The Minjin Legend?
1892 - A local bullock driver called Stan McGregor, was forging a trail from Smithfield to Kuranda during the monsoon rains when he became stranded on a peak now known as Saddle Mountain. He was near death when he was found by a local Aboriginal tribe and nurtured back to health. Despite their warning of the dangers involved Stan left the tribe and forged on towards Kuranda never to be seen again.
1927 - A local timber cutter was felling timber on the high peaks behind Smithfield when he discovered a hideous sight, an old saddle with a scrambled message carved roughly into the leather wedged high in a rainforest tree: The message read "Something is here. Something is stalking me". There was also a strange paw-like symbol alongside the words.
1962 - A surveyor, working in the misty rainforest peaks behind Smithfield came across remains that he believed to be bullock bones and leather harnesses, scattered underneath a rocky ledge. Not far from this evil lair, he noticed a panther like animal stalking him from the slopes above. He quickly made it to a trail that lead to a waterfall where he dived into the water and made it to safety. Since that day all attempts to find evidence of this illusive creature have failed.
1992- While cutting trails in the Smithfield hills, Glen Jacobs, president of the local mountain bike club, discovered a strange Sabre-toothed skull, which he believed to belong to the conspicuous legend. Aboriginal legend talks about a Sabre-toothed rainforest cat named the Minjin, which means "mountain devil".
2000- AJ Hackett unearths the legend of the MINJIN and with it the symbol derived from the strange paw-like print found in 1927. The Minjin has returned to Saddle Mountain, the evil karma however has run its course and is gone forever. The Minjin sits at the bottom of Saddle Mountain and screams at speeds similar to that of a mountain c |
