bush poltergeist (1911)

7/27/2019 Bush Poltergeist (1911)

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The World's News (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 1955), Saturday 2 December 1911, page 19

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128270023

MYSTERIES OF THE AUSTRALIAN BUSH.

CASE TOOK THE MOONBOYS.

(By FRANK KEEN.)

NE of tbe most picturesque moun

tain ranges of New South Wales

is the Moonbi Range-a spur o

one of the giant divisions of the

cordillera which traverses almost

the whole of the eastern coast of

the State, beginning with the Australian Alps.The Moonbi Ranges are familiarly known as the

Moonboys-for what reason personally I do not

know. The name is a good one, however, and,it will be remembered, these mountains and ad

Joining country have been the scenes of many1

bu ah ranging episodes. Frederick Ward, otherwise Thunderbolt, shot, out from Ural la many

years ago, by the of&cer who will retire in 1912

1

AN ANCIENT M08LEH BITE.

(Citizens of Constantinople washing th eir f eet before entering the mosque for prayer.)

from the New South Wales police force as Su

perintendent Alexander Binning walker, used ;



perintendent Alexander Binning walker, used ;

to operate along this route, and possibly another

odd wild bushman or so, proficient in the line (

of handling the neighbors' stock. {

If the traveller is journeying down from the;

north along the main route, which runs almost:

parallel with the railway line, over which the <

Brisbane mail thunders its way in the night to ,

the north, he will pass through the Moonbi (

Ranges after leaving Bendemeer. which is 26 .

miles above Tamworth. The ranges would lie,

immediately on his left-then he would pas*

'

through them, and finally quit them before com-?

ing into the prosperous town built upon the<

Pfc-l. »

I am giving the details of an extraordinary1

incident, the scene of which is th? Moonboyd.I

The incident is one of no earlier date than four(

years ago; and coming as it does from thorough-

ly reliable sources, readers may perus* the{

particulars with the knowlodge that they are (

having nothing in the way of fiction foisted

j

upon them. The reader may perhaps some day (

pass through the locality written of, and, in any ,

case, the particulars. > will be. .louc^l ol interest .

far above the ordinary. These are the details of

th* Incident, as given to the writer by a drover]

-m muter bushman of long experience. He

possessed no education

al attainments to apeakof, so I am setting down

the story in toy own

language. My inform

ant, however, was a

very sharp and ob

servant bushman, and

the narration of the in

cident, coming from his

lips alone, is worth

hearing. Quitting: the little tuwn of Bende

meer at ten o'clock on a summer's morning, ho

intended making as far as Tamworih for the

day's stage; but when atout 15 miles from thei

latter town, and in the ranges, he decidcd to>

pull intocamp early,

which he did at

aboutI

three in the afternoon. He had with him a bigI

bay horse for riding, and for a pack-horse a

; croamy of four years. As was his custom, hehobbled both horses for the night. They were

, let go on the banks of the stream which runs[

almost parallel with the railway line in that'

particular spot. There was good picking about

the banks. The bay horse as a rule was a1

little restless at night. He was a valuable animal. The drover's statement is to the effect

>

that he made his bed at nine o'clock, and was

1

not long in He was



1

not long in falling asleep. He was awakened by

- a voice distinctly saying by bis bedside. Tbe

v bay horse has broken bis bobbles. Tbe voice(

was that of a firm-spoken man. Tbe words(

came kindly, and were clear in intonation. Tbe( drover

saysthe

suggestion be received was tbat; a man of about 40 years, with a beard, had

, spoken to him. Possibly the reader has at some}

time had a similar experience. A voice is)beard, and tbe impression conveyed that the

S

speaker is a man of, say, 25, with a shaven\

face, all but the moustache. At tbe same time\ as he heard the voice my informant says tbe(

blankets were pulled away from his side. He(

distinctly felt the coverings moved by the touch(

of something like a hand. He sat up in bed and(

listened, and great drops of perspiration cam*

(out on his body and face. Jt was a bright night,

( but he could see no one. Presently be himself)

called out. in open, clear tones, Is anyone there

-what is the matter? No refly came, and)through tbe moonlight he saw the creamy horse

) and the bay horse moving as they fed; and the) bay horse lifted bis two fore feet and the chains(

clinked. He was hobbled.)

Tbe drover turned on bis left side and eom}menced to think the matter out. Had it been a

dream? No, certainly not. He had distinctly)heard the voice; and. in the telling of the story

to the writer. Intimated that he would not mind

(if be poseessed such a fine voice himself. Hi

( was much interested in singing, and held tit*P

opinion that the owner of the strange voie«' should be able to sing a good song-merely tl*)

opinion of a well-meaning buahman, which mf)

friend the drover certainly was. But presently; he fell asleep again, to be awakened by tb»blankets being pulled completely off him with

S a rapid motion, and a strange, stem voice say(ins, The bay horse's hobbles are off. But

Cwhen he sat bolt upright in bed in genuine fear

-for which there was some excuse-no one wag

snear him. The blankets, however, were thr*«

( clear feet from the bed, and in a heap. He tried/ to get no more sleep that night. He got up.)

pulled on his boots, and went down to have a)

look at the two horses. They were resting oa

the ground. He made them rise to their feet.) The hobbles on both were intact. He went hack

) to the camp, made a quart of tea, then waited\ till the morning broke over the mountains.(

Carefully rolling up his belongings, he saddledi up. and proceeded on his Journey towards Mar*I

rurundl, on the Page, whither he was bound.



rurundl, on the Page, whither he was bound.?

He arrived there safely. A few days later the/ bay horse, while in hobbles, fell over a precl)

pice in the mountains, and broke his neck.)

My drover friend had many strange exper

iences in the bush, and was a superb horse

man and a great man among stock. Hi iiilived five years with a tribe of Queenslandwild blacks, and on one occasion swam the Gul

goa River in full flood with a saddle and trap

pings weighing thirty pounds, and never

even wetted the saddle-flaps. Although only a

bushman who had received a liitle broken

schooling, he was i most remarkable and sin

gularly gifted uan. I may at scae future time

give particulars of his wondrous feats. So won

derful was his knowledge »»f the bush, of the

seasons, and the days and the hours, that, not

withstanding the fact that he never in his life

possessed a timepiece, he oull toll the time to

the minute any hour of the day cr tte night, and

iu any place This is a test he never failed in

and yet the feat was nothing more than one of

acute judgment. What ts the. time?** I would

inquire of my friend. 'Twej\ty»nine minutes

2>*at three*' wqnty reply the Master Bushman.

had. He is dead now.

Knlcker: We can't carry revolvers any long

er.

Bocker: But they didn't take away the girls*hatpins.

bush poltergeist (1911)

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