The Search Continues For The Hawkesbury River Monster
Posted by: Monster Island News on June 9th, 2010
Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: Hornsby Advocate
Is the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales, Australia, the home to a creature from the prehistoric past? Local cryptozoologists Rex and Heather Gilroy have devoted the past 45 years of their lives to proving that the ‘Hawkesbury River Monster’ is very, very real.
Indeed, the couple first started gathering information on the creature way back in 1965 and now have a collection of sightings and eye-witness testimony that numbers in the hundreds.
Only one thing is missing, a photo of the monster.
It seems that though many people have seen the Hawksbury River Monster, no one has been able to capture it on film. The Gilroy’s hope to be the first to take a picture of Australia’s version of the Loch Ness Monster, but they know it’s going to take patience and time.
“Sooner or later, I’m hoping to get the shot of shots,’’ Rex Gilroy explains.
According to the researcher the history of reported sightings of the creature date back to Aboriginal folklore which is filled with stories about the “moolyewonk’’ or “mirreeular’’, that had a nasty habit of attacking women and children along the banks of the river.
Gilroy states that the most recent sighting was by local fishermen near Wisemen’s Ferry this past March.
“(One of them) momentarily saw a serpentine head and about 2m of long neck rise above the water before submerging,’’ Gilroy added.
Witnesses report seeing an animal that resembles an aquatic dinosaur that is grey and mottled in colour, with a large bulky body, two sets of paddle-like flippers, a long neck and serpent-like head and thick, eel-like tail, about 24m long, possibly a plesiosaur, which was indigenous to Australia.
Does an aquatic dinosaur, or school of dinosaurs still inhabit the rivers of Australia? If they do, hopefully the Gilroy’s will be the ones to prove it.
Founder of the popular monster and sci-fi blogs Monster Island News and Godzilla 3D News and Information.
Ken Hulsey began his writing career in 2000 when he founded kensforce.com a popular site with fans of Japanese sci fi/monster movies (Godzilla, Gamera and the like) and other B movies.
In 2008, he closed down his original site and created the blog "Monster Island News" a showcase for classic horror/monster films and independent/alternative cinema.
I’m inclined to speculate on some sort of river monitor. Goannas are common in Australia, and a monitor built something like it’s mososaur cousin isn’t impossible to believe for the various bilibong monsters of song and story.
My best occam’s razor guess would be a male juvenile Mirounga leonina. (Southern sea elephant) They frequently range far afield in seeking potential breeding haul-outs.
Note the similarities in description between this creature and of this sighting noted by both Charles Fort, Bernard Heuvelmans and many others.
On April 20th, 1913, Mr Oscar Davies and a friend were walking along the beach near Macquarie, a remote town on the Tasmanian west coast late one afternoon. Half a mile ahead of them they sighted an enormous dark object lying among the sand dunes. Believing it to be one of the mysterious sea creatures that had been reportedly seen off the coast they began making their way towards it. They managed to get within forty yards of it when the creature suddenly rose and rushed down across the dunes and into the sea.A short way off shore it paused, glanced round at the men and then dived out of sight. The men were able to describe it later as having the now familiar long neck and serpent-like head, large broad body with two sets of flippers and along eel-like tail, being blackish in appearance.
I most definitely think what Davies and his friend saw was a male southern sea elephant.
When “only one thing is missing, a photo of the monster,” I have found that a photo really doesn’t matter. People still need a live or dead animal.
Be warned that Rex Gilroy (he’s been around for years) is arguably regarded in many circles in Australia (including those with an interest in cryptids) as a bit of a phantasist with a not entirely 100% dedication to the scientific method.
I agree with David-Australia here. Rex Gilroy is regarded in many circles as less than your most scientific cryptozoologist in Australia. This piece above, which is not really by Ken, despite how he has characterized this, is an unfortunate promotional piece that does not critically-look at what the Gilroys are sharing with the reporter who actually wrote the article.
Reader beware.
I’d still like to read the eyewitness accounts.
24m? Isn’t that about 70 feet? That’s got to be an exaggeration.
However, Hawkesbury River is connected to the sea, and there are similar creatures sited around Australia’s coastal areas if memory serves. So its possible that these creatures, if they exist, may, for some reason, go in and out of the river into the sea.
Being in the area so to speak Rex and I have not often seen eye to eye on the spurious scientific proof he and his devout followers Flash around as absolute proof.
He is known to create media storms to get attention and fail with the desired results and I have heard from others he prefers if people agree otherwise he has a bit of a temper and brow beats.
Heresay though it is, I believe this forum has seen this with one of his supporters.
Sad really as this man could be producing some fantastic work if he channeled his energies more towards his pursuits.
Hmmm…Wasn’t there also a sighting of a sea serpent off the coast of Australia, a few years back? I wonder if this is the same species, that just swam up the Hawkesbury River…