/Nexus - 1601 - New Times Magazine/pages/0066/image.png)
Page Content (OCR)
No one dared pursue it! During a dust storm in 1961, in a remote Gulf scrubland area north of Mount Isa, a party of six 'roo-shooters had to shelter in their truck in the be of a dry creek. Amid clouds of swirling dust as three men sheltere inside the driving compartment an the other three sat inside the canvas- covered back, the men in the front spotted a dark object emerging from trees some distance ahead of them an then moving across open ground, oblivious to their presence. It was perhaps eight metres tall and move: on two legs, its large head a dark form amid the dust. One of the men, Tom Geoghan, a stockman, told me this story in 1971: "Visibility was bad but we are sure it was no normal animal; certainly not a kangaroo, like a scientist later told us after I reported the incident. "The storm of dust eventually subsided, but there was no sign of the mystery giant monster. In any case, the group got out of the area pretty fast. "Back in 1950, an eerie discovery was made: a lengthy 'trackway' of bipedal reptilian three-clawed footprints was found and followed by a lone buffalo-shooter in Arnhem Land, some miles east of Darwin. They led across sandy soil, into and over and along the bank of a dry creek bed, through scrub and into more open ground. "The shooter, Jack Peckman, said later to me that he had never before seen anything like them. They were, he said, 'about 15 inches [38 cm] in width and length, and seemed to keep on going'." Jack followed the tracks for about a mile, rifle at the ready, before feeling uneasy about going any further. "The tracks were about a day old, but what if their maker was somewhere just ahead?" Tom asked. Jack was on foot and far from his camp, so he turned back. Returning to his camp, he packed his truck and drove out of there. "Others have told me they have heard the sound of some huge beast ‘huffing’ and 'puffing'—but not any buffalo—in the same region, and also at one spot in the Gulf coast west of Normanton over the years. These incidents have been at night and include the sounds of crashing foliage as some tall, large animal moves through the scrub," Tom informed me. Mounted policemen and black trackers in the 1940s and 1950s reported similar sounds, day and night, and the finding of large bipedal, three-toed tracks. Photos taken of one such set were sent to a university scientist in Brisbane, but these were unfortunately "lost" (or, should we say, "swept under the carpet"?). Similarly, plaster casts made of two other large footprints sent to an Adelaide scientist in the 1940s also vanished without trace. There are old tales of the Aborigines about hunting parties having speared these monsters long ago. A tribe was forced to scatter when one of these monsters entered their desert camp in the country northwest of Ayers Rock (Uluru). A lubra had to flee from a swamp while picking water plants when a taller-than-man-sized reptilian monster approached her from out of the bush in the Gulf country; warriors saved her by spearing the creature. ww ett St rer retry subsided, but there was no sign of the buffalo—in the same region, and also A "fearsome" creature mystery giant monster. In any case, at one spot in the Gulf coast west of | There are many tales told along the the group got out of the area pretty Normanton over the years. These cattle runs amongst the stockmen, fast. incidents have been at night and both white and Aboriginal, of the "Back in 1950, an eerie discovery include the sounds of crashing foliage Burrunjor mystery. was made: a lengthy 'trackway' of as some tall, large animal moves Back in 1890, in the Gulf country to bipedal reptilian three-clawed through the scrub,"Tom informed me. the west of Normanton, stockmen footprints was found and followed by Mounted policemen and black became tired of losing cattle on their a lone buffalo-shooter in Arnhem trackers in the 1940s and 1950s_ widely scattered properties to some mystery beast large enough to carry them off. Local Aborigines blamed Burrunjor for these losses, although some cattlemen were sceptical of their descriptions and chose to believe they were hunting more than one large crocodile. Yet one cattleman in the Normanton district claimed he had seen a Burrunjor as it bounded across a clearing into coastal scrub, carrying the body of a full-grown cow in its jaws. The cattleman, Charles Waterford, claimed the monster was a good 20 feet tall from head to tail, was mottle- coloured and looked "fearsome". He claimed that, terrified and hiding Sketch of human-height, bipedal reptile as described by Aborigines. 66 ¢ NEXUS | Copyright © Rex Gilroy 2006, Sketch of human-height, bipedal reptile as described by Aborigines. www.nexusmagazine.com DECEMBER 2008 — JANUARY 2009