Australian “Tarzan” Solved The Problem Of Living Cheaply

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27166, 23 August 1949, Page 5

Australian “Tarzan” Solved The Problem Of Living Cheaply

SYDNEY, Aug. 22. Police searching scrub country near the suburb of Maroubra were confronted by a terrifying apparition when their portable searchlights revealed a ‘ wild man ” with long black hair and ragged clothing dodging from bush to bush. He submitted quietly to arrest, and will be charged with vagrancy. The man, whom the police immediately christened “Tarzan,” said that he was 21 and was the son of a Sydney accountant. He had severed all family ties to lead the life of a nomad, and for more than a year had camped in scrub and eaten from garbage tins. He told the police that ne had solved the problem of living without money, as he had six rent-free camps under trees, using bracken and branches for mattresses and coverings. The camps were convenient to rubbish tips, extending from the Randwick rifle range to the shore of Botany Bay. He wore an old military slouch hat trimmed down and adjusted at a rakish angle. Other clothing, including an overcoat, was picked of! the dumps. His hair had grown to great length, but he demonstrated to the police how he “ kept it in trim ” by means of old razor blades.