‘Myths don’t come from nowhere’: Why the Penrith Panther is getting its own show

Maybe it’s a descendant of a World War II military mascot? Could it have escaped from a circus? Or is it just a figment of over-active imaginations?

The so-called Blue Mountains Panther has long had its claws deep into the collective psyche of the people of Penrith and beyond, with more than 500 reported sightings in the region over the past 20 years.

And now the mythology and cultural significance of the iconic beast is being explored in a major exhibition at Penrith Regional Gallery.

Gallery director Toby Chapman has both a personal and professional interest in the panther myth.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Featuring work from major artists, including Blak Douglas and Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, the show, entitled Spot The Difference, is the brainchild of gallery director Toby Chapman.

When Chapman moved to the area about four years ago, he was immediately struck by how important the panther myth is in local culture - with the all-conquering footy team at the centre.

“One of the first things I noticed was that almost everywhere you walked you would see the icon or motif of the panther,” he says. “For me as a curator I’m always really interested in the way communities express their cultural ideas and ideas of celebration.

“Then the more I researched the myth of the panther I saw a metaphor to think of the way Penrith has evolved from pre-contact through early colonial history to the present day.”

And Chapman’s interest is more than just professional - it’s personal, too. Not long after arriving in Penrith he had his own brush with the mythic beast.

Eating a sandwich on a park bench, something caught Chapman’s eye in the near distance.

“I saw something fall under a tree, and then it seemed to walk over to another tree,” he says. “I’ve got a pet cat at home, and it didn’t move like a cat, that’s for sure. That personal experience speaks to the fact there are perhaps oversized feral cats out there but myths don’t come from nowhere. They don’t just create themselves, so clearly the community over time has been seeing something.”

Toby Chapman and artist Blak Douglas with the work he provided for the exhibition.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Blak Douglas, who grew up in the region, has contributed a large work on canvas featuring an Indigenous hunter, plenty of footy shapes - and a big black panther. Douglas grew up in an era where racism was routine and racist slurs heard almost daily.

“But to have Terry Wickey as an Aboriginal man playing first-grade rugby league on television gave me some kind of hope that there was a possibility for people not to be referred to in such a manner,” he says.

As to the endless debate about whether the panther exists outside locals’ imaginations, Chapman says maybe that is not so important.

“We live in an age where everything can apparently be proved or disproved,” he says. “We can photograph everything and have it on TikTok or Instagram immediately. Maybe the panther can exist in that liminal zone of imagination. And who doesn’t love a bit of mystery?”

Spot the Difference, Penrith Regional Gallery, Emu Plains. Until February 16.