Inside history of Mary River crocodile sightings at Gympie, Maryborough

It has been almost 10 years since rangers corralled a mammoth 3.5m crocodile on the Mary River, hundreds of kilometres south of the reptile’s normal habitat, but rumours still persist of their presence in the popular waterway.

Crocodile sightings are common in Queensland’s north, with close encounters including a 5m-long monster hopping in a tinnie, but they are not irregular occurrences for the people living along the length of the Mary River in the state’s southeast, either.

The river, which runs across the Gympie, Sunshine and Fraser Coast regions, is classified as an “atypical habitat zone” but residents and rangers have nevertheless had their share of encounters on the waterway.

One of the earliest on media record was in 1964, when Jim Greensill shot a 3.5m reptile at Owanyilla.

It was paraded around Maryborough pubs before the hide was tanned.

In 1998 a dead crocodile was pulled from the river near Kenilworth.

Perhaps the most famous, though, was a five-year hunt of the river by rangers for a 3.8m long reptile first seen on the banks of K’gari in 2009.

It was one of two crocodiles which became “problems” in the region.

James Greensill shot a 3.5m crocodile at Owanyilla in 1964 and it was taken around pubs in Maryborough before its hide was tanned.

The 3.8m reptile was finally corralled by rangers at Mungar in November 2014.

Pictures of it along the banks of the Mary River, near Maryborough, emerged in 2012.

Footage of the capture released by the department shows the extreme care and patience required to lasso the reptile.

A dead crocodile was found in the Mary River, near Kenilworth, in October 1998. Picture: Graeme Parkes

The crocodile was captured by the rangers with a harpoon, after efforts to bring it in with baits and trapping methods did not work.

The reptile was believed to have travelled the full length of the river, and displayed a wariness of people.

It was transferred to the Koorana Crocodile Farm in Rockhampton.

The smaller crocodile of the pair was removed from the river in 2013.

The capture did not put an end to people claiming to have seen crocs in the river.

A Department of Environment spokesman said there had been seven reported sightings in the river between January 1, 2013, and January 1, 2023.

A 3.8m crocodile captured in 2014 was the last confirmed sighting of the reptiles in the Mary River, a Department of Environment spokesman said. Picture: Megan Slade

A number of these claimed sightings made headlines, although the spokesman said wildlife officers “have not confirmed the presence of a crocodile in the Mary River” since the 3.8m reptile was removed.

In April 2016 officer were at the Mary River at its mouth on the Fraser Coast trying to trap two more which had been sighted, including one believed to have been more than 4.5m in length.

In 2019 two more were reported further south in the river, at Gympie, but rangers who scoured the area ultimately turned up nothing.

Another sighting in September 2019 placed one of the claimed reptiles near Tiaro.

Wildlife officers captured the crocodile about five years after it was first seen, near the western side of K’gari. Picture: Megan Slade.

Authorities scoured the Mary River around Maryborough again in August 2020 following two more separate reports of crocodiles, one near the Lamington Bridge on August 12 and the other downstream of the city on August 18, to no avail.

Sightings have been recorded beyond the river’s banks, too.

In 2018 there were at least 10 sightings logged across the Wide Bay, including two at the western side of K’gari, two at Little Tuan Creek, Boonooroo, and in the Mary River at Maryborough.

Of course any number of the reports were likely to be cases of mistaken identity, as one Gympie region resident realised in 2018.

The man, who wished to remain anonymous, said the creature he saw in the river and thought to be a crocodile was almost certainly “the biggest lungfish I have ever seen”.

The DES spokesman said “the Boyne River south of Gladstone is the southern extent of crocodile habitat”.

“This means that any crocodile confirmed to be present in the Mary River or wider region, regardless of size or behaviour, is targeted for removal,” he said.