Thread: An interesting story on disappearances in the Vic High country

Originally Posted by 350RRC

Thomas Mitchell camped on the Glenelg downstream of present day Dartmoor at a spot he named Wild Dog Bend because of the racket that night. !836

There are numerous references in George Robinson's journals about wild dogs and the problems they caused the early settlers after Mitchell.

There are also references in the journals about which tribes had dingoes at the time and which didn't. 1841

Keep in mind that Bass Strait was alive with sealers and whalers in the late 1700's so the dogs could have come from them, but is unlikely because Robinson was accompanied by a dozen or so aborigines from different tribes who gave him the dingo info.

DL

Makes sense and which is no doubt one of the reasons the flocks had shepherds living with them back then, but the dingoes must have been wiped out by the 1900s because I've never heard of them being in the Grampians or the Western District in the 1900s. Everyone in the Western District, and the Wimmera, was running sheep so dingoes would not have been welcome.

There was a piece on Landline last Sunday about the replacement of the Dog Fence and they were saying that the dogs in Victoria in the High Country were hybrids whereas the dogs on the other side of the fence in SA are nearly all pure dingoes, but the Ngarkat dogs are apparently dingoes, so they're actually on both sides of the fence.

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

The unanswered question is why anyone would want to kill and carry away two harmless elderly people who were just sitting around a campfire minding their own business.
The story says the cops are not aware of any drug plantations in the area.
Plus two other people have also gone missing in the same area in the last six months, so it's not an isolated incident.

Has someone just stopped taking their meds and gone completely delusional out there in the bush?
It happens in the city, when paranoid people wrongly think they are fine so they can stop taking their meds, so it could happen in the bush.
It's a worry. One day, when the world stops being crazy, I'd like to visit that area, so it would be nice not to have to be looking over the shoulder all the time.

This may be of interest:

The '''Button Man''' could be key to mounting mountain mystery

Thanks. That was really interesting. What a mystery!

This is what they called the dead dog tree in the back of Emeo. The local farmers would get together and shoot a few. I think the main farmer has sold up and that was the end of it.

Originally Posted by theelms66

This is what they called the dead dog tree in the back of Emeo. The local farmers would get together and shoot a few. I think the main farmer has sold up and that was the end of it.

They have done well,we have found them very difficult to shoot,smart and cunning.
Although we have very few around,thankfully.

leave the dingoes , go after the cats and foxes.....

In the early nineties I used to work as a field assistant for North Broken Hill exploration, based out of Mansfield. It was an absolutely cracking job. Being paid to 4wd, hike and look for precious metals.
I met many old cockies from EDI, Black Range, Strathbogie, Kings sadlle area who all swore there was a Puma or Puma's in the area. One bloke had made plastercast of tracks and the paws were massive, much bigger than a feral cat.
One particular day I was working by myself on the side of a gully having hiked four hours in , I had set up a set of gridlines and was assy the area. I got the distinct impression I was being watched and stalked. Very spooky and I was pleased to make it back to the fourby.
That buttonman is a mysterious gentleman. May be more to that than meets the eye!

This thread raises an interesting point about how keen a wild dog might be on getting into a tent, which I've never really thought about. I have slept in a tent in Rhodesia and the hyenas would come and lick/chew the pots and pans if we left them out, also steal shoes, we could hear the lions roar at night and elephants breaking trees. One day we came across the local maintenance men who walked around fixing the windmills, and they were only carrying tools, no rifles, a few minutes after that we came across a pride of lions beside the road. I have had a tame warthog that used to frequent the game park camp, try and push it's way into my tent while I was putting shoes on in the doorway. Dragging prey up into trees is definitely leopard behaviour and pro'ly also applies to (jaguar/puma/cougar).