mysterious australia newsletter - december 2011

“MYSTERIOUS AUSTRALIA”“MYSTERIOUS AUSTRALIA”“MYSTERIOUS AUSTRALIA”“MYSTERIOUS AUSTRALIA”

Vol. 1, Issue No 12

December, 2011.

INSIDE:

A ‘THYLACINE SPECIAL’.

� The Search for Living Thylacines – Results of the Gilroy 2011 expedition.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND A

HAPPY NEW YEAR.

‘Mysterious Australia’ Newsletter –December, 2011.

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Blue Mountains UFO Research Club. The Club meetings are held on the third Saturday of the month, at the Gilroy residence,

12 Kamillaroi Road, South Katoomba, from 1pm onwards.

We are situated on the corner of Kamillaroi Road and Ficus Street, and as we always say, park in Ficus Street where there is safer parking.

THE SEARCH FOR LIVING THYLACINES – RESULTS OF THE GILROY 2011 EXPEDITION.

Rex Gilroy. Copyright © Rex Gilroy2011.

Heather and I had long dreamt of carrying out a search for the elusive Thylacine, or ‘Tasmanian Tiger’ in Tasmania, yet every time over the last 20 years or so that we made plans to visit Tasmania, something else always directed us elsewhere, ie Yowie expeditions in northern New South Wales and elsewhere, searches for living moas in New Zealand, investigating ‘panther’ sightings all over Australia etc. Finally we put everything else aside to concentrate upon Tasmania in 2011. We achieved our goal when we landed in Devonport on Tuesday morning 1st November. Having come in our own vehicle we drove off the ferry and headed straight inland in the direction of the Great Western Tiers, where in the Mole Creek region [said to be the last great Thylacine habitat] there have been sightings in recent years about which the locals are all tight-lipped, fearing the unwanted attentions of hunters or trappers bent upon capturing a living specimen. The fact that the wilderness hereabouts is all National Park territory means nothing to these kind of people. The Great Western Tiers are but part of the greater west coastal wilderness country and there are areas that locals say nobody has ever been able to penetrate. So who can say just how many Thylacines have in fact been encountered over a wide area of Tasmania over the years, despite the ‘extinct’ decree of most university-based ‘desk professors’ Our first visit to Mole Creek took us to a car park at the foot of a steep track leading through dense gum scrub forest to a lookout, from where a fantastic view of the Alum Cliffs was to be had. Wilderness was all around, with the Mersey River flowing far below the lookout, winding around the bases of rugged forest-covered mountains. The weather was dull and although I took many photos we later decided to return on the Wednesday when good sunlight was predicted. A fortuitous decision as it would turn out. Due to a knee problem Heather could not accompany me so remained with the car while I returned to the lookout to take better daylight photos. Once above the steep hillside walk, the tourist path to the lookout passes through relatively flat terrain. ‘Something’ told me to suddenly leave the path at the sight of an animal track leading off through ferns and thick shrubbery through the gum forest. I still don’t know why I acted on impulse but I was soon following a narrow, worn animal path through the dense foliage, which led me downhill in the direction of the cliffs above the river, then off up a densely-wooded slope. I had noticed a pungent odour that followed me along that animal path. All the time I was keeping an eye on the ground for paw prints, thinking I was probably following the trail of some wombat. In any case the forest floor was coated with dead leaves, twigs and gravel, making it unlikely that I would see any animal prints at all.

Rex and Hea th e r G i l r o y , Aus t r a l i a ’ s t o p UFO and ‘Un exp l a i n e d ’ Mys t e r i e s Re s e a r c h t e am .

Pho t o c o py r i g h t © Rex G i l r o y 2004 .


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Then in the middle of nowhere, as I worked my way through the ferns and shrubbery, trying to keep on the animal path, I came upon a small patch of open forest soil, and embedded into it a paw impression, a little indistinct but showing the familiar formation that of a Thylacine! The paw print was barely 2-3 minutes old, so recent was it that I could see fine grains of dirt falling into the impression, and the pungent odour was all about me. Excitedly removing my backpack I quickly got out the clip board and drew, measured then photographed the impression. Regrettably I had not brought plaster with me for my initial thought was to take scenic photos at the lookout. The paw impression measured 12cm in length by 12cm width across the four front toes [a fifth digit is rarely impressed] and 8.5cm wide across the three lobe-like pads at the rear. Leaving this indistinct paw print I attempted to continue on in the hope of catching a glimpse of the animal, even photographing it, but the terrain became denser and when I realised I could barely make out the animal ‘pathway’ I had followed I abandoned the pursuit. Unable to retrace my steps I took to the slope and after battling my way through the undergrowth amid the gums that towered over me, I eventually reached the lookout pathway and returned to Heather. As luck would have it, this would not be my last brush with the Thylacine.

*****

The sad story of the gradual ‘extinction’ of this marsupial carnivore is already widely known. Early settlers blamed the species for stock and poultry losses [often unjustly] and a petition to the Tasmanian Government led to a bounty being introduced which led to the senseless slaughter of these animals. The last captive Thylacine died in Hobart Zoo in 1936 not long after the species had been declared protected by the Government! Many officially-backed as well as privately funded searches for living Thylacines were carried out, beginning in the 1930s but by the 1980s most scientists declared, on the ground that no captures had been made or any traces of living thylacines found in the wilderness areas where they had been previously seen, that the species was totally extinct. The Thylacine, or Thylacinus cynocephalus, was/is the world’s largest carnivorous marsupial closely related to quolls and the Tasmanian Devil, its food being wallabies and other small mammals and birds. While the Thylacine sometimes attacked sheep, it was unfairly blamed for most stock losses. By the early 1900s, shooting, trapping and poisoning greatly reduced its numbers and these depredations must have encouraged the animals to retreat deep into the more isolated inaccessible regions. Now a battle is under way between the wilderness societies and the Forestry commission, which is using the excuse of the species’ supposed ‘extinction’ to bulldoze vast areas of wilderness, on the grounds that these areas are no longer the Thylacine’s habitat. Unthinking politicians are bowing to big business and real estate moguls in permitting such development as they secretly stand to benefit financially from this destruction. It must be opposed at all coasts.

Heather and I saw terrible examples of this forest development in the course of our travels. One example was the hundreds of acres of gum forest below the southern face of Ben Lomond, the great peak which is the main feature of the Ben Lomond National Park. Journeying on we entered still--standing wilderness country.

The day was Saturday 5th November. We parked at the end of a dirt track from where I soon discovered nearby overgrown disused fire trail. The morning was hot. Rain the day before had filled puddle holes along the trail. I would have noticed one large dried up mud patch but for a large whip snake sunning itself on the trailside. Before I almost walked into it the reptile quickly slithered into the ferns. Continuing on I saw another one of these sunbaking grey snakes quickly move away from me into the trailside ferns. Then I spotted a dried patch of mud ahead. It was coated in twigs and rotting leaf litter. There were wallaby and wombat paw prints not well defined due to the twigs and leaf litter, but among these were other indistinct marks and one reasonably defined impression – that of a Thylacine!

Carefully walking back to the car I told Heather what I had found, picked up equipment consisting of the plastic bucket and two bags of plaster, bottles of water, all put into the backpack and returned to the scene, passing a third whip snake as I did so.

I cast the indistinct thylacine as well as the other impressions, then returning to the car to give the plaster time to dry, noticed the other mud patch. Within it were several more wallaby and wombat paw prints, including yet another Thylacine impression. These too were cast and before all were removed Heather was able to take a look at the impressions as I lifted the casts.

Yet the Thylacine casts were not good evidence due to the forest litter. On my birthday Tuesday 8th November, we left friends at St Helens where we were staying to investigate another known ‘tiger’ locality,


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the Blue Tier. Wet weather however intervened, creating mist that covered much of the mountain. Also the road was closed due to washaways from recent storms.

While Heather waited with the car I walked up the mountain. The summit once held a small tin mining settlement and National Parks signs indicate this. The dense jungle on the edge of the former settlement looked eerie. Returning to Heather I then made a search of roadside forest in search of possible tracks in creek sand and forest mud but found nothing. However, the area has been the scene of sightings reports in the past and this was enough for us to plan a search here on our next Tasmanian visit.

The next day we had to leave our friends at St Helens but were now convinced this east coast region still hides Thylacines. We headed [via Hobart] for Rosebery over towards the west coast to stay with other friends and from where we planned to carry out searches. On Saturday 12th November we investigated the Lake Pedder forests but found nothing. Although we were not successful we did meet up with a large group of conservationists blocking forestry roads into areas currently planned for logging. We signed a petition kept in one of the roadside tents before we left. As I pointed out to the conservationists, this region continues to produce thylacine sightings, and every effort must be made to save this vast wilderness. The same can be said for the Gordon-Franklin Rivers region in which we found ourselves on Thursday 17th November after visiting the Lake St Clair region, where Thylacines continue to be seen despite their ‘extinction’.

Once based at Rosebery, on Tuesday 15th November we investigated Cradle Mountain National Park [in wet weather]. To report the various sightings claims that have emerged over recent years from the Gordon-Franklin Rivers wilds and the other places we searched would literally take a book [and a book on the Thylacines by the Gilroys is now underway!].

***** Time was running out when on Friday 18th November Heather and I, having already visited thylacine haunts in the Trial and Granville Harbours forestlands, inspected forest country in the Lake Rosebery region. Before the day-long wet weather forced me back to the car I uncovered an old mountainside fire trail, long abandoned [trees were growing up in it]. Something told me to return here, which we did the next day when the sun came out. The Rosebery district with its forest-covered mountains has been known as ‘tiger country’ for generations and as I searched along that old trail I came across a leaf and twig littered small mud patch within which I found first a left and right back set of paw prints, and the just beyond these a third, front left paw print. The front track measured 12cm long by 12cm wide. 18cm behind it on its left was the left back paw print measuring 11cm long by 9cm wide, 22cm behind the front paw print was the right rear paw impression, measuring the same as the left impression and separated 10cm from the left rear paw print. I soon cast these impressions which, although indistinct or distorted amid tiny twig and still wet leaf fragments, were still the best specimens I had so far discovered. I considered myself extremely lucky to have found what I had on this trip. The paw prints had been made the night before by a ‘tiger’ that was probably still somewhere on the mountain above this fire trail. Only time prevented me from exploring higher up. We had to leave Rosebery the next morning for Mawbanna, situated in the forested farmland country in from the north-west coast, famous as the community where in 1930 one Wilfred Batty shot the last known ‘tiger’ in this region when it appeared on his farm. Searching the forestland hereabouts I could see no reason why Thylacines might not still enter this area from the National Park wildernesses to the south. In any case, to the west lies the north-west tip of Tasmania where over the years there have been sightings claims made of Thylacines obviously following the coastal scrub north from the Arthur Pieman Conservation area to be seen or leave their track in the Arthur River bush. The Mawbanna visit ended our 2011 Tasmanian Thylacine investigation but we certainly plan to return to Tasmania at the first opportunity to resume our search for evidence of these elusive marsupials.

-0-


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Farmland below the Great Western Tiers, Mole Creek area Tasmania. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

Farms at the base of the Great Western Tiers have been periodically visited by Thylacines who emerge from the Tiers

forests in search of poultry and sometimes sheep. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

A farm at the base of the Great Western Tiers. Thylacines have been spotted in daytime on occasions crossing open

grasslands between patches of forest. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

A Mole Creek farm with the Great Western Tiers in the background. One late afternoon in 2010 a farmer attempted to chase a Thylacine escaping across a paddock with a duck in its jaws. He pursued the animal in his jeep but the ‘tiger’

escaped into dense bush. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

An old, now deserted farmhouse at the base of the Great Western Tiers, Mole Creek. Back in the 1920s and 1930s Thylacines were blamed for poultry losses by the farming

families hereabouts. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.


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The Mole Creek main street, apart from a couple of stores and a fire station, life seems to revolve around the Mole Creek Hotel bar. Rex and Heather found the locals all tight-lipped concerning Thylacine encounters in the district. They distrust outsiders seeking sightings information in the district as they want the animals left undisturbed

in the wild and allowed to breed up numbers. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

The hotel bar room has a display of newspaper articles on Mole Creek Thylacine encounters around its walls. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

Like countless businesses around Tasmania, the Thylacine is exploited commercially even at Mole Creek! Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.


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The wild scenery meeting visitors at the Alum Creek Cliffs Lookout. Here indeed is ‘Tiger Country’! Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011. The Alum Cliffs rising up out of the canyon through which flows the

Mersey River. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

The Mersey River winds through this vast wilderness. Campers, according to one local naturalist, have over the years either seen ‘tigers’ drinking on the river’s edge or

found their paw prints in riverside sand. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

The Thylacine, declared ‘extinct’ by Tasmanian desk-professors, none-the-less continues to be seen in the Great

Western Tiers wilds and farmlands by locals, concerned about its conservation.


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The tourist walking track to the Alum Cliffs Lookout, passes through dense mountainside forestland. It was

hereabouts on Wednesday 2nd November that Rex Gilroy, finding a trackside animal trail through dense mountainside

shrubbery followed it to find a thylacine paw print. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

The animal trail, [left] at first quite noticeable, soon became hard to follow as it led on through increasingly dense shrubbery. From the beginning Rex detected a strong, pungent odour often associated with the

‘tiger’. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

The animal [ie Thylacine] trail, [right] barely visible amid ferns and forest debris. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

A scene of the mountainside forest through which Rex was battling his way trying to follow the odour-marked animal

trail. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

The minutes-old Thylacine paw print, preserved in a small patch of semi-clear forest floor. The pungent odour was strong here. Rex, believing the ‘tiger’ might only be a minute or so ahead, continued on for a time before the density of the terrain made him call off the search. It measured 12cm long, 12cm wide across the toes and 8.5cm wide across the heel. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.


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Farmland at the foot of the Ben Lomond National Park, north-eastern Tasmania. The park is known for thylacine sightings, and fringe region areas continue to be visited by ‘tigers’ who stray from

this wilderness. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011. Ben Lomond cliffs rising up out of the surrounding forest country. When visited by the Gilroys for a ‘tiger’ search on Saturday 5th November 2011, they discovered hundreds of acres of gum trees had been harvested by the forestry commission whose bulldozers had also cleared away surrounding scrub, leaving a vast scar of devastation on the southern side of the park for

some kilometres. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

The area of former dense gum forestland devastated by the loggers, leaving sparse stands of young trees for future development.

Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

It was not possible to take good photos of the Ben Lomond mountain range in the developed areas without capturing the devastation. What

a lovely welcome for nature-loving tourists! Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

How much more of the park is to be developed before this destruction is halted?



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The Gilroys’ vehicle, parked on the edge of a disused fire trail, where Rex discovered Thylacine paw prints among those of other marsupials in two muddy patches on the trail.. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

Rex Gilroy with his ‘Indiana Jones’ hat and backpack about to investigate the old fire trail. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

The morning was hot as Rex explored the disused fire trail for Thylacine tracks, in the course of which he met three large Whip Snakes sunning themselves on the trail edge. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

One of the Whip Snakes encountered by Rex as he cautiously watched the ground for snakes and thylacine paw prints! Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

In dried muddy soil [rain had fallen the previous day] Rex found five shallow marsupial paw impressions, of a wallaby, [right of picture] and indistinct wombat tracks obscured by forest litter, and [top of photo]’ an indistinct Thylacine paw print. The tracks were situated in a small

open patch in the centre of the fire trail. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.


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The Thylacine track, although indistinct, was measured at 13cm long by 8m wide across the toes, 7cm at the heel. The paw was distorted, being twisted to the right.


Note the ruler marking the spot where the paw prints of a Thylacine, wallaby and wombat were

found and cast shortly afterward. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

On the way back to the car, in a muddy patch on the side of the fire trail three more Thylacine tracks were found among other native animal tracks, they were distorted by the mud, but were still cast. They were probably made by the same creature that left a track among the other impressions in the middle of the old

fire trail. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.


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On Tuesday 8th November 2011 Heather and Rex drove up to the Blue Tier, but were forced to stop due to road washaways, forcing Rex to walk the remaining distance to the summit, formerly the site of a tin mining village early in the 20th century. It is an old ‘tiger’ haunt and incoming mist and rain added to the mystery of the region. Here is a section of the forest road where motorists in the past have claimed

sightings of Thylacines emerging from the forest. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

The summit of the Blue Tier, the magnificent view was obscured by thick mist on the day of

the Gilroy’s visit. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

Dense forest on the slopes of the Blue Tier. Property owners at the base of the Blue Tier believe Thylacines are very

much alive on that mountain range. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.


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The road to Lake Pedder passes through the old growth forest of the Florentine district, currently under threat of Forestry Commission development. It is not only home to many species of wild life it is one of the last major Thylacine habitats and must be saved at all costs.


When visited by the Gilroys a large Wilderness Protection group was already established here, blocking all logging trucks into the forest,

which is part of the southwest National Park! Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

Part of the roadside ‘tent city’ established by the conservationists. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 201`1.

The conservationists are here to stay as long as it takes to save this wilderness region from thoughtless developers.

Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011. Roadblock!



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This sign speaks for itself. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

The Sentinel Mountain Range on the road to Lake Pedder is known Thylacine country. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

The forest covered mountains surrounding Lake Pedder are believed by many locals to be Thylacine haunts. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

Forest country near Lake Pedder. Over many years campers have sometimes found tracks of

the ‘tiger’ or caught sight of them. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011


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The Franklin River. The Gilroys spent some time investigating this area. Thylacines have been claimed seen hereabouts over recent years

or their tracks found by investigators. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

Rex scours the forest depths for a living ‘tiger’. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

Heather joined husband Rex on a search of a forest area on the Franklin River.


Rex examining mystery tracks obscured by forest debris. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy2011.

‘Indiana Gilroy and the Forest of Moss’! Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.


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Lake St Clair National Park. The forested mountain country enclosing the lake has long been known as a major region for Thylacine activity.

Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011. A Lake St Clair resident curious about the Gilroys’ activities! Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

Open swampland west of the lake where Thylacines have been reported to NP&WS rangers as having been observed frequenting the swampland or moving about the forests enclosing it. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

An area of gum forest near the swamp, typical of the swamp fringe environment in

which the ‘tiger’ lives. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.


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Cradle Mountain National Park. Campers and hikers have made sightings of thylacines hereabouts for generations, although rangers and other authorities here prefer to play down these encounters! Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

A very friendly park resident. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

In the often mist-shrouded forests of the park Thylacines can remain hidden, their often inaccessible habitat a good protection from

unwanted human intruders. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.


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The town of Rosebery, west of Cradle Mountain National park towards the west coast, is surrounded by often mist-shrouded mountains long believed to be inhabited by Thylacines. Sightings of these animals hereabouts have

occurred within recent years. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

Lake Rosebery, lying near Rosebery township. Thylacines have been claimed seen by campers on its foreshores drinking and a sighting in the mountain forestlands beyond was

reported during 2009. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

The town of Tullah north of Rosebery with mighty Thylacine-inhabited Mt

Farrell towering above. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.


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A female ‘Tiger’ and cub. Locals believe Thylacines are living and breeding in the forest covered country around Rosebery. Illustration by artist Rod Scott, Australian

Geographic, Vol 1 no 3.

On Saturday 19th November 2011 on this old abandoned fire trail, situated in the forests of the Lake Rosebery region, Rex Gilroy made a startling discovery of three Thylacine paw

prints, embedded in a leaf and twig-littered muddy

patch. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy2011.

As rain had fallen the day before, the ground was still damp. The paw prints consisted of a front left impression measuring 12cm long by 12cm wide and 18cm behind it was a left back paw print 11cm long by 9cm wide and

22cm behind the front paw was the right rear paw impression of the same measurement as that to

the left. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy

2011.

Close view of the top left paw print. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.


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Close view of the rear left paw print. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

Close view of the rear right paw print. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

Casting the tracks. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

A road sign to the isolated farming community of Mawbanna, whose forests are claimed by some to occasionally be home to Thylacines thought to move into this north-west Tasmanian community move the

Savage River National Park to the south. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.


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Mawbanna has the dubious honour of being the location where the last known thylacine shot in the wild by farmer Wilfred Batty in

May 1930. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

The Gilroys attempted to locate the old Batty farm up the road named after him, but it became too rough to negotiate.


A Mawbanna farming property. For the past 80 years, properties hereabouts have been visited by ‘tigers’ and missing poultry is often blamed upon one of these elusive animals. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

Motorists travelling at night along Mawbanna’s bushland roads have claimed encounters with

‘tigers’ seen in their headlights as they dash across the road ahead of the vehicles.



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Please Note

Our previous meeting was a huge success and we look forward to seeing you at our next one. Our next meeting will be held on Saturday 15th January 2012 - same time, same place – 12 Kamillaroi Road, Katoomba.

So until our next meeting –

Watch the Skies!

Rex and Heather

The forest country hereabouts could very easily hide thylacines, and locals have been known to find fresh tracks from time to time in these wild areas. Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.

A farm on the edge of Mawbanna forestland. These creatures have been claimed to

occasionally emerge from these wilds to attack poultry and other prey.


mysterious australia newsletter - december 2011

Documents

heather gilroy

animal track

animal prints

paw impression

animal pathway

lookout pathway

gilroy residence

indistinct paw