Too many sharks….

To complete what has clearly become shark week, here is a bit of long reading over the weekend, just in case you had nothing better to do. 😉

This link will send you to an interesting Trove article by Fred Maher in 1936 detailing shark attacks in Australia from 1837 to 1936. It is a bit long (and faded) to reproduce here but you just know it is litany of damage and death…

The first shark attack was noted in January 31, 1837, in the Maclean River NSW. A 12yo boy was attacked by an unknown monster and died later in hospital. The suggestion that his injuries were caused by a shark were ‘generally discredited’. I wonder what they thought did the damage?

Zeehan and Dundas Herald 9 Jan 1919 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article84281329

In 1847 an aboriginal was paddling his feet off the sailing ship Rattlesnake and a ‘fearsome ghost stole up on him from beneath the serene blue waters’ and bit off his leg. Eeeek.

In 1919 a young man was wading in chest deep waters when his leg was unexpectedly bitten off. His mate pulled him out but he died later. —>

It goes on with more tales of terror but all I need to know is that sharks eat people. No surfing for me!

Out of curiosity I tried to google the size of the largest shark ever caught. The biggest one I could find was just under 18ft according to some, and around 20ft according to others.

I have to say that none of them seemed entirely accurate though. More ‘it was THIS big’ fisherman’s tales? If you know of an accurate report of the biggest one ever landed please let me know!

Portland Guardian 30 April 1945 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64404164

I did find this interesting reference in an article from 1945.

Apparently the biggest shark ever caught was a (White?) Pointer near Port Fairy 70 years earlier.

That shark was a frightening 36ft 6 in.

Just to put that in perspective the shark in the photo below (caught off Kangaroo Island in South Australia on Christmas eve 1930) is a tiddling 16½ foot long.

The shark in Jaws was only 25ft long…

I REALLY want that Port Fairy monster to be the biggest shark ever caught. I wonder how accurate that measurement is, or has the shark’s size grown with each successive re-telling of the tale?

I wonder how big the biggest one lurking out there actually is. After all, to get that big it would surely have to have enough cunning to know to avoid things bigger than itself, like boats with eager fishermen…

Chronicle 9 Jan 1930 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90103056

To really, really, end shark week I will share this final clip. It is thanks to people like David Attenborough and terrifying visions like this you know why I only really want to go to sea in something the size of a warship…

Building an icon. 1930.

When I found this 1930 photo I could resist posting it.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is an icon of Australia isn’t it? You don’t even have to know what it, or the nearby Opera House, are called. When people see them they know they are looking at Australia.

Most countries have an icon like this don’t they. You know, the thing shown standing in smoking ruin during movies when they need to show that the aliens or zombies or some other world-ending catastrophe has spread to all of the civilized world, and that hope is rapidly fading…. 😉

The Daily News 23 Aug 1930 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article83580190

A comfy coffin. 1930.

The pharaohs were buried with slaves and treasures to ease their passage into the afterlife and according to this article the vicar of Thursley seems to be keeping with that tradition, much scaled down of course, with his own humble funeral plans.

The Register News-Pictorial 9 Apr 1930 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article53492286

The vicar has requested that he be laid to rest in a lidless coffin with his Bible, prayer-book, bedside books and trusty hot water bottle by his side.

He does seem to have forgotten one thing though. A lamp. No point waiting for the next stage in his existence with a few good books if he can’t see them in the dark…

I  expect that the lidless part might be overlooked by the parishioners though.

I understand his intentions, but I think it would be a little too unnerving to be at the burial of a person who had no lid on his coffin.

Maybe the vicar didn’t have complete faith in the local quack and was just making sure that if the diagnosis of death was a little premature he would have an easier escape once he woke up….

Happy Mythical Birthday. 1930.

I know that one of you out there had a milestone birthday over the weekend. Happy Birthday to you! Because of you we can eat cake today, without guilt 😉

In honour of your birthday, (you know who you are) here are some extreme birthdays of mythical creatures.

The Canberra Times 8 May 1930 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2299203

Unfortunately the animals mentioned at the end of the article; serpents 300 feet long, foxes with eight legs, monkeys with four ears and seven tails, and fishes with ten heads were only mentioned in passing. I would have liked to hear the rest of the beliefs attached to each of these fantastical beasts, especially after the birthday treats the tiger and fox deliver.

Apparently, on a tigers thousandth birthday it will turn white as a polar bear. Hmmmm… I think that there would be no other colour than grey on a tiger if it had managed to stay alive for that long!

Do you think this an explanation for the rare sightings of white tigers?

Another unusual birthday celebration is the fox who lives to be fifty years old without being chased by a dog. In the case of this unlikely event the fox will find itself transformed into a beautiful woman.

Right there is a farming opportunity for the future. Who needs dating websites when you can grow your own woman! (Redhead, doesn’t like dogs. Loves chickens).

Of course the rest of the myth means the lucky man won’t be stuck with a dog-hating woman for too long.

Once she hits 50 she will gain additional powers and change into a wizard. I hope the lucky man read the fine print on the contract, imagine the surprise to find your beautiful wife changed into a wizard one morning….

Luckily for the husband he won’t have to worry about his beloveds next transformation, he won’t be around when the wizard/wife turns a thousand and becomes a ‘celestial fox’ with, what I can only imagine is terribly inconvenient, nine golden tails.

Happy Birthday Meeks! Hopefully you will not grow an extra head or tail or two or find yourself turned into a wizard one morning. 😀

Strange things falling from the sky. 1930.

Stories of strange things falling from the sky never fail to amuse me and when I found this one I just had to share it.

The Queenslander 31 Jul 1930 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23126302

Not just boring old frogs and fish here, among other things this article tells us about the live 2ft long alligator falling from the sky in Charleston in 1844. Nice try, but a single alligator does not a shower make.

Frankly, unless I saw the thing falling from a great height with my own eyes I will continue to believe that it appeared immediately after a strange rain event and the people assumed that it fell from the sky.

Can you imagine how angry an alligator would be after a fall like that? I bet that anyone coming across it would be unlikely to live to tell the tale!

I have done posts before about strange things falling from the sky, I loved this one that included poisonous insects (ouch!) and a butter-like substance that, when applied to the skin, effected astonishing cures. What the?! (In that post I said that such a thing would never be smeared upon any part of my body unless that body part had already been amputated…..)

Usually these strange showers are attributed to whirlwinds sucking up the tiny victims (frogs, fish etc) and then dropping them in an unlikely location, seemingly for our amusement.

(In this article from 1911 a poor schoolgirl was sucked up but didn’t travel very far before she fell to her death.)

I understand that the whirlwind theory is a logical one, but it doesn’t explain everything does it? You would think that reports of a shower of frogs would be followed by reports of a pond being suddenly and mysteriously emptied in a nearby part of the country wouldn’t you? After all, the frogs don’t just hang around on the surface waiting to be sucked up, do they? Surely the falling pond frogs should be accompanied by weeds, old boots and lost fishing rods? 😉

Woman swallows snake. 1930.

Some time ago I did a post about a boy who had swallowed a fish in a fit of temper, and the effects of its existence inside him. A fish, lost and confused! 1950

Western Argus 2 Dec 1930 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36410899

Yes, it was supposedly still alive and swimming around in his stomach.

I commented on the likelihood of a fish being happy with the living conditions while all around it was being digested and came to the conclusion that no, the fish was not alive in there, the kid was just sick.

Here I have found another article about an unlikely resident of the digestive system, a snake. At least a fish is happy in a watery environment, even though stomach juices are probably not an ideal habitat, but a snake? Naaaaw….

I wonder what symptoms this woman originally presented to the doctor with? Was she over-pronouncing her S’s?

The introduction of the snake to her insides was attributed to the woman having drunk from a spring and accidentally ingesting the reptile as a baby. Now, I have only seen a few baby snakes, but I doubt that any one of them could make its way down my throat without me noticing. Baby snakes are small (and very cute) but not that small!

That article also mentions that the snake is ‘steadily growing’. What is it eating?