14-Apr-2022 Theme: 'Tall tales'

(1) In 1872 the Brisbane Museum’s director, Carl Steiger, was served an unknown species for breakfast whilst travelling in the Burnett region. He sketched it, and it was later described as Ompax spatuloides. But in 1930 it was revealed to be a hoax, made up from bits of other creatures to trick Steiger. What kind of animal was Ompax spatuloides?

Answer: A duck-billed fish.

(2) What is the Speewah?

Answer: A mythical, massive Australian outback station, where tall tales abound.

(3) In 1912 amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson claimed to have found a fossil of a ‘missing link’ creature, bridging apes and humans, in a gravel bed in England. In 1953 the fossil (Eoanthropus dawsoni) was famously exposed as a forgery. Where was the gravel bed?

Answer: Piltdown, East Sussex.

(4) In 1866 a butcher from Wagga, Thomas Castro, claimed to be the missing heir to an English baronetcy. After one of the most celebrated trials of the century, he was gaoled for perjury. Whom did he claim to be?

Answer: Sir Roger Tichborne.

(5) In 1929 a gold prospector caused huge popular excitement by announcing he had discovered a fabulously rich gold reef in central Australia. What was his name?

Answer: Harold Lasseter.

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