What about this new monster in the Gympie CBD?

One Southside man has a new theory about the famous Gympie crocodile

Arthur Gorrie

WE DO love having monsters in our lives apparently.

When we don't have any, we invent them by demonising creatures that are nowhere near as dangerous as our built-in fears tell us.

Sharks, for example, kill a tiny proportion of the number of people who die in car crashes.

But there is a monster I believe in - and it is a seriously dangerous creature.

The monster I believe in is the Gympie crocodile.

I also believe the new theory that some of the sightings might have been a very large lungfish.

Two great big scaly creatures might look similar when gliding through muddy water, as one Southside man has claimed.

He says he saw such a fish from his leased sheep paddock near the Normanby Bridge, when the river was swollen by extreme rain recently.

But I also believe others who say they have seen a real, actual crocodile and that such sightings used to be common, before the river-mouth weir stopped the upstream migration of prey fish.

Crocodiles have been photographed at Tiaro, including one a long time ago that was put on public display. Another was seen in the Logan River, near the Gold Coast, also a long time ago.

We are not that far south of crocodile country, but let us keep it in proportion, no matter how much we love to be alarmed.

The greatest danger about swimming in the Mary River is driving there.

Originally published as What about this new monster in the Gympie CBD?