Tasmanian tiger sightings archive
1930 - 1936
Tasmania
13 May 1930 - Last thylacine killed in the wild
On 13 May 1930, in the Mawbanna district of north-eastern Tasmania, farmer Wilf Batty was eating his lunch when he heard a loud squawking coming from the direction of his chicken coop. Without hesitation, he put down his soup spoon, seized his gun from the wall, pushed a couple of cartridges into the breech, and went out. He imagined the disturbance was being caused by an unwelcome visitor his farmworkers had seen in the area over the past few months.
Once outside, as he had feared, he saw an animal near the coop. As he recalled later, it had had its head under the wire mesh that surrounded the chickens. It looked at him for a moment, and then started to lope away, not particularly quickly, around the back of a shed. Batty followed, though both his kelpies hung back, whimpering.
It was a big, dog-like creature, low-slung, with a large head and a long, stiff tail. Its short brownish fur was banded all across the back with much darker, broad transverse stripes, which gave it its common name. Batty took careful aim as it headed for the perimeter fence, and fired. The animal dropped. Batty walked over and checked that it was dead, and then crossed his yard to see what damage had been done to his poultry. The beast he had killed belonged to a type that had a long-established reputation among farmers as a pest, though there had been fewer and fewer of them around over the last twenty years, and this was the first time in Batty's experience that he had heard of one raiding a henhouse. What Batty did not know was that it would also be the last time, for his action had made him the last man to shoot a Tasmanian tiger in the wild. Just over six years later the entire species would be extinct, when the last known survivor died in Hobart's Beaumaris Zoo, of neglect, on 7 September 1936.
Gill and West, 2001; Extinct, Panmacmillan, pp 212-3
1937 - 1939
Tasmania
1937 - Search by Summers between Arthur and Pieman Rivers
Seargent Summers leads a search in the north-west of he state, recording many recent sightings by other persons in a large area between the Arthur and Pieman Rivers, although the party itself did not see any thylacines. He recommends a sanctuary in that area.
http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/wildlife/mammals/thylacin.html
1937 - Sighting at Arthur River
In 1937 a stockman was credited with having observed [a Tasmanian tiger] on the extensive Arthur River heathlands bordering on the North-West Coast.
Tasmanian Wild Life, Michael Sharland, Melbourne University Press 1962 (p7)
1937 - Footprint plaster casts at Thirkells Creek
... the record is supported by a series of plaster casts of foot impressions, available for inspection in the Tasmanian Museum, to which they were presented...
Regarded positively as those of a Tiger, the plaster foot impressions now in the museum came from Thirkells Creek in 1938.
Tasmanian Wild Life, Michael Sharland, Melbourne University Press 1962 (pp9,10)
1940 - 1949
New South Wales
1949 - Sighting near Bourke
One perplexing account is that of S. J. Paramonov (1968), who in 1949 witnessed a dog-like animal on the Bourke-Wanaaring Road in New South Wales which "was uniformly grey-brown, with short hairs; the strange tail, extremely wide at the base, seemed to be a continuation of the hind quarters; the hind leg was strongly marked with almost horizontal stripes", that is, the hindquarters were like a thylacine's but the markings were not. "The most remarkable feature was the strange manner of running: although the animal was swinging regularly sideways, the hind part of the body made a kind of bobbing, up and down movement; the impression was as if the animal was drunk." Paramonov made notes at the time, but was reluctant to publish them until after the discovery of the mummy from Thylacine Hole was made public. His observations were made at a distance of 15-20 metres, in full daylight. The bleak environment in which the sighting occurred however, is certainly not a place were one would expect to encounter a thylacine.
http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/naturalhistory/alleged_mainland_sightings_2.htm
Tasmania
1945 - Search, possible footprints, by David Fleay
Well-known naturalist David Fleay searches the Jane River to Lake St Clair area, finding possible thylacine footprints.
http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/wildlife/mammals/thylacin.html
1947 - Sighting between Denison and Russell Rivers
In April 1947, while clearing a power line over the range between the Russell and Denison Rivers, Messrs A. A. Woolley and B. Thorpe, of Huonville, saw 'a grizzly-grey animal with stripes on the hinder part of its back, intent on following a wallaby'. It passed within twenty yards of them.
Tasmanian Wild Life, Michael Sharland, Melbourne University Press 1962 (p7)
1948 - Sighting at Laughing Jack Marsh
A survey party working near Derwent Bridge reported having seen [a thylacine] at Laughing Jack Marsh in [1948]. It was described as being brownish-grey, but the stripes on the back were not visible at the distance, about two hundred yards. In the snow on the marsh large footprints were observed, while in the water that lay on the marsh a number of wild duck were seen, and it was thought that the Tiger was stalking the birds when disturbed.
Tasmanian Wild Life, Michael Sharland, Melbourne University Press 1962 (p7)
Nov 1948 - Sighting near Campbell Town
Mr and Mrs T Gregg, of Tunbridge, reported in November 1948 that they saw an animal answering to the description of a Tiger on the Swansea road about twenty-five miles from Campbell Town. They first saw it in the distance crossing the road, and as it could not get through the fence they drove right up alongside it and identified it before it struggled through the wires.
Tasmanian Wild Life, Michael Sharland, Melbourne University Press 1962 (p7)
c Nov 1948 - Sighting near Swansea
About [November 1948] Mw Wally Donne reported to the Animals and Birds Protection Board that he had seen a Tiger on the Coles Bay road near Swansea. The Board sent its chief game inspector to investigate but he could obtain no confirmation.
Tasmanian Wild Life, Michael Sharland, Melbourne University Press 1962 (p7)
1950 - 1959
Tasmania
Mar 1953 - Thylacine killed at South Springfield
The former rabbit trapper believes he captured and killed a thylacine in northeastern Tasmanian in 1953.
While authorities told him it was not a thylacine, he wonders why the skin was taken from him and never returned.
Bert Maher was a 28-year-old rabbit trapper in 1953, working at the edge of the forests around South Springfield when an animal started chewing the heads of the rabbits that lay in Mr. Maher’s traps.
Mr. Maher set a special trap for what he expected to be a dog.
Sure enough, one Monday morning before light, he across what sounded like a dog struggling in the trap.
Without a gun, he clubbed the animal over the head with a branch and took it home in a chaff bag before dawn and skinned it.
‘When an animal’s got broken legs or some damage, I always put them down, but save the skins,’ he said.
Later that day, he told the local barber and the barber called the local newspaper, which sent a journalist to interview him at the barber shop.
‘My haircut was not so good,’ he recalls.
‘Mr. Robinson forgot how I like my hair, all he could talk about was the tiger.’
The North Eastern Advertiser ran the story "Tasmanian Tiger Killed at South Springfield" on the front page, beside a story on the passing of Queen Mary on Friday 27 March, 1953.
The Mercury ran the story the following day.
The article reported the theory that wild fires in the hills had forced the tiger into lower country.
Mr. Maher said two men from the government visited the day after the newspaper article.
‘These chaps were Fauna Board people and (they) asked to see the tiger,’ he said. ‘I took them around and showed them my skin.’
One of the men was also a police officer and the other was from New South Wales.
Bert said they were furious when he told them he had put the carcass in a boiling pot for his neighbour’s pigs.
The chap with all the say poked me in the chest very hard and told me (killing a thylacine) cold cost me £1000,’ Mr. Maher said.
The men pulled the skin from where it was drying on the shed wall, and also took a quoll skin, Mr. Maher said. (ctd)
http://www.tasmanian-tiger.com/files_sighting11.htm
1953 - Thylacine snared at Nabowla
January 2001 - A person e-mailed a Parks and Wildlife Service officer to say that an acquaintance insisted on having seen a thylacine less than a year before in the tiers near Liffey and also knew of a Midlands farmer who supposedly shot a thylacine that he had mistaken for a dog chasing sheep in 1998. The farmer was said to have buried the carcass immediately, fearing prosecution. The e-mail also detailed how the sender had snared a 1m-long thylacine at Nabowla in 1953. "I laid him out with a dropper off a fence and was putting him into a bag when he came to and got away. I had him by the tail, and I lost my grip when he tried to bite me... I was 14 years old." The e-mail also revealed a sighting on the Bridgenorth Rd in 1960.
http://www.underdownunder.com.au/tassietiger.html
Mar 1954 - Sighting at Florentine River
While fishing near the head of the Florentine River in March 1952, Trooper W. Chequer and Mr M. Dwyer, both of Hamilton, saw an unusual animal, at first thought to be a big cat, but when it jumped on a log about thirty yards ahead they had a good view of it and reported it as being a Tiger.
Tasmanian Wild Life, Michael Sharland, Melbourne University Press 1962 (p7)
Jun 1954 - Sighting at Mt Arrowsmith
In June [1954] Herbert McKinlay?, driver of a West Coast freighter, travelling between Hobart and Queenstown at night, stated that a Tiger crossed the road in the glare of the headlights close to Mr Arrowsmith - another likely place.
Tasmanian Wild Life, Michael Sharland, Melbourne University Press 1962 (pp7,8)
Aug 1954 - Sighting between Waratah and Corinna
In August 1954, Mr and Mrs P. Upcher, of Dover, stated they had seen what they believed to be a Tiger on the road between Waratah and Corinna - a likely place. Their description certainly fitted the Tiger.
Tasmanian Wild Life, Michael Sharland, Melbourne University Press 1962 (p7)
Jan 1957 - Photo on south-west coast
Perhaps the most interesting report was that made by the crew of a helicopter working on the West Coast early in January 1957. Not only did they manage to see a Tiger on the beach about thirty miles south of Queenstown; they also managed to photograph the animal running among the dunes. But experts who studied the published picture were far from satisfied that the animal was other than a dog. None of its characteristics resembled those of a Tiger, though it must be admitted that the photograph was taken under difficulties and in lighting conditions harsh enough to obscure the apperaance of the animal in the finished print.
Tasmanian Wild Life, Michael Sharland, Melbourne University Press 1962 (p8)
1957 - Sighting at Whyte River near Waratah
In later years, even as recently as 1957, the Tiger has been seen in other districts, one report coming from East Tamar, another from the Whyte River near Waratah, and a third from Zeehan.
Tasmanian Wild Life, Michael Sharland, Melbourne University Press 1962 (p8)
1957 - Sighting at East Tamar
In later years, even as recently as 1957, the Tiger has been seen in other districts, one report coming from East Tamar, another from the Whyte River near Waratah, and a third from Zeehan.
Tasmanian Wild Life, Michael Sharland, Melbourne University Press 1962 (p8)
1957 - Sighting at Zeehan
In later years, even as recently as 1957, the Tiger has been seen in other districts, one report coming from East Tamar, another from the Whyte River near Waratah, and a third from Zeehan.
Tasmanian Wild Life, Michael Sharland, Melbourne University Press 1962 (p8)
1959 - Search and footprints in far north west
Eric Guiler leads a search in the far north-west, an area which produced many bounties and finds what appeared to be thylacine footprints.
http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/wildlife/mammals/thylacin.html
c Jun 1959 - Sighting near Trowutta
In June 1959 Sergeant McIntyre?, a field officer for the Animals and Birds Protection Board, was sent to investigate a 'sighting' in the Trowutta district, on the North-West Coast. Two bushmen had reported having seen a Tiger about seven miles south of the Trowutta mill. This was likely country, remote and lightly settled, and what made the report more significant was the fact that the place was only five miles from where the last known Tiger was shot by a Mr Batty in 1930. However, Sergeant McIntyre? was unable to confirm the animal's existence. This was not surprising in view of the heavily wooded nature of the country.
Tasmanian Wild Life, Michael Sharland, Melbourne University Press 1962 (p8)
Victoria
1958 - Sighting at Grand Ridge, Strezlecki Ranges, Gippsland
Allan from Potato Point said he and his wife were driving along the Grand Ridge in the Strezlecki Ranges in Victoria's Gippsland in 1958 when a Thylacine ran onto the road.
"It appeared in the headlights of the car," he told Tim Holt, "It ambled across the road and about three parts across the road it sprang up a very steep bank … about 4 metres high … in one bound from the road without a run."
"Both my wife and I immediately identified it."
He said he's confident it was definitely a Thylacine because of its distinctive shape, stripes and it's movement.
"Subsequently, talking to people who know the structure and ability of the Tiger, they mentioned that that was a classic move."
http://www.abc.net.au/southeastnsw/stories/s1069646.htm
1960 - 1969
New South Wales
1964 - Sighted twice at Peach Mountain, Whian Whian
May 1964 Monday 5 am in Whian Whian state forest.
Clive gave me a very detailed description of the animal observed twice in 1 week. He worked for 5 years with Standard Saw Mills of Lismore as a logger and often saw dingos. Clive said that there were no foxes up there in the Whian Whian Range. He only saw the Thylacine twice during the same week, approximately 3 years after he began working in those ranges. He was camped at the old army hut and was driving to the logging coup on the western side of Peach Mountain lookout at 5 am on a Monday morning when he observed a thylacine cross the road 3 metres in front of his car. It had distinctive stripes across its back and rump, which sloped down to a long kangaroo-like tail. It came from the left hand side up the slope, crossed the road and then leapt up the bank. He observed it again at 5 pm on the Friday afternoon of the same week whilst driving back from work at exactly the same place. This time it was coming down the slope from the right, jumped down the bank onto the road and continued down the slope as if it regularly used the same animal track. He never saw the animal again even though he drove those same roads for another 2 years.
http://www.abc.net.au/northcoast/stories/s2172927.htm?nsw
Tasmania
1960 - Sighting at Bridgenorth Rd
January 2001 - A person e-mailed a Parks and Wildlife Service officer to say that an acquaintance insisted on having seen a thylacine less than a year before in the tiers near Liffey and also knew of a Midlands farmer who supposedly shot a thylacine that he had mistaken for a dog chasing sheep in 1998. The farmer was said to have buried the carcass immediately, fearing prosecution. The e-mail also detailed how the sender had snared a 1m-long thylacine at Nabowla in 1953. "I laid him out with a dropper off a fence and was putting him into a bag when he came to and got away. I had him by the tail, and I lost my grip when he tried to bite me... I was 14 years old." The e-mail also revealed a sighting on the Bridgenorth Rd in 1960.
http://www.underdownunder.com.au/tassietiger.html
12 Aug 1961 - Thylacine killed at Sandy Cape
Described by Guiler and Godard:
Fishermen L Thompson and B Morrison were camping at Sandy Cape. One night Morrison heard noises in their storage hut and went to investigate. He found an animal within and clubbed it to death in the dark. Next morning they identified it as a thylacine and reported the kill to nearby fishing boats. On returning to the hut they found the carcass taken, so collected blood and hair samples. The blood was too degraded by the time it was examined, but the hair was concluded "possibly thylacine". Under cross examination Morrison firmly maintained it was a thylacine, but then in 1980 he changed his story claiming it was actually a devil.
paraphrased from Guiler & Godard, 1998 - Tasmanian Tiger: A Lesson to be Learnt
Described by Sharland:
A more recent story comes from the West Coast near the Arthur River and it has some unusual features. Bill Morrison and Laurie Thompson reported that on 12 August 1961 they were camping in a hut on the coast while fishing. One night they heard a noise as if some animal was trying to reach a bucket of fish bait left outside. Thompson got up and picked up a piece of wood to drive away whatever was there. In the darkness he saw the shape of some animal at the bait. He ran at it and struck it with the baton he carried. It disappeared in the darkness, but next morning the men found what they said was a young male Tiger stretched out dead not far from the hut.
The obvious question was, what did they do with the corpse? An answer found in Fauna Board records is believed to be the true explanation. They reported they had put the corpse in the hut, instending to take it out with them when they had finished their fishing and produce it for examination at a museum; but on returning to their camp from another fishing trip they found the corpse missing. Apparently in their absence some person had entered the hut and stolen it! The men were upset about the disappearance of so valuable a piece of evidence and reported the matter as soon as they got home.
Meanwhile, looking for traces around the hut, they found samples of hair and some dry blood in the sand. These they collected carefully and sent them to Hobart for expert analysis. The Fauna Board arranged for the examination to be made and later reported that both hair and blood referred to a Tiger and nothing else. Since then the Board's field officers have turned detectives and are still trying to locate that valuable corpse which they believe is still in existence but being hushed up.
There is of course an element of doubt in this and other Tiger reports.
Tasmanian Wild Life, Michael Sharland, Melbourne University Press 1962 (pp8,9)
1963 - Search at Sandy Cape by Guiler
Eric Guiler leads a search in the Sandy Cape area but finds no evidence.
http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/wildlife/mammals/thylacin.html
1970 - 1979
New South Wales
1970 - Sighting at Crabbes Creek
1970, Crabbs Creek.
Schoolteacher Mark was working on a banana farm during the school holidays and as they descended from a forested ridge top at the end of the day, the owner's German Shepard dog began growling at something sheltering within an old, partly collapsed banana-packing shed overgrown with vines. The dog rushed in to attack the animal and Mark, the farm owner and several other workers were surprised to see the dog backing out of the shed with an animal almost as large covered with brown stripes across its back and a thick, stiff, kangaroo-like tail. The strange animal had a huge jaw that opened to an extent, greater than the dog, and it gave forth with a bizarre cry unlike anything that they had heard before.
The farm owner yelled out "It's a monster, we will have to kill it" and picking up a stone, threw it at the strange animal. The stone missed its mark and the animal, looking up, saw the people and ran at great speed up the slope with a very unusual gait. The dog and the people chased the animal into a large hollow log where it crouched to stare at them. The owner remarked that they would have to kill the animal as he would not allow a monster to live on the farm. Then they all descended back through the bananas to head for home. The next day the farm owner brought up his rifle but the animal was gone and they never saw it again.
http://www.abc.net.au/northcoast/stories/s2172927.htm?nsw
1979 - Sighting at Tyagarah
Tyagarah 1979, David saw a strange animal, which reminded him of the "Tyagarah Lion" which he had heard about over the years.
http://www.abc.net.au/northcoast/stories/s2172927.htm?nsw
New South Wales - Victorian Border
1977 - Sighting of 8 thylacines including pouch young
As told by Federal Government:
The most intriguing of these was a report made in 1977 of a group of thylacines, including a female with young in her pouch, somewhere on the New South Wales-Victorian border. Some photographs of the sighting were published in the press and appear convincing. Scientists are reluctant to say any more without hard evidence.
http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/tasmaniantiger/
As told by Campbell:
In 1976-1977, a report was made of a alleged group of eight thylacines, including a female with pouch young, from an area near the New South Wales-Victorian border. The actual locality was not revealed, but a number of photographs were made available, one of which was published in the daily press (Anon. 1977a). Regarding this photo, Smith (1996) comments, "When I first saw the 1977 photograph, I was impressed - but not anymore. The ears are too pointed for a thylacine, and the snout too short and pointed, almost foxy. From the viewing angle, it is not clear if the hindquarters are tapered, but (and it might be just the bad reproduction) the stripes look like they were painted on the negative. Also, thylacines were not known to
be pack animals".
http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/naturalhistory/alleged_mainland_sightings_2.htm
Tasmania
c 1970 - Sighting between Golconda and Scottsdale
Fifty-three year old lifelong timber-getter bushman - and his father, brother and a friend - see a thylacine whilst clearing bush.
We were working out in the bush, about 1970, I think. It was when we were getting poles for the Hydro. We had knocked a whole lot of them down and were pulling them out. One of the trees still had its head on. The area had been burnt over some short time before, so there was almost no underbrush. Well, we went over to pull the head off the tree which was laying on the ground, when a Tiger, as slow as you please, just sort of loped, I guess, from under the limbs of the tree. He wasn't in any hurry. But, then, they aren't very fast, anyhow.
...Told a man from the Agriculture Department : David Bruce. He was interested if we could find any footprints some time later. We drove out there but nothing ever came out of it. We saw the animal clear like. Visible. It was in the bush with low bracken fern. Didn't pay any attention to us. No doubt in the minds of any of us that what we saw was a Tiger. Couldn't have been anything else. Me, my brother, Dad, and Charlie all saw it. Still in my eyes.
http://www.tasmanian-tiger.com/files_sighting3.htm
1980 - 1989
New South Wales
1982 - Sighting near Lake Ainsworth, Lennox Head
1982 at Lake Ainsworth, Lennox Head, Grey's Lane, Tyagarah, Uki and Terrania Creek "Rabbit" observed 5 times a thylacine-like animal with a striped rump, always around 4 am when driving before first light on his delivery rounds.
http://www.abc.net.au/northcoast/stories/s2172927.htm?nsw
1982 - Sighting at Uki
1982 at Lake Ainsworth, Lennox Head, Grey's Lane, Tyagarah, Uki and Terrania Creek "Rabbit" observed 5 times a thylacine-like animal with a striped rump, always around 4 am when driving before first light on his delivery rounds.
http://www.abc.net.au/northcoast/stories/s2172927.htm?nsw
1982 - Sighting at Terania Creek
1982 at Lake Ainsworth, Lennox Head, Grey's Lane, Tyagarah, Uki and Terrania Creek "Rabbit" observed 5 times a thylacine-like animal with a striped rump, always around 4 am when driving before first light on his delivery rounds.
http://www.abc.net.au/northcoast/stories/s2172927.htm?nsw
1982 - Sighting at Tyagarah
1982 at Lake Ainsworth, Lennox Head, Grey's Lane, Tyagarah, Uki and Terrania Creek "Rabbit" observed 5 times a thylacine-like animal with a striped rump, always around 4 am when driving before first light on his delivery rounds.
http://www.abc.net.au/northcoast/stories/s2172927.htm?nsw
1988 - Sighting at Cawongla near Kyogle
1988, Cawongla near Kyogle on the roadside at night.
Len saw a thylacine-like animal showing distinct dark brown banding on the rump, hips, legs and along the tail. The tail was thickly furred which reminded him of a photo of a numbat. The bands were about 2 cm wide and about 6 cm apart. The front paw was lifted up near the snout. The snout and the tail were held straight and the ears were cocked up.
http://www.abc.net.au/northcoast/stories/s2172927.htm?nsw
1989 - Sighting near The Channon
1989, Terania Creek Road, The Channon, running across the road at night in front of his car, Peter saw a thylacine-like animal showing distinct dark brown banding across the body. The tail was thickly furred. Following this animal were 3 smaller identical animals. This is the only report of a mother and its young.
http://www.abc.net.au/northcoast/stories/s2172927.htm?nsw
Tasmania
1980 - Sighting at Underwood
I got up early that morning as I usually do. It must have been about five o'clock. It was summer and clear. I went onto the landing and looked towards the chicken house. We have since torn it down and built a new one. Q: How far was it from the house? (She said she had difficulty in stating distances but would show us. After the interview she showed us where the shed had been and where she had been standing when she viewed the animal. The distance was 8 - 10 metres.) I sensed there was something around. Something different. You know what I mean? I felt something was looking at me. I looked up and, there, on top of the chicken coop was this animal. It stared at me and I stared at it. It was really quite beautiful. Sort of golden. It had a big head and stripes across the base of its rump. It didn't last long, maybe 5 seconds. We just sort of stared at each other. I retreated a couple of steps to try to get the attention of my husband who was still inside. I stayed within sight of the animal and called softly, but my husband didn't hear. So I called and beckoned and in the meantime the animal disappeared so I went inside to tell him. (At this point her husband interjected to say she was grey and shaking when she came into the house.)
http://www.tasmanian-tiger.com/files_sighting5.htm
c 1981 - Sighting and footprints near Underwood, Lilydale
We had recently bought our property and were in the process of clearing it. I noticed some strange paw marks in the clay by the water hole. The marks were not that of a dog. One night I was out spotlighting and getting close to the house when I spotted it. I thought it might be a wild dog and was going to shoot it. Then I thought, 'no, it's someone's nice Labrador.' It looked right at my light. I had him in my sights (it's a 4X4 scope), then it turned away and then looked back again. I saw its head mainly until it walked away from behind a low bush. It moved sort of fast but not like a dog. It was about 9 p.m. and I was downwind of it. He was sort of like a medium to larger dog and was cream coloured. He seemed dark as he turned. His hind quarters sloped away and he shuffled fast instead of bounding. It was drinking from my waterhole and his front legs were fully extended. He had a big head, not like a dog. He seemed stiff yet walked very fast. I came in and told Aggie (his wife). Haven't told many people. People I told teased me.
http://www.tasmanian-tiger.com/files_sighting7.htm
1981 or 1982 - Sighted 2 thylacines at Lilydale
The night was very clear but dark. It had rained and the lights of the car shone off the road and bush very brightly ... I noticed two animals of medium to largish size standing on the road about 100 metres ahead. I slowed because they looked different for some reason. At first I thought they were two Alsatians but knew almost immediately they were not. One of the animals was standing fully on the left side of the road and the other (a bit smaller) stood on the edge of the road about 10 metres on. They were standing so that we had them both side on in full beam. Both animals were looking into the light but did not seem to be blinded ... First I noted the erect ears and rather large head. Their colour was light brown, just like the dog we had at the time … sort of a light mutt brown. I thought, Oh, my goodness, it's a tiger! By this time I was within about ten metres of the two. Still they had not moved. It was almost as if they were disdainful of the car. If I had not applied the brakes I would have struck the larger of the two. Still they did not move.
It was now I noticed the strange tail which seemed to be too big to be swung. I also noticed the stripes which ran down from the top of the back to the flanks. (ctd)
http://www.tasmanian-tiger.com/files_analysis.htm
Jun or Jul, 1981 or 1982 - Sighting, possibly near Scottsdale and Golconda
Me and Bob were going into the bush early in the morning. It was a Saturday in June or July, about 1981 or '82. We were in our car on the track. A Tiger walked slowly across the track, about 8 or 10 feet away. I said, "Oh, look at that funny animal." Q. Can you describe it? It had a whiplike tail and had stripes on it. It looked like a dog but it sure was no dog. Real different, it was. It moved off into the bush quickly, but not quite really, just vanished, disappeared. Bob said to me, "You just saw yourself a Tiger." Then we went on and did what we had to do in the bush.
http://www.tasmanian-tiger.com/files_sighting6.htm
1982 - Sighting by Hans Naarding near Arthur River and Stanley
In order to study the snipe, I had to work at night. I was in a sleeping-bag in my Landcruiser, and was woken by rain at 2am. I was in the habit of intermittently shining a spotlight around. The beam fell on an animal in front of the vehicle, less than 10m away. Instead of risking movement by grabbing for a camera, I decided to register very carefully what I was seeing. The animal was about the size of a small alsatian, a very healthy male in prime condition. What set it apart from a dog, though, was a slightly sloping hindquarter, with a fairly thick tail being a straight continuation of the backline of the animal.
It had 12 distinct stripes on its back, continuing onto its butt. At one point, it dropped its jaw, letting its tongue hang out. I could see its teeth, and its eyes were clearly visible. I knew perfectly well what I was seeing. As soon as I reached for the camera, it disappeared into the tea-tree undergrowth and scrub. I shot out of my sleeping-bag and went after it, looking for hair and footprints. I couldn't find a trace. But I could recognise a very strong smell, reminding me very much of a hyena in Africa.
The director of Tasmania' National Parks at the time, Peter Morrow, decided in his wisdom to keep my sighting of the thylacine secret for two years' When the news finally broke, it was accompanied by pandemonium. I was besieged by television crews, including four to five from Japan, and others from the United Kingdom, Germany, New Zealand and South America.?
http://www.yowiehunters.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=785&Itemid=63
1987 - Sighting near a west coast mine
Back in 1987, I was working in a mine on the West Coast, I won't say which mine as most concerned would understand.
Anyway one Friday night I worked back for 6 hours and left around 10.00pm and was driving home with my lights on High and My Hella's lighting up the road for flamin' miles. As I came down off the hill onto a straight piece of road(hard to find they are) doing about 100k's, up ahead about 300m I spotted a dog like creature in my lane walking off the road and as I neared to about 50m it was climbing the embankment, I could make out a Tannish, Grey colour but could not distinctively see any stripes as it dissapeared into the scrub. The one thing about it's behaviour that stood out is the fact that it did'nt even look towards the lights, nor did it attempt to speed up as I approached, It was a steady walk all the way, even climbing the embankment. Now this did not take place in an area surrounded by Rainforest it was paddocks of open ground with Wallabies and Rabbits a plenty, I know this as I went and camped there later on but saw or heard nothing. But I know in my heart that what I saw was a Thylacine and I am now planning to return to Tassie to find Proof!
http://www.tasmanian-tiger.com/forum/Forum3/HTML/000024.html
Jan 1988 - Sighting near Golconda
Witness: Female, approximately 65 years old. Wife of a deceased Midlands grazier. She is owner of a large property in the Cressy area. She also owns a property at Bridport and frequently takes the Ferny Hill Road out of Golconda to the Bridport Road on her way to the beach.
My friend and I were driving along the road from Golconda the summer before last (1988). We were about three kilometres along the road. It was shocking - bumpy and bad. It was dusk and I came up a hill, turned to the right then down a short hill. I was only going about 20 kilometres per hour, the road was so bad. (Q. Was It Dusty? A. No.) I saw this animal eating offal at the side of the road. It didn't rush away. It was on the left side of the road and sort of sauntered to the right side. I was within metres of it. It was sort of like a half grown puppy-like dog. Not as large as a kelpie. Its nose was long, I noticed, and the colour was … well, like my dog there. (Her dog was a light brown.) I noticed it didn't move quickly. Sort of strange. You'd think it would rush away. It had some stripes across the back and they went halfway down its side. Its ears were sticking up and it (I remember now) a long pointed face. I saw him for at least five or more seconds. I wish my friend had seen it, too. I don't tell many people about what I saw.
`http://www.tasmanian-tiger.com/files_sighting8.htm``
30 Jan 1989 - Sighting near Golconda
I (the husband) have lived in the bush or near to it all my life except for a short time in Sydney. We saw this animal about the 30th January last year (1989). We were driving home to Lilydale from Bridport on the Ferny Hill Road. It was about dusk - you know, about that time just before you turn your lights on. Things were getting dark but the sky was sort of bright. The road was clear. Q. Was it dusty? A. (from both) No. I came up and around a bend and turned down a small hill. The road was bad so I slowed down to about 45. The sides of the road were grassy, about two feet high. Coming around the corner, we caught sight of the rear half of an animal. I (the man) could guage from the rear half that it was long for its height. We noticed (we talked about this later) that the animal had a curve of its spine that was unusual. I know bush animals and this was no dog or anything I had ever seen. (At this point the lady interjected, 'Yes, that's right. What I thought it was at first was a goat, but as soon as I thought it was a goat I knew it wasn't. It was real different.) The curve of the spine was humped over to the back and centre, a funny sort of curve. Then it moved slowly in a lope or sort of rolling walk and disappeared. The animal seemed serene, and when we were driving home and talking about it we said that if they (the Thylacine) were serene like we saw, no wonder they got killed.