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The skin of a thylacine
killed at Redpa (west Marrawah) in 1913, drying on the fence of Mr. and
Mrs. Albert Hanson. The Hansons were possibly the first settlers
in the area (Foss 1996). The second skin (at far right) is possibly
that of a Bennett's wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus).
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In the minutes of the
House of Assembly published in The Mercury of the 5th November 1886 (p.
3), Lyne further reinforces his argument for the introduction of a bounty:
"The House then went
into, committee to consider an address to be presented to His Excellency
the Governor praying for the appropriation of £500 for the destruction
of tigers, otherwise known as Tasmanian dingoes. Mr. LYNE in moving
the motion, said it might be taken that 100 sheep were destroyed per dingo,
and the destruction of 500 dingoes would preserve 50,000 sheep. He
quoted some extracts in support of his contention that sheep were decreasing
and dingoes increasing. What he would propose was that £1 per
head should be paid for every tiger. It was no joke. He reckoned
30,000 or 40,000 sheep were killed annually by dingoes. They ran
whole flocks down into gullies, and maimed more than they killed".
The bounty legislation
eventually became law in 1888. |
