Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Col Bailey has spent his life chasing the legendary Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, in the bush around the Derwent Valley. Col is 76 years old and comes from New Norfolk in the electorate of Lyons. He says the second time he saw a Tasmanian tiger was in 1995. He was 'taking a leak in the bush'. The north-east Tasmanian country newspaper the Valley and East Coast Voice republished excerpts from the Examiner journalist Alex Druce's story:

'It shot out of some ferns behind me —I thought it was a cattle dog at first,' he said.

'But then I was face-to-face with the darn thing.'

The encounter is one of the dramatic highlights of Mr Bailey's new memoir, The Shadow of the Thylacine, due to be released this month.

Mr Bailey said that an old bushman told him years ago exactly which part of the Weld Valley in southern Tasmania he would find tigers, or thylacines. He says that he has no doubt that the creatures are still out there. He says that he last heard a tiger's call in 2008 while travelling along Tasmania's west coast. Col does not often talk about the tiger because he fears what people would do if it were found. I recommend Col's memoirs to anyone interested in knowing more about the legendary Tasmanian thylacine.