croc in the river, we'd seen it there before and we saw him that afternoon," he said. "We've heard other stories about a croc coming onto the back of a boat like ours. "It would still be the best trip we've ever had," he said.
The Pilliga Princess
By Adam Phillips of www.bitey.com Photo courtesy of www.bitey.com
The Piliga Scrub is a massive expanse of thick bushland in the top quarter of New South Wales and covers an area of about 80 x 120 kilometres. Much has been lost in there, never to be found again, from sheep and cattle, to people and vehicles. Even today, it is dense and forbidding, although what used to be a dirt track that ran through the middle is now a major road called the Newell Highway. There are a lot of stories that have emerged from the forest, and one in particular that sticks in my mind is that of a bag-lady who lived in the Piliga Scrub. She was often seen with her old battered shopping trolley loaded with her belongings along the road, and truckers would see her at night walking in complete darkness. She was a recluse, old, grey haired and crazy, and they dubbed her the Piliga Princess. For many years, she was a familiar sight to regular travellers, particularly truck drivers along that stretch of road. Because the Pilliga Scrub had (and still has) unexplained stories of terror associated with it, the locals will tell you you'd have to be completely crazy to be in the scrub after dark. Anyone passing through for the first time saw the Princess as an almost terrifying ghostly figure, even if they hadn't heard the scary stories beforehand. More recently: One night in 1993 the Piliga Princess was hit and killed by a truck. The trucker who hit her said she had been wandering across the road and he hadn't seen her until it was too late. He told how as she was lit by the headlights, she turned to look directly at him and ran toward him, arms outstretched. The last thing he saw of her alive was the white hair flaring out around her wild-eyed face and the expression was one of manic glee. Since then other truckers swear they have seen her walking her trolley at night, just as she had done for years before she was killed. One truck driver even claimed to have hit her trolley, but with no Princess in sight. If you are from that region, or have driven through there and have seen anything unusual, I would love to hear from you. Thanks to the person who emailed me the following image from the Australian Cemeteries Index, we now know the name of the Princess.
The Shooting of the Emmaville Panther PART 2
Story and Image by Dane Millerd
* Continues from PART 1
The next morning the crew skinned the animal and a few months later sent the skin to Sydney to be tanned. At the same time they would ask the tanner to ascertain what the creature was. When the tanner did finally get back to them he's reply was that it was a panther. The party then followed the tracks of the panther along the path and established that it must have followed Charlie along the path the night before. Fortunately it had not attacked him. "For some nights afterward we heard what we thought was a mother calling for its young," said Harry. "Jack saw what he took to be the mother once after the shooting but it disappeared into the scrub. "It was about a month after and Jack said he saw it quite distinctly." Jack had not been able to shoot the cat because it was in a direct line with his horse. The story goes that Jack's little dog rushed the panther but came back more frightened then ever. But before all this has transpired the old bushman Jerry Baldwin had told the boys he had seen plenty of sheep skins turned inside out with the whole of the carcass eaten except for the head. "Even the tongue had not been touched Jerry had told us," said Harry. The men there that day were at a loss to describe the phenomenon. Some months after the shooting a dingo trapper lost a big trap and he followed the tracks for some distance. Occasionally, he saw very large footprints - too big for a dingo. He eventually lost the tracks in the rough country. Four years later the trap was found attached to the carcass of very large bones. This was held to account for the disappearance of the mother panther. Everyone still had a feeling there was a lot more to the story.
*Watch this space next week for more on the shooting of the Emmaville panther.
The Minto Monster NSW
Story by Paul Denham Image by Dane Millerd
England has the Beast of Bodmin, Kenya has the Nandi Bear, America has the Mothman, Russia the Unicorn, Mongolia the infamous Allghoi khorkhoi or Giant Death Worm, India the Wolfman of Uttar and Minto has the Minto Monster. Stories of the Minto Monster go back to 1932 when farmers looking for a cow in the moonlight were shocked to see a 'bellowing' unknown creature that seemed to glide above the ground.
Claims that the mysterious creature had been 'terrorising' East Minto residents with its 'blood curdling' screams were widely reported in 1973. A group of residents conducted an armed search of Myrtle Creek but found nothing.
Even as recently as 1987, a Derby Street resident reported seeing a strange creature moving through the trees, making a terrible screeching noise. "It had pointed ears and was a rust colour with three dark brown stripes," the resident told the local newspaper.
There are even other accounts like those of former south-west Sydney resident Gary Strike, then of Campbelltown and his friend Joseph, who were rabbit hunting when they heard the screeching wail that had been terrorising the local residents for over a week. When they went in to investigate, they saw something they described as "tall, black and fat". "We both ran for our lives, we were as scared as crap. "We saw a black figure in the trees, it was black, and had arms, legs and a pointed face,” he explained. “When we went back the next day, we found a lot of wood which had been crushed." The residents had been searching the area for a week looking for the cause of the noise that had terrified the animals in the street and despite best efforts only claw marks were found.
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Was this an old Giant Barking Owl or maybe a Sooty? Was this something else rarer, something very rare indeed, maybe a shape shifter? While many may claim shape shifters do not exist, I doubt they have ever seen a barking owl either. ( See Col Ribaux's interview about his encounter with a barking owl.)
If any reader is interested, I am planning a filming trip to a top secret location in the stunning Mountains of Stone NSW area for September 2010. I have found a colony of Barking Owls. September is breeding time when these owls scream like a women on fire.
Many accounts from bird watchers claim that even when you know what this sound is, all of your neck hairs will stand up. This scream is possibly the most horrific sound you will ever hear. Only heard in September!
If you are keen, for a camp over night, one and a half hours west of Penrith: email paul@local-legends.net
This owl has possibly scared the wits out of many including Dharug, Wollondilly, Mulwaree, Burra Burra, Gundungurra and Wiradjuri People and many white pioneers and settlers. Only in September.
While many may confuse this with the Gubba, I can personally say that I have encountered the Gubba in my time in the scrub and this is not! It is something else.
Now come on Sweetheart
Story and Photo by Dane Millerd
In 1979 one of the biggest crocodiles in Australia’s history was caught on the banks of the Finniss River in the Northern Territory. Sweetheart, the 17 feet 9 inch monster was caught in a crocodile trap set by the National Parks and Wildlife after going for dead dingo bait. Sweetheart had tipped over 15 dinghies and had sorted some of the most hardened croc hunters and Territorians during a reign of terror that some say lasted the best part of a decade. Sweetheart hated outboard motors and had no dramas letting people know it. When he was eventually caught by ranger Dave Lindner and colleague Buck Salau in late 79, the croc was found to have two tortoises, a barramundi and a pig among other items in his brisket. Ironically, the pig had a bullet casing in its hide. It was from the very same gun Lindner has used to shoot it some weeks before. The giant saurian got its name ‘Sweetheart’ courtesy of Lindner after the croc was seen to have spent most of his time lurking around Sweets Lookout on the Finniss. While he is not labelled a maneater he certainly hated the whir of outboard motors and only God knows how long it may have taken for him to have claimed a life had Lindner and Salau not caught the beast. He now resides in the Northern Territory Art and Culture Museum in Darwin with his own display. For the record the crocodile weighed 780kgs had a 2.4m snout and a 2.3m girth.
Mungo Man Story by Dane Millerd
Mungo Man was discovered by Australian geologist Dr. Jim Bowler in 1974 after the sands had moved enough to expose him. He was found near Lake Mungo in South West NSW, and was thought to be about 40,000 years old.
However, Janine McDonald reported in 1999 that "fresh analysis of remains indicated that Mungo Man was 68,000 years old - some 28,000 years older than earlier scientific estimates."
On January 9, 2001, Alan Thorne went public with his results from the Mungo Man analysis which since has lead to others also speaking out about some of their findings. Rex Gilroy is one of those whose passion is often considered to be controversial.
His collection not only includes megafauna breeds and tracks such as that of the Moa but also homo-erectus and the often confused species commonly referred to as Yowies. Gilroy paints a stark picture of what life was like back in those times: -
"People should be under no illusions that it was a treacherous world. There were enormous reptiles and a whole array of creatures and mankind was not the dominant species of the era. Man was prey and his remains like those of other species we find today are as interconnected and a part of this Earth as anything else."
So while Mungo Man may be a siginificant scientific and historical find, what do we know of his personality and temperament?
"Mungo Man, like others of his time, would surely have had basic skills that would have allowed him to hunt, gather and build. " Gilroy explains.
Many shirk at tales such as these as myth and Gilroy gets his fair share of critcism but even the origins of Mungo Man, yowies, jingras or whatever label modern civilization wants to give them cannot totally be dismissed. Aboriginal art that still survives today reveals the timelines and prominence of these species and the affects they had on that society. Among the few current descendants of the Gundangurra tribe and other noted historians and researchers, there is still a widely held belief that the Gundangurra clans combined to fight off the 'hairy men' in the Burrogorang thousands of years ago. However, not everyone agrees.
Noted author and researcher Jim Barrett, who has spent a lot of time in the Blue Mountains, believes the tale of 'hairy men' is 'imagination'. He believes they simply may have been Aborigines from the area who had excess body hair that allowed them to cope with the cold."
So far, the closest we have come is Thorne's analysis of Mungo Man and some believe, including Barrett that what we now know might be as much as we ever will. Rex Gilroy is not convinced.
"People don't understand that the very existence of our ancestors is still around us, above us and below us! Thinking that we may not be in a position to accurately determine archaelogical finds is incorrect. After all, there have been far stranger things happen ".. He could be right, even a cursory look at some Local Legends stories will confirm that !
Tales of Megalania Story by Paul Denham
I think I was first interested in Rare Australian Creatures when I was just a boy. An aunty gave me a 1960's Australian Encyclopedia. All I can remember was it was red and too thick to go through in one day. There was one story I do remember. It was about an Australian Monitor Lizard which could grow up to 25 feet long. There was a drawing of one in the desert. Another was a small lizard with thorns all over it. I guess I forgot about this for a while. I never turned into a lizard freak. It was just something I had read. Yet around 1980 when I was about 12, Dad and Uncle Terry decided to enter the annual Bermagui raft race. We were on Christmas holidays down there. Dad and Terry jumped in the old Falcon Ute, Dad said if your coming jump in the back. It was a lizard.. the lizard of all lizards any of us had seen. Up through the dirt road hills towards Bega, sideways half the time sliding, we got to the local garbage tip. It was awesome, yet probably irresponsible and dangerous in today's mindsets. We were on a search for drums. Any drum, any container that would float. That was the first time I ever heard dad say; "what the flaming hell is that?" (He didn't actually say "flaming", you can imagine what he did say) It was a lizard.. the lizard of all lizards any of us had seen. "It's an Australian Monitor Lizard dad.. It's flaming big eeee..ay!" I said, ( I didn't actually say flaming either, and that was the first time I swore in front of dad) We all stepped away quitely looking back at the beast. When we were at a safe distance, we noticed it was already eating. Tearing through a sack of kittens someone had dumped at the tip. I compared the size of it's arms to dads upper legs, and Dad has still got big legs as he was Australian Junior Champion in Cycling. This was no Goanna, they only grow to 10 feet long. "Do you remember that lizard" I asked him the other day. " Yeah I remember.. It was bloody big!" "How long do you think it was?" I asked. "Well over 15 feet". He said..
These days, scientists deny this creature exists. Extinct they say.. died many thousands of years ago. They don't exist! To me, I saw what I saw. And the scientists are wrong. It lives and it's bloody big.
Matt from Capertee Valley reported that while walking down a steep hill in the Wollgan area, his mate put his hand on a tree to steady him when the bark all moved. It was the tail of the biggest lizard they had both seen. Other reports claim seeing a huge log like lizard creature run off. The creature was just sun baking on the side of a rural road in NSW.
The Legend that got my attention was the one about the WWII solders looking for escaped POW's in the caves at Wellington NSW. While some have looked at me with a strange eye, some say Wellington was well away from Cowra and the breakout. Through my own research I found there were other Japanese POW camps in the area. The story goes like this, Australian Army soldiers chased some Japanese POW's into caves in Wellington NSW. A long way in the soldiers encountered a very large lizard. The lizard hissed at them and they shot it with their 303's. The lizard seemed unhurt. The soldiers ran out of the cave and didn't bother about the POW's. I wonder whether that thing ate them ! There are reports of Scientists finding Ancient Megalania (Giant Lizard) Fossils in the Wellington Caves. There were other reports of a giant lizard by local women. They claim the creature was walking through a paddock near a limestone sink hole. Other reports spring up form Woodstock near Quart Pot on Lake Wyangala NSW and Rex Gilroy has written of other witness accounts in Southern QLD.
I'm convinced they exist, or did exist, have you seen any giant lizards ? What would you do if you did see one ?
The Phantom Horseman
Story by LL Staffers Image by Dane Millerd
In the early 1940s a worker had gone missing from a local farm. The alarm was raised and despite best efforts to find the man the search was called off after three weeks. He was never found and the mystery remained unsolved. A father and son were droving sheep near Condobolin and were obliged to camp out for several nights. The weather after sunset was fresh to say the least so the two of them habitually huddled close to their campfire. As they were sipping at their hot drinks, a man galloped by on a horse. As was the unofficial outback etiquette the father called out ‘G’Day’ and offered the horseman a cuppa – but he rode on without a word. Both men thought the horseman’s behaviour was a little bizarre but they got on with it. They needed an early night for there was plenty of work to be done. The following night, however, the same horseman rode by again –and again he galloped by in silence, failing to acknowledge their existence. The duo thought this was very strange and suspected something was awry. And when the horseman scoffed at them a third time, the two men decided to quietly follow him to his camp, to see what the silent horseman was up to. After a couple of miles the rider and his horse disappeared. The father and son were baffled. How could the horseman have simply vanished in that open landscape? They canvassed the terrain and finally found a drover and his horse lying dead in a deep mineshaft. It was the same man rescuers had been searching for over three weeks. The police said the man must have been riding at night and fallen down the shaft, along with his horse. Until that moment, the droving duo had thought their mysterious rider was a solid human being – a silent horseman. They soon concluded they’d been looking at the ghost of a man who was mutely begging for his body to be found – and properly buried. Now he could be.
Tales From Yabby Mick
For those of you who don’t know me my name is Yabby Mick. I breed yabbies, I eat yabbies, some would say they are a big part of my life. Had a surprise when the missus and I went for a drive the other day and Baby Face had gotten out of the tank! Suddenly, my passion had come back to bite me! When Baby Face got out she managed to worm her way all the way to my neighbours dam, chewing and clawing her way through the protec tive lining and eventually causing the dam to leak entirely! My neighbour Crawbob, (we call him that because he likes a nip and he’s heads full of shit) and I have had a few dramas since. Still, my yabbies are better than watching him water his garden in the nude. From what I have seen about all he has is yabby bait! Since the great escape the missus and I have bought a new car. We all miss Baby Face but some yabbies are not meant to be in a tank. Lately I have been putting a lot of time into another potential star, Son of Baby Face. He’s doing well although I have noticed some of the old girl’s temper in him. I know things don’t heal overnight but I suppose I wouldn’t want to be in a tank either, or marinated, oh, maybe marinated provided I was licked clean!
The Shooting of the Emmaville Panther
Story and image by Dane Millerd
The late Harry Leader was not known to mince his words. A man of stature, he had no reason to be doubted when he told the world about the shooting of a black panther at Horsestealers’ Gully a few miles from the Gwydir River east of Keera. He states – ‘During the big drought of 1902, my brothers Jack and Charlie and I were camped at Horsestealers’ Gully. We were in charge of stock there and we had cut a pathway inland through the gorge to get to the river for water. Naturally the path became dusty. ‘The party frequently saw very large tracks in the dust and at other places which caused a great deal of interest. It was difficult to account for them seeing as they were too large for a dog.’ The group of men though were about to get their answer and all doubt would be removed forever when at about 8.30pm one evening Charlie was returning to the camp. ‘As Charlie walked along the track he heard a bloodcurdling roar near him in the scrub. He watched for a few moments and threw a stone and nothing happened. So he continued along the track, alarmed but okay.
‘The camp was about two miles from the spot Charlie threw the stone and when he arrived he told us of the experience before having a wash. It was then when we all heard a great sniff. Charlie picked up his rifle as he sat on the log before the fire and then, there in the firelight was this animal. We all had good sight of it before it vanished and then reappeared again. ‘I threw some bushes on the fire which caused it to flare up and at that moment the animal appeared closer to us before it made off along the track. It hadn’t even made it 50 yards and then fell dead.’ As the air whirred with an insect nervousness and the party made the decision to approach and examine it – just to make sure it was dead, it let out one final bloodcurdling roar. * Watch this space next week for more on the shooting of the Emmaville panther.
Sea Monkeys in the Wild
Story by The Lizard King Photo of Atemia by Paul Denham
It was late 2007 when a group of us ventured to the edge of the Cumberland Sandstone Plain, an area rich with rare and exotic life. We had been going there since kids. At the time there was nothing remarkable about the trip, we camped, we cooked and we ate and had also found time to catch and study some yabbies in a near by billabong. It was nightfall when it happened.
I grabbed my headlight and checked the billabong. That was when I found one, which is not suppose to be found in coastal regions. I have learned since that it survives better in just a few outback salt lakes. Atemia, is also known as a Sea Monkey, a Fairy Shrimp or Brine Shrimp. It is considered by some to be up to 400,000,000 years old.
In the 1950's an American Company registered the name Sea Monkeys. The eggs can last in a dry packet for up to 15 years. Yet in the wild it is mentioned that the eggs can be dry for a thousand years and still hatch! They grow quickly in the right conditions, breed, lay these eggs but won't live very long.
A Deeper Look... The Cumberland Sandstone Plain has long been synonymous with prehistoric plant life and the discovery of a rare red coloured Sea Monkey raises more questions as to what else may hide in this thriving equilibrium. Sea Monkey’s are traditionally white, making this find all the more interesting. Even in society today they are still kept as pets in model fish tanks.
The Budgie that smuggled a family from harm
By Birdsville Bob Photo by Paul Denham
The recent rains in outback Queensland have seen the rivers run at about 2-3km's per day, filling the lake systems as they go. They are all watering the dry country animals and birds as they flow towards the giant inland sea that the pioneer explorers were searching for - Lake Eyre. We are all amazed at the outback bird life migration from western Queensland into South Australia. Cockatoo's, Major Mitchell's, Cockatiels, Budgerigars and in fact most types of Australia's most famous parrots go nuts with every single circus trick imaginable. The noise is almost unbearable if you have to think too hard. Yet out here you only have to think about the next place you will encounter and the swarming of the bird life is just a reminder that you are after all, in Australia, even though you are in the middle of nowhere! One such family has claimed that a Budgerigar bird flew into an open back seat-side window of their family car traveling at 100 kph. The budgie landed on the shoulder of the young son in the back seat of the vehicle as they travelled while on holidays. Dad slowed down and pulled over while he and mum had the youngsters all wanting to keep the bird as it was so tame. The kids thought that the bird had chosen them to keep it. Suddenly a car sped past the family in the same direction at high speed. You don't see many cars out here you know! Then the bird flew straight out the window, gone. The family then realised that the budgie had flown into the back seat by sheer fluke. The family continued on it's way and proceeded over the crest of the next hill at a much slower speed. Dad, screeching to a stop, had miraculously avoided a catastrophe. To the whole family's amazement and horror, the entire road had collapsed with the recent flooding and the car that had passed them was totally wrecked and the occupants were unfortunately injured. The family claims that the wild budgie saved them from a horrible family fate. They knew if the budgie did not fly into the window at that exact moment, their own family vehicle would have crashed in the terrible accident. Members of the family may have been killed. It is true that these Australian birds are so smart that many families throughout the world want them as pets. It may also be a basis in Australia's history as to why many Australian women desire a good budgie smuggler!
Is There Anybody Out There? Story & Photo by Dane Millerd
Many claim that the Pilliga Forest is the biggest of its kind in NSW. It is an area as vast as the outback and yet cluttered and undiscovered. It truly is one of the last wild cradles of nature yet to be maimed by mankind. In fact, it has claimed more men than those who can claim to have conquered it.
The region is home to many legends from Old Man Grosser who lived out in the Pilliga until he turned 100 years old and then there is not to mention Hermie who will shoot at you unless you leave him a ration of fruit or beer and did I mention the Wonami (giant snake), the sameness of the scrub or the Jingra, Yahoo or Hairy Mary?
Hairy Mary it is believed and retold by locals and travellers alike, is a hairy woman who was once a prostitute and who now roams the countryside robbing and attacking people as they negotiate the unforgiving terrain.
Others argue that it may be the infamous yowie; a specimen confined to the cockroach corners of the soul that has successfully hidden from white and black man for thousands of years.
The Pilliga has more yowie sightings then anywhere else in Australia. Everyone from messrs McMahon, Trembath, Gilroy and Woolwork (recent Local Legends interviewees) have claimed to have seen them from Oberon to Armidale. If the yowie is not the apt description then what is?
Bushwalkers such as Brett Mitchell claim to have found animal corpses severed surgically in half whilst traipsing the Pilliga scrub and he is not alone.
Another yarn is that a local man occasionally wore a black goat-skinned costume and it scared the hell out of people so much so that even John Pinkney wrote about it in his Great Australian Mysteries book!
So who's coming for a drive?
The Last Of The Cannibals
Story by Dane Millerd Photo by Wally Szumowski
During World War II, a Japanese Kamakazi fighter was shot down and crash landed in the vast, rugged Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Clinging to life in the mangled wreck, the pilot through failing eyesight, noticed a dark figure walk towards him. Certain help? The sun beat down mercilessly on his weathered brow as an eagle circled above. But life is not so simple, or straight forward. Not here, not in the Kimberleys. Little did the pilot realise that he had some unwanted attention.
Looming up on the crimson plain was not a sign of hope, or the elixir of life he desperately needed, it was a man. Not any man, it was a man far more sinister than he could ever know. The man, that figure inching closer on the horizon was none other than “The Last of the Cannibals!”
Hello Arrowcatcher
Story and Photo by Dane Millerd
Jet Li, Chuck Norris, Steven Segal, Bruce Lee and David “The Grasshopper” Carradine – all dangerous men. Anthony Kelly from Armidale in northern NSW is considered the most dangerous of them all. It sounds like something from a Hollywood movie - the World's Most Dangerous Man. Yet Anthony Kelly's transition from avid martial arts fan as a child to where he is today is nothing short of remarkable. After all, to get into the Guinness World Records book once is an exceptional achievement. Twice, and you start to get noticed and talked about as a high-end achiever, but to have been in the world's best-selling and most famous book with five current world records, you instantly attain 'legendary' status. Currently, Kelly holds records for the most arrows caught in a minute, most punches thrown in a minute, most tennis balls caught in a minute, most paintballs caught in a minute and most spears caught underwater in a minute. He is considered by many to be one of the deadliest men on the planet yet looking at his slight frame and modest persona, it would be quite easy to pass him as just another guy in the street. Born and raised in Armidale, young Anthony became interested in martial arts at an early age. After watching Muhammad Ali ply his trade and Bruce Lee fight in the movies, Anthony began thinking that not only would he be able to fight and therefore protect himself, but also most importantly, he would be the coolest kid in school! He achieved both.
From those humble beginnings, Anthony's passion and dedication to his craft has enabled him to travel through Europe, America and the Far East setting and breaking incredible world records, earning black belts in a remarkable nine martial arts disciplines, and becoming known, worldwide, as having the fastest reflexes on the planet! It is a unique gift which he regularly puts to use as the finest reaction training coach in the world - having been a key figure in the development of the discipline, teaching world-class athletes to improve both physically and mentally, knowing that 1/100th second can be the difference between winning and losing. "Anthony Kelly epitomizes everything about Guinness World Records. He constantly strives to better himself and his endless desire to gain more and more Guinness World Records is testament to his professionalism and dedication. Long may his achievements continue," Rob Molloy, Director of Television for Guinness World Records said. Nikki Hudson, former Hockeyroos star also had nothing but praise for the Arrowcatcher. "I thought my reaction time was good, before I trained with Anthony." Anthony though is more philosophical about his skills and status. "It is one thing being the best you can be but it is another thing staying there," he said. “You always want to improve and achieve your goals.” Now Arrowcatcher, take the pebble from my hand and then may you find true enlightenment!
The Manitou of Mt. David
Story by Dane Millerd Photo by Paul Denham
Of all the legends we've seen one of the stand outs is the story of The Manitou of Mount David. Situated near Black Springs in the central-west of New South Wales, it has long been a bastien of uncertainty. A local farmer named Roy Arrow, who lived at Mount David, had a chance meeting with the Manitou while occupied in the outhouse. It was a moment fraught with peril on many fronts. Amid the sanctuary of Mother Nature, the wind brought with it a predatory hiss from something not known to this world. A snarl crystalised into a writhing shriek and before long this phantom of the night had made its way to the outhouse itself! The ensuing moments resulted in Roy Arrow being airlifted by the Westpac Rescue helicopter to Westmead Hospital as he fought for his life. What was it? Roy Arrow was later interviewed by The Oberon Review about what had happened and what he thought had attacked him - “I heard a disturbance outside the long drop and thought, this isn’t right. When I finished I opened the dunny door, took all of a few steps and then it lunged at me! It was unlike anything I’d ever seen and it was relentless...” Up until the day of his untimely passing, the farmer, Roy Arrow never returned there and his property now belongs to new owners. The Manitou of Mount David still wanders the hillside, with eyes like fire and claws of rage.
The Biggest Horse in the World
Story and Photo courtesy of Jane Greenman.
When Bernard O'Reilly wrote about the famed stallion Cronje he must have been thinking of Luscombe Nodram. For Luscombe Nodram, a Shire horse affectionately known as 'Noddy', is seven-years-old, stands at 20.2 hands high (2.05 metres) and at 1.5 tonnes weighs three times more than the average thoroughbred racehorse. Noddy was on display recently at the national Clydesdale and Heavy Horse Field Days at Gatton, west of Brisbane, on May 1-2 as well as being at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. “We need a special truck to transport him because of his size and we take our time getting around. “When he's been to shows before we have had a terrific reaction.The public just seem to love him.” Ms Greenman said Noddy comes from a long line of tall horses and started life at the Shires of Luscombe in the Gold Coast hinterland. “His great Great Grandsire Ladbrook Invador was also listed in the Guinness Book of Records in 1981 as the world's tallest living horse, standing 19.2 hands,” she said.
Chief Havoc - The Wonder Dog
Chief Havoc – The Wonder Dog
Story by Dane Millerd Photo courtesy of Beryl Kennedy (formerly Beryl Millerd)
In October 1944 the future Chief Havoc, or Patches as he was known at home, was sold for eight guineas (not guinea pigs) to Jack Millerd of Werris Creek. Patches was reared on Millerd’s property and commenced racing at the age of 19 months in a heat of the Grafton Easter Maiden over 440 yards (402 metres) on April 20, 1946. Chief Havoc won the race by five lengths and then took out the final of the Maiden just two days later, again passing the post five lengths clear of his nearest rival in 24.7, a new track record.
From 19 race starts in 1946 he had scored 15 wins and three seconds and set or equalled 11 track records. On May 24, 1947 Chief Havoc drew a massive crowd, estimated at 17,000 people, for an exhibition run over 800 yards at Harold Park. It was announced that he would be attempting to break a number of distance records and special lights were installed at each relevant mark to indicate whether or not he had achieved the feat. On a track that was not rated as fast, Chief Havoc elicited a number of cheers from the capacity crowd as he broke the 440 yards record, equalled the 500 yards mark and then lowered the 660, 700, 750 and 800 yards records. The sensational performance earned Millerd some £475, a phenomenonal sum at the time. Chief Havoc raced 35 times for 26 wins, five seconds and two thirds. He was unplaced only twice. He was inducted into the World Sporting Hall of Fame in 1963.
Somebody Stop Him
Story and Photo by Dane Millerd
While most people hang up the boots from competitive sport well before 40, the same cannot be said for Dr. Warwick Selvey. The 70-year-old is a lifetime achiever. A dual Olympian at the 1960 Rome and 1964 Tokyo Olympics for discus and shot put as well as a gold medallist at the 1962 Commonwealth Games, Selvey had every right to hang up his track shoes after a prestigious track and field career. “No, no I couldn’t do that because I like to stay busy,” said the good doctor. He’s not joking. Dr. Selvey is also an osteopath, chiropractor, acupuncturist, and naturopath and he still competes in the 65-70 years Masters Games for discus, hammer-throw, shot put, javelin and heavy-weight (a specific throwing event from the Scottish Highland Games) and this year in October he will be representing Australia at Homebush in Sydney. “I should bring home a medal in that pentathlon event,” he said. “But I am also focused on weight-lifting where I will be in the 70-75 years age group.” While Dr. Selvey is not expected to figure in the weight-lifting against the more fancied opponents from Germany and Russia, he does take it seriously and while most his age are playing bowls, bridge or taking Viagra, Dr. Selvey trains most days and has a strict fitness regime. He also manages his food intake and swims regularly. “A lot of people think they are too old once they hit 30 years old to do anything but that’s rubbish,” he said. “They are lazy not too old and I am living proof of that along with 10,000 others who will be at the Masters Games in October.” If being a medical expert and a starring athlete wasn’t already enough, Dr. Warwick Selvey also finished third in the International Barber Shop Quartet Championships and he prides himself on being a good singer. “I can carry a bit of tune,” he laughs. “We have a CD called Chordial Exchange and it features some classic songs on it. “But it is athletics and fitness where the passion really is though.” No doubt that if Dr. Selvey does manage to win gold at the Masters Games in October he will sing from the rooftops. “If that happens we may even put out another CD,” he joked.
Tasmanian Tiger - dead or alive?
Story by Local Legends Staffers
Richard Elliott of Donovans is just like any other bloke. Respected by many, when he voices an opinion many listen and have no reason to doubt the validity of his claims. So when he says he saw an animal on the afternoon of Monday June 1st that resembled a Tasmanian tiger he should be taken seriously.
Richard Elliott was driving along Dry Creek Road toward Princess Margaret Rose Cave when he spotted what he thought was a Tasmanian Tiger near a pine plantation about 3.30pm.
“At first I thought it was a fox, but it was too long and gangly,” Mr Elliott said.
“It had a long tail; it definitely wasn’t a fox.”
Mr Elliott said the animal was definitely not a dog or a cat either.
It moved into the bush too quickly for him to determine if it had stripes.
Mr Elliott said the animal was long and skinny, with exposed ribs.
The Tasmanian tiger, or Thylacine, is believed to have become extinct when an animal died in captivity in 1936.
There have been no officially verified sightings of a Thylacine in mainland Australia, but many unconfirmed sightings have been reported in the South East of South Australia, Western Victoria and South Gippsland.
There are also unconfirmed reports of the Tasmanian Tiger in the Tasmanian hinterland where Alexander Pierce (The Pieman) and convict cannibal disappeared over a century ago. Many locals deny the claims publicly for fear of starting a procession but our sources in the apple isle confirm that this vintage creature and national treasure may in fact still roam the countryside.
BIG Bird .. . .
Story & Pic by Charles Silvestro . While out on assignment with me at the Jamison Ruins site west of Sydney, Local Legends chief bushman and keen eyed bird watcher Paul Denham spotted this huge creature squawking in the mulberry trees. It was all I could do to capture a few shots of these elusive birds as they leaped from limb to limb, all the while scaring the daylights out of every other bird around.
Murray Coward, Secretary of NSW Bird Atlassers gave us this insight :
The bird in question is a Channel-billed Cuckoo, also known as Stormbird (because it is often heard calling before stormy weather) or Fig Hawk (because it loves fruit, particularly native figs). It is quite common to see them in other fruit trees such as the mulberry which you observed. They are a true cuckoo and parisitise other birds' nests (instead of making their own) which is why other birds are often upset at their presence. The two most common species that they target for nesting are the Pied Currawong and the more common crow species such as the Australian Raven and the Torresian Crow. I have actually observed an Australian Raven feeding a juvenile Channel-billed Cuckoo that it had raised, mistakenly believing it to be one of its own. Their call is very distinctive and is a loud, repetitive, harsh 'squowwk' which carries quite a distance and is usually made only while they are flying. They are migratory and you will generally only see them in your location from about September through to March. They are fairly widespread and can occur in numbers that vary from locally common to rare in the extremeties of their range. Murray Coward - http://www.nswbirdatlassers.com
Thanks Murray .. but how do they get these big birds in those small clocks ?
The Goolhi Glow Story by Dane Millerd
The legend of the Goolhi Glow has it's origins in the northern NSW station farm Goolhi, that once belonged to former Australian Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson.
Although he never reported publicly any such incidents, there were other reports of this strange light that often terrorised the area. Curiousity suddenly did become fear as the Goolhi Glow catapulted into his vehicle
Like many from around there, Edward Cross, an old timber-cutter and craftsmen had spent his entire life on the land carving out his living and plying a trade. After a hard day, he would wait for the sun to go down before heading west towards his property.
He drove an old beaten up car with a decaying white roof. He had owned the old bus for many years and it had served him dutifully as the paddock-basher as well as getting him to town to sell his products and pay the bills.
On his way home to Goolhi one night Edward came across a sight he would never believe.
Approaching his homestead Edward saw a strange glow in the sky that seemed to be getting nearer. "That's no place for a glow - not that fast or low," Edward thought.. Yet he wasn't scared. Why should he be? "There must be an explanation for this", he thought.
As Edward and the old car sputtered along, curiousity suddenly did become fear as the Goolhi Glow catapulted into his vehicle. Poor Edward thought it must have been a motorcyclist ... what else could it be? One headlight ...
It was then when he realised it was anything but a passing motorbike or car.
"It jolted the car but never left a mark on it!" Edward explained.
"The car just stopped dead on the road but there was nothing there. Not a scratch on her, and not a sound, no person or a vehicle in sight ... nothing. Just a glow disappearing in the distance.
"I looked around for a bit and then tried to start the old girl again but she wouldn't go. She just gave up." he said.
Then, just as he was about to give up himself, the old car burst into life.
"I drove off back home home and shrugged it off" Edward remembers.
"Never saw that glow again after that. Don't know what it was but it sure gave me a fright." he said.
"Don't know if it was a Min Min or what it was but I can say it was nothing like I have ever seen before, so you make of that what you will." Edward said.
What was this strange light that hit Edward's car ? Have you seen anything like this, we'd like to know, send us your story.
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Beasts Unleashed
Story by Ed Di Mallren Photo of photo by Paul Denham (courtesy of Cuttabri Shanty)
We have already given you the story of the 220kg monster pig caught by John Anick in the Pilbara in Western Australia and we have certainly made references to the untapped wilderness of our sunburnt country.
This next pig comes in at over 460kgs and was caught in the Pilliga region.
The giant beast was actually caught near Cuttabri and now the original photo adorns the walls of the wine shanty out there. The shanty is now closed and not open to the public.
It is alleged there are more feral pigs in Australia then humans and for those who know little about them a feral pig is considered one of the biggest threats to wildlife and the environment in Australia.
If anyone knows who the hunter was or when it was caught we would love to know and don't hesitate to send in your pix!
Australia's Giant Worms Australia holds many mysterious stories about giant creatures and the Gippsland giant earthworm is just one. Within the rural township surrounds of Bass in Victoria it is claimed that after decent rain when walking in some fields you can hear gurgling from under your feet. This is the sound of the giant worms escaping downwards underground from the surface. Occasionally after heavy rain the giants can be seen above ground. Local Legends were amazed to learn that these giants can out size python snakes and the largest measuring 4 metres long (13 feet). We are sceptical about the yarn that small children have gone missing down worm holes though!
Mozzies bigger than car keys (khakis)
Beyond the Great War, nothing gets Aussies into a call for arms more than the 'Aussie Mozzie.' The call for action can have entire families at attention and quickly arm themselves with Aeroguard, Mortein or the coiled mozzie zapper.
Occasionally and usually in the great outdoors you may come across one of Australia's giant mozzies. Local legends have learned to fear not. These oversized buzzers are not interested in leaching your blood. They are actually the adult version of the Glow Worm.
If you do get to see one of these giants, it is possible that there is a cool dark cave in the area with glowworms shining like a starry night. So put away the biological weaponry and relax.
