rifles

It's funny... as an Aussie, I've never really thought of crocodiles as predators! That makes no sense, obviously... I mean, LOOK AT IT!

Big Ben laid at a truly frightening 22 feet and 6 inches (6.8 meters) and ruled Alligator Creek in Yaamba nearly 150 years ago.

While his age is unknown, he was a figure of legend amongst the area's indigenous people who claimed he was a man-eater.

Big Ben was more than a normal crocodile, described at the time as the last of his species, notable for having a different, more vicious jaw structure than a normal croc.

His front teeth in the lower jaw fitted into holes in his upper jaw creating an unescapable lock for whatever poor creature he bit.

In 1872, a hunter named Goldino Columbo shot Big Ben in the head while out on the river but was unable to finish the job or capture him.

The monstrous reptile's body was later found washed up on the shore by none other than John William Wilson.

Rocky locals will know Wilson as the architect responsible for designing 200 buildings in the region including the Heritage Hotel and the Queensland National Hotel in Mount Morgan.

Big Ben's appearance was so frightful Wilson didn't dare get close, and only returned several days later to find him truly dead.

When he was brought back to town and had his guts opened they found 101 kilograms of quartz, a collection of human bones, and two other smaller crocodiles.

Big Ben's body was stuffed and paraded around Queensland and New South Wales with a collection of other, albeit smaller, crocodiles, also killed by Columbo a few months later.

It's clear that CQ has never had a shortage of overgrown reptiles, not 100 years ago, and not today.

Source:
www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/rockhampton/meet-b...

I supplied that information to the Morning Bulletin Rockhampton, which i uncovered 16 yrs ago...i have alot more info on Big Ben..including a photo on the taxidermy table with the skull & bones of two humans beside him...the backbone of a bulloch, and numerous large stones, all removed from his belly.

www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/rockhampton/the-de...

Noon or soon after. And winter?

beachcomber australia Unlikely, then again you've probably never experienced and Irish summer? I imagine that in winter they would have been wearing greatcoats?

The NLI is always amazing! Mr French revisited when the trees were bigger, had leaves, and there was a King Edward VII letterbox on the corner. And it was 11:00. catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000332062 Spot the differences!

Connaught Rangers, 1st Battallion, I think, so after 1881

Sometimes Flickr is freezingly amazing! At 10:19 on 2 March 2018 via Stuart

Looks like the back of a barracks to me...

Well they are going loaded for Bear in any event. The Lee Enfield rifles are standard issue but the Lewis Light Machine Gun would be for a mini battle.

More WW1, I think?

Something written on the wall above the three guilty-looking corner boys ?

Suck Diesel I am open to any suggestions. I will be away from the desk for an hour and a bit, let's see then where we are. Mary.