Hollywood filmmaker link to tiger sightings?

An interesting little anecdote has come to light in recent months about a filmmaker who created his own Tasmanian Tiger in the 1970s.

French-born Australian filmmaker Phillipe Mora, in recounting the making of his movie 'Mad Dog' Morgan (which due to a mistake with the date allowed the movie to slide into the public domain!) with lead Dennis Hopper, wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald:

"Collaterally, a dog I had dyed to look like a Tasmanian tiger escaped my motel and for years afterwards sightings were reported of the extinct animal."

Most of the film was shot around the Murray River region of NSW.

Incidentally, Morgan was never known as 'Mad Dog' in his lifetime - another Hollywood invention!

Read more:
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/the-shooting-of-mad-dog-morgan-20100312-q39w.html

Watch some of the film here:

Bell frog bounces back

In the world of amphibians, it is the equivalent of finding the Tasmanian tiger. A species of frog presumed extinct for nearly 30 years has turned up in the Southern Tablelands.

The yellow-spotted bell frog was once ubiquitous in the northern and southern tablelands of NSW, but was almost wiped out after the chytrid fungus arrived from Africa in the early 1970s.

It was found alive and well in 2008 by government researcher Luke Pearce, who was searching for a native fish, the southern pygmy perch. Instead, he spotted the bell frog, which has distinctive markings on its groin and thighs.

Read more here:

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/bell-frog-thought-to-be-on-last-legs-spotted-alive-and-kicking-20100304-plsc.html

The Black Beast of Bungay

OK, not strictly Australian, but one of its authors is!

Historian and anthropologist Dr David Waldron of Ballarat, Victoria, has co-authored this fascinating book with UK historian Christopher Reeve.

The Black Beast of Bungay and its infamous attack on the church of St. Marys in 1577, has inspired and fascinated residents and visitors to the town for centuries along with tales of Black Shuck the Ghostly Dog of Norfolk.

To this day, sightings of the Black Dog are common through the region and form an integral part of local folklore and myth. At the same time, the history of the legend itself tells its own tale of the town of Bungay and how the community has responded to crisis through local folklore and myth.

The book traces the rise of this story from its origins in the trauma of the English Reformation to the contemporary era where it has become a central part of Bungay’s communal and civic identity and a colourful and intriguing aspect of local folklore.

Buy it here:
http://hiddenpublishing.com/about/shock-the-black-dog-of-bungay/