Great Western Tiers 1928

by Rex Gilroy
Copyright © Rex Gilroy 2010

In 1928, in the Great Western Tiers southwest of Launceston, a group of roadworkers were terrified in their camp one night by the incessant howling and screaming sounds of two or three unseen creatures. The men were convinced the area was inhabited by “Jungle cats” and refused to stay there another night!

Large Black 'panther' 1961

by Rex Gilroy
Copyright © Rex Gilroy 2010

Craig Black, a young fossicker, was digging in a creek in Ben Lomond National Park one day in 1961 when he realised he was being watched by a large black 'panther' further up the creek on the opposite bank. The animal emerged, then dashed across the shallow creek. It was apparently a female. "I am positive I saw that it was carrying a pouched cub," he said later to a ranger.

Snowy Range West of Hobart January 1972

by Rex Gilroy
Copyright © Rex Gilroy 2010

Tom Forester, a camper, was with two mates exploring the Snowy Range west of Hobart one weekend in January 1972. On this particular Sunday morning they all spotted a large, black-furred catlike animal observing them from the edge of dense scrub nearby their camp. They had no sooner got to their feet than the creature turned to vanish quickly into the trees. The men later found large paw-prints embedded in soil near their camp, suggesting the animal had been there the previous night.

Later that afternoon Tom went to get water from a creek. As he crouched on the creek's edge beneath a tall boulder, he saw a dark shadow reflected in the water. Before he could turn to look up, he was thrown aside as the dark shape leapt upon him with a screech, then bounded across the creek into bushland. A shocked, badly scratched Tom staggered back to camp. Soon afterward his startled friends went in search of the mystery animal but it had left the area.

Lake Merrimu near Bacchus Marsh January 1976

by Rex Gilroy
Copyright © Rex Gilroy 2010

On the morning of 29th January 1976 at Lake Merrimu near Bacchus Marsh west of Melbourne, a farmer and his family claimed to have seen a "six-foot-length, two-foot-tall, black-furred catlike monster" as it moved across their property dragging a dead calf in its powerful jaws. They stood dumbfounded for a moment before the farmer raced into the house to grab a rifle. The animal and its 'kill' had by now vanished into scrub, but the man and his teenage son gave chase. The strange beast, however, eluded them in the dense bushland.

Mt Wright Area April 1989

by Rex Gilroy
Copyright © Rex Gilroy 2010

In April 1989 a group of a dozen people saw a black-furred panther-like animal, about two metres in length from head to tail and standing up to 0.6 of a metre on all fours, as it moved along the shore of Lake Gordon in the Mt Wright area, north of the Snowy Range

Marlborough Highway 1990

An animal of this size and description was claimed seen bounding across the Marlborough Highway one afternoon in February 1990.

Split Rock, West of Great Lake 1960

Ten years earlier, one eyewitness claimed to have seen no less than three of these large 'panthers' roaming together near Split Rock, west of Great Lake. This report resulted in one farmer from the Mount Arthur district east of Launceston relating how, one day in 1960, he had watched powerlessly as a "black catlike monster", a good seven feet (2.3 metres) from head to tail, bounded out of scrub onto his property to attack and carry off a large calf.

• NSW Agriculture Report on information available on the reported large black cat in the Blue Mountains. Prepared by: Bill Atkinson, Agricultural Protection Officer * Click Here *