The Otways panther: Geelong’s big cat legend under the microscope
The Otways panther lives, there’s no doubt about it. But the real question is whether the big cat lives in the wild, or just in the imaginations of true believers.
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The Otways panther lives, there’s no doubt about it.
But the real question when it comes to this popular local legend, is whether the predators live in the wild, or just in the imaginations of true believers.
We take a look back at some of the many, many stories written about big cats – and the people who shared their stories of crossing paths with the legendary felines.
2004 – Researcher shares ‘proof’, firey recounts sighting.
Melbourne man Michael Moss had spent eight years collecting anecdotes from people who were convinced they had seen a big cat and shared his thoughts on the legend with Geelong’s The Echo newspaper.
Mr Moss said three people had seen a big cat at Marengo, near Apollo Bay, just days before he spoke to the paper.
“There were three of them in the car, it was broad daylight, and they were completely blown away by the size of the huge panther,” Mr Moss said. “Other big cat hot spots are Aireys Inlet, Lorne catchment and Cape Otway.”
Mr Moss said he believed the majority of the 20 reported sightings he had uncovered were credible.
According to Mr Moss, there were three theories on how big cats came to Australia – that they were introduced as mascots by US World War II servicemen, brought in by Californians during the gold rush, and that they were descended from the marsupial leopard Thylacoleo carnifex, which fossil specialists say last roamed these shores 50,000 years ago.
In the same story, it was revealed local fireman Noel Myers, who previously dismissed stories of big cats, had an encounter on the road between Lavers Hill and Johanna in 2003.
“At first I saw this large animal crossing the road in the headlights,” Mr Myers said. “There was a really high cutting, so it was kind of trapped. It was still running along the road, it just turned and hissed at us.”
“As I pulled close to it, it couldn’t get away and it just looked straight at me. It was definitely black, it was definitely a panther, it wasn’t a pussycat.
“I had a German shepherd at the time and it was about the same height, but it had a much longer tail and a head the size of a football.
“Deb, my wife, is a real sceptic, but at the time we were quite amazed and blown away by it. Even now I wonder where they come from.”
2018 – Sighting photos spark furious debate.
Sightings of big cats in the Otways, You Yangs, Lake Connewarre and along the Great Ocean Road were reported in the week following the posting of a pair of photos of “big cats” online.
Facebook page Black Cat Mythbusters Gippsland in January posted the photos of large black cats it claimed were taken near Geelong.
Geelong’s Joel Kettner said there were plenty of big cats out there, once seeing one with his own eyes while working along the Great Ocean Road.
“There are more than a few out there,” Mr Kettner said. “The bush and the forests are a big place, and it’s only getting more houses getting built in the middle so they will keep moving on looking for new territory and places to stay clear away from humans.”
Joe Barber said he had seen “heaps” in the You Yangs, while closer to the Bellarine Darren Britt said he had seen similar big black cats around Lake Connewarre.
“I have seen one run across the road in front of the car headed home to Melton the back way from Geelong,” Melissa Ray said. “Massive maaaassive black cat.”
2022 – Video sighting from last month.
As the quality of phone cameras improves, surely more sightings will be captured for proof, yeah?
Well, just last month a video posted to TikTok by Shamis Borge questioned whether they had spotted a “panther in Bacchus Marsh, VIC ?????”.
In the video a large black cat strolls across a field, set to the jazzy tune of the Pink Panther theme.
Most commenters were quick to rubbish the possibility of a panther, with one suggesting it was a well-known local feral cat.
“Yep that’s Freddy the Bacchus Marsh local feral,” user XL posted. “He a big boy, been getting about the area for about 10 year now … locals have seen him snacking on Roos”
2020 – Wildlife photographer takes her shot
Who better to catch proof of this legend than a professional wildlife photographer?
Fortunately for pro snapper Amber O’Meara Noseda, a 2020 drive home after visiting Mount Sabine saw her come lens-to-face with the legendary big cat while looking for a particular bird to photograph.
“It was just about 4pm and it was getting dark and I wasn’t having much luck,” she told News Corp, describing seeing something strange in her rear-view mirror.
“I thought it was a wallaby on the side of the road, about 50m away from where I was. Then I looked again and thought wallabies aren’t black.
“I thought maybe it was a small labrador dog. I’ve got a telephoto lens so I grabbed it out of the car.
“It was walking across the road and I thought it was the biggest black cat I’d ever seen. It was certainly not the size of a normal, domesticated cat.”
“The shape of the tail and the shape of the face doesn’t indicate it’s just a domestic cat,” she said.
“I had no idea what I photographed. It was certainly bigger sitting on the side of the road, (so it was) longer, rather than tall.”
Ms Noseda used her telephoto lens at 560mm from about 30m away to capture the cat.
She shared the images on a Facebook community news group. Within days the post had been shared almost 300 times – attracting 600 likes and more than 100 comments.
“I am not trying to say this is an Otway panther, all I am doing is showing you what I saw,” Ms Noseda wrote.
“If this is a domestic wild cat, my god they are/can grow large.
“I have seen many feral cats before but not this big. Make of it what you will.”
2017 – Filmmakers go on the hunt
While plenty of “experts” have declared the Otways panther is real over the years, a pair of local filmmakers decided to capture proof once and for all in 2017.
Bobcat urine, thermal imaging drones and motion-activated camera traps were a few of the tactics employed by Robot Army Productions and a team of big cat researchers to produce a documentary of the team’s attempt to finally prove the presence of big cats in Australia, titled The Hunt.
The documentary, released in 2020, followed long-time Victorian big cat researchers Simon Townsend and John Turner, along with expert Vaughan King – a former big cat handler at Australia Zoo – as they spent two years hunting for proof of the Otways panther.
While the team promised some sort of “conclusive proof”, they didn’t manage to capture or photograph a panther in the wild.
Originally published as The Otways panther: Geelong’s big cat legend under the microscope
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