BIG GAME

Hokitika Guardian, 18 July 1931, Page 6

BIG GAME

AN AUSTRALIAN HUNT,

ATTACK BY CROCODILE. SYDNEY, July 9. Scraps of news that are filtering through from the vast unknown parts of Northern Australia give some idea of the exciting experiences of those who joined the big game-hunting expedition which was organised by the Commonwealth -Railways Department. The party was taken through to Darwin and went from there in a launch down the famous Daly river. These parts abound with bird and animal life, and it was on the Daly that the party first encountered crocodiles, which the local inhabitants insist on calling alligators. However, there are no alligators in Australia.

The members of the expedition had not proceeded far down the river when great flocks of black and white Burdekin ducks scudded across the sky in clouds. As the first few gun shots brought half a dozen of the line, edible birds down into the water, crocodile snouts converged on them. Undeterred by the rifle bullets that splashed around their gaping jaws, the monsters . had soon robbed the'expedition of half its .first Daly river dinner. Soon the . expedition was cruising on the fresh, but tidal water, with towering paper bark and wild fig trees, festooned with creepers, shading the land on either side. The Northern Territory son had driven the party under the shade of the awning, but at every bend, numbers ot crocodiles were sunning themselves on the sand banks.

Some, startled by the sound of the boat, quietly slid into the water, their huge jaws seeming to grin in derision. Others, more daring—or -more' somnolent —remained within range of the rifles. .As shots were fired at them .the huge, slimy beasts rolled into the river. Disaster nearly attended the effort to capture alive a wounded 16-footer. Several of the party attempted to noose; him with a rope thrown from a small dinghy. With a violent lash of his tail he almost overturned the boat, and turning round in his fury he sped straight for the dinghy, but a well-aimed shot came at the right instant. The first crocodile to be shot- from the hank was. obtained last Saturday by Mr Stanley Low. It was 15ft long.

The party regards the Dalv river and the neighbouring lagoons as a sportsman’s paradise. 'I he air constantly vibrates with the flights ol myriads of whistling ducks, magpies, geese, Burde-1 kin ducks, pigeons, and other leathered name. Wallabies peer through the foliage on both banks of the stream, and on tlie adjoining flats these friendly creatures sit around, literally in thousands, and with no sense of fear. The expedition decided that their trustfulness, should be respected; and- not a-rifle Arifs' raised against them. Aboriginals clothed only in loin cloths, and some totally naked, were occasionally seen through . the hush. By smoke signals tribes along j 175 miles of river country were in advance of the approach of the expedition.

The members of the party—most of them have been on shooting expeditions, in other countries—agree that Northern Australia offers opportunity for sport unsurpassed iii any other part of the world. The inaccessibility of the haunts of the game makes preliminary organisation difficult. >