Dobsegna Dreaming

[Stephen Whiteside]

Dobsegna Dreaming

When the kids are set up in their chosen careers,
And my financial plans are no more in arrears,
I know where I’ll head for. I know where I’ll go,
And you can come with me to check out the show.

To Irian Jaya, or else PNG,
To see if the thylacine’s still roaming free,
I’ll head with a camera tucked in my pack.
I can’t even promise I’ll ever come back.

Scientists say in millennia past
The thylacine lived in these forests so vast.
They weren’t just confined to Australia. Perhaps
Small pockets remain of these secretive chaps.

The locals all speak, from the north to the south,
Of a creature they’ve seen with a very large mouth,
All covered with stripes, with a long, stiffened tail.
Whenever it’s mentioned, their faces turn pale.

They call it “dobsegna”. It fills them with fear,
And none has been captured with arrow or spear.
Is it our thylacine? Could it be true
That it’s not quite extinct? That’s a question for you.

What would you think if it turned up at last,
Mysterious ghost from our turbulent past?
How would you feel if a live thylacine
In the forests of Irian Jaya was seen?

When I at last struggle free of the bonds
That tie me to suburbs like fair Moonee Ponds
I’ll travel far north to those forests so wild,
And I’ll try to remember my life as a child.

© Stephen Whiteside 10.08.2014

[Maureen K Clifford]

Wouldn't that be something? I'd be delighted and we could reintroduce them here. Is this a fair dinkum fact Stphen or your imagination at work?

[Neville Briggs]

Maybe you only need go as far as Moonee Ponds to find some exotic wild fauna, such as Dame Edna ??

[Stephen Whiteside]

No, it's fair dinkum, Maureen.

Maybe, Neville, but there's wild fauna and there's wild fauna...

[warooa]

I'd suggest you take something that packs a bit more brutality (if required) than a camera to the wilds of West Papua.

Interestingly there's been sightings of the Thylacine (or Qld tiger) up this way on and off since the 1870's. Most are believed to be (by reputable sources) actually tree kangaroos - we have Lumholtz's, which is upland and south of the Daintree, and Bennett's which is at lower altitude, but further north. Although arboreal they do travel along the ground also, albeit clumsily. There are many more species in Papua and New Guinea - perhaps the Thylacine sightings have actually been the tree kangaroo here too?

Marty

[Stephen Whiteside]

Yes, I imagine they could have been, but there does not seem to be any doubt that thylacines have lived up there in the past.