Ken Murray discovers dead goats near Leeke Homestead on Great Keppel Island

*GRAPHIC WARNING* A “fact finding tour” of Great Keppel Island turned gruesome when hikers found a decapitated goat’s head inside one of the island’s heritage listed buildings.

What was meant to be a simple “fact finding” tour of one of the region’s iconic islands, uncovered a shocking and “bizarre” discovery inside a heritage listed building.

Independent candidate for Capricornia Ken Murray, who ran in the recent Federal Election, was on Great Keppel Island on Monday when he and his group made the gruesome discovery of a fresh, decapitated goat’s head inside the 100-year-old Leeke Homestead.

The homestead was built on the island between 1922 and 1924 and is heritage listed.

Independent representative for Capricornia Ken Murray. Picture: Contributed

The house was the home of Lizzie Leeke and her husband Michael O’Neill, who died in early 1923.

She lived on the island between 1922 and 1945 and ran sheep on the property, after the death of her first husband (O’Neill) she married Ralph Leeke who worked as a fisherman on GKI.

Mr Murray was on the island on, what he called, a “fact finding tour” of Great Keppel Island.

“I went on some hikes with some companions to the old homestead and we were admiring the old building when we noticed the back door was open,” he said.

“We looked inside, what was, the old living room and there was some furniture and a cowhide rug on the floor and we noticed the head of a freshly killed goat and we were a bit shocked by that.”

Mr Murray said not far from the house under a melaleuca tree there were two dead goat bodies.

“I took a closer look at them and it appeared one of them had been partially skinned and the back strap and fillet had been removed,” he said.

Independent Representative for Capricornia Ken Murray found the decapitated goat head inside the old Homestead on Great Keppel Island, with two carcasses located not far from the structure outside.

“It was horrific, we were quite shocked when we walked into that lovely old room, which is meant to be like a time capsule … it was horrific to see the severed goat’s head.

“There were also cans of alcohol, so it seems someone had an alcohol party … I can’t understand why someone would do such a thing.”

Mr Murray said while the goats were seen as a pest on the island, he thought it was “cruel” they had been killed in this way and one decapitated.

Mr Murray said the discovery was “horrific” and “bizarre”.

“In one herd I counted more than 100 goats and 50 in another,” he said.

“It is cruel, they are a pest but I don’t think that’s the solution, to me it’s just vandalism and to do that sort of thing is over the top, bizarre and horrible.

“It’s not as if they slaughtered the goat and did so with care, they just left the carcass to rot and took the tender fillet out of the spine.”

GKI Island Pizza owner Gerry Christie said he was notified of the dead goats on Monday and was going to remove the head and put a new lock on the door of the homestead.

One of the goats had been partially skinned and had the backstrap removed.

“In this instance it’s pretty hard to blame the goat,” he said.

“It (the homestead) gets constantly broken into.”

Mr Christie said people often went onto the island with bow and arrows or crossbows.

He said yachties with dogs would occasionally kill goats for their meat to be able to feed them.

“The worst thing about people with bow and arrows is they don’t know who is bush walking in the area, it could be a very dangerous situation,” he said.

Mr Murray said he’d counted more than 100 goats in different herds on the island.

“If they miss they don’t know who could be there, it’s not an abandoned island.

“I think there should be some kind of rule, we’ve been through it with police before and it’s not against the law to transport them (a bow and arrow).”

A spokesperson for Livingstone Shire Council said council had not received any reports of dead goats near the homestead.

“Livingstone Shire Council has not received any reports of dead goats near the homestead on Woppa,” the spokesperson said.

“The homestead is on privately owned land, however council encourages residents and visitors to contact council if they discover a dead animal in a public space.

“Larger deceased animals will be removed if they pose a road safety issue, are in an urban environment or are in close proximity to a dwelling.”

A spokesperson for the RSPCA said they had not received any reports of the incident but anyone wanting to report animal welfare matters could make a report by calling 1300 ANIMAL or on the RSPCA website animal complain form.