australian ghosts (1935)

7/27/2019 Australian Ghosts (1935)

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Sunday Mail (Brisbane) (Qld. : 1926 - 1954), Sunday 10 March 1935, page 27

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article97841612

Ghosts Abroad in

the Country

Strange Noises in the

By S. Strutton

The well-behaved country gbost

refuses to haunt a room like Its

city brothers; it haunts a whole

locality. Take, for instance, a

cattle camp. These are the most

persistently haunted spots in the

bosh.

TTTTHETHEB it is because drovers

W who, like sailors, are alone for™

*long stretches of time are

more superstitious than the ordinarybushman, or whether it Is because the

slightest sound is sufficient to startle

cattle at nighU-is uncertain.

me iacc is, me souna oi an um

man kangaroo thumping through the

bush In the moonlight is sufficiently

startling for the newchum. And

when one of those giant owls cries

'Whco-ooo-ooo-oooool among the

treetops the camp's ghostllness is con

vincing.

Most cattle camps are haunted, how

ever, because of their close proximity

to a native burial ground. Now tome

native tribesmen merely place the

bodies of their dead relatives on suit

able platforms of bark and sticks in

the fork of a convenient tree, whence

the bones are scattered soon enough by

the iguanas and crows.

But others are more thoughtful.

Though not being learned in the

matter of tombstones, they select the

tomb and stone In one; or, in plainer

English, they stuff their departed

friends head firSt down a hollow tree

trunk. Now it has happened that the

camp cook has selected su h a tree

when in search of firewood. Hence

the conviction that the ghosts ol

dead blacks haunt such localities.

THE WILGA GHOST

Then there is the ghost which has

become an institution; whose Tame be

comes widely circulated far away

from the particular dislrii.. it

haunts. Such a ghost is the

WUga ghost, which haunts the

district* ofIsisford and

Ilfracombe.and wliich started its activities in «

minor way on the banks of the Wilga

waterhole about 40 years ago.

Since Its eerie scream was first Heard

by a lonely camper wherever bushmen

gather will be heard talk of the Wilga

ghost. Some fellows claim that it is

only a large owl, but these arc the

scientific cranks; the real buslimnn

clings firmly to his 'ghost,' and re

fuses to have it explained away.

Tills Js the case also with the mys

terious light which is sometimes to be

met with on the road to Djarra. The

light seems to hover at a certain point

on the road, but disappears when any

on the road, but disappears when any

body drives nearer. The explanationthat it is a car light has been ad

vanced, but it was known before cars

came into the bush. So people urttue

between a ghostly ana an electric ori

gin and let it go at that.

SPEARED TEAMSTER

There is a spot on the track between

Normanton and Cloncurry which is

haunted by a teamster. Back in th«eighties, when a line was about tostart from coast to Cloncurry, a bul

lock dray loaded with steel rails and

dynamite pulled up outside a wayside ?

shanty.

While the buUocfey and his oHsiderwere inside, washing the dust down, a

drum of add (meant for the recovery

of gold) spread Its contents over theexplosive. There was an explosion

which blew a hole in the ground. Whiletrying to escape the teamster

?

was

speared through the back with a steel

rail. A few months afterwards a bushman met him driving his ghostly teamalong the road. And so another bushghost was born.

One of the most humorous ghoststories is that of the Greyrock ghost;a ghost which came to life after themurder of an old man for his horsesand turnout by a travelling com

panion nicknamed 'The Snob.' The

remains were reduced to charred bonesand ashes in a camp fire, and the

accused man was released because no

body could swear to the identity of

the bones. But in a few years a ghostbegan to haunt the place.

SHOOTING THE GHOST

The ghost took the form of an oldman who haunted the camps oftravellers in search of his lost horses.

Travellers reported mysterious dis

appearances of their stock; horsesvanished, only to reappear along the

road two or three days' ride away.

Then travelling cattle took to stampeding during the night, and some

were crippled by rushing over the

steerj banks of the basalt gorges. The

camp— which is a Government grass

and water reserve—

began to get abad name; people going out of their

way to avoid camping there.

This kept ud for 10 to 15 years,until the ghost began to trouble a

kangaroo shooter who had msde his

headquarters there with s small mob

of remounts.

Then one night the shooter laidin wait for the ghost. Soon, in thebrilliant moonlight, he saw the figureof an aged man approach his hobbledhorses. As the ghost bent down to

unhobble one of the outside mares theshooter— who was a remarkable shot

—raised his rifle and fired. Therewas a yell of terror as the old man

made for cover with the speed of a

made for cover with the speed of a

champion sprinter, leaving his hat on

the ground The hat hi-d a neatbullet hole in the top ol the crown.

Public opinion claimed that it be

longer to a snjector who wanted thejreservr water and grass for his own

stock and used n ghostly means for

securingit.

At any rate, the 'ghost.'

[ceased to haunt the reserve from that'nieht.