Australian Myths - Blues Hideaway

Many a weary traveller, making their way through outback Australia, have told strange stories of odd shaped lights they see in the distance. Sometimes the lights just hover, sometimes they seem to dance up and down and side to side. Over the years these lights have taken the name, Min Min Lights. A story is told of a traveler who saw these strange lights and decided to follow them. He followed them for hours until suddenly they stopped. The lights then turned around and began to follow him ! He made haste back to the Bush-mans Bar at the Outback Pub and told his story to the locals. They were all silent as they listened to his night of terror. Everyone in the bar looked strangely at each-other and proceeded to tell him how lucky he really was, because every outback bushman knows if the Min Min Lights ever catch you,YOU DISAPPEAR. So if you ever travel in the Queensland Outback, make sure you do it in the day time. If you have to travel at night make sure you don't stop.!!

An Australian snake that you don't read much about in the encyclopedias. This snake has not been seen in a number of years but the myth goes something like this:-
In the early nineteen hundreds, children would wag school and ride around all day on their push bikes. (not much has changed since) The resourceful parents in an effort to get the children home before dark made up the story of the Hoop Snake. The Hoop Snake, it was told, would lie on the sides of the dirt roads waiting for the sounds of the children on their push bikes. Just as the unexpecting cyclist would pass, the snake would then coil up bitting its own tail to make the shape of a hoop, it would then roll down the road trying to catch the cyclist. If it caught its prey it would proceed to bite heavily into the heals of its victim and no child wanted this to happen. As an result the legend of the Hoop Snake was born.

There is a town in South East Queensland where it has been reported a strange animal roams free. This animal is rumored to be over seven foot tall covered with thick dark brown hair and roams in the mountains just behind the town. Numerous people have sited this strange creature and many more people have ventured into the surrounding mountains just to catch a glimpse. It is also told that if you listen you can hear the growl of this animal at night. Don't believe me? Go to the town of Kilcoy, a town between Brisbane and Toowoomba, which is situated in South East Queensland. There you will see a statue erected in the shape of the mysterious Yowie. But be warned if you venture into his territory, he may be watching you.!!

There is a sad story that sets the scene in the Australia Bush. In early days bush-men, more commonly know as swagman, went around from property to property looking for work. These bushman would take any sort of work that was avaliable. The wool industry was booming, sheep were plentiful and shearers were needed everywhere. This particular bushy had finished his days shearing but as his employer wasn't paying wages until the wool had been sent to the markets, they would sometimes have to wait weeks for their pay. After a hard days work the bushman would find a big shady tree preferably near a water hole to unroll their swag and set up camp for the night. As night was falling the bushman saw an ideal opportunity walking not more than thirty feet away. Grazing on some juicy grass, between some trees, just up a bit from the camp site was this plump sheep. Knowing full well that if he was able to catch this sheep his meals would be taken care of for a least the next week. The chase was on.! After he caught it he packed it neatly into his tucker bag and proceeded to put the billy on for his cuppa before bed. Unfortunately, he was blissfully unaware that the owner of the property where he was camping was watching his every move. The owner of the land would not tolerate a swaggy on his land, let alone one that was stealing from him and quickly informed the authorities. The billy was just about boiled when three burly police officers on horse back rode into his camp site. Knowing full well what he had done, the police officers asked, "Just what have you got in your tucker bag?. You'd better come a waltzing down to the police station with me". As to why the swaggy did what he did next is a mystery but that swaggy ran and jumped straight into the water hole never to be seen again saying "You'll never catch me alive". To this day his ghost maybe heard as you pass by that water hole, "You'll come A Waltzing Matilda with me".