Estoppey

The life of R. A. Estoppey via the newspaper archives:

1924

December 8: Fruit grower.

1925

May 18: DESTRUCTION OF BIRD LIFE - A BRIAGOLONG RESIDENT ASSISTS THE CHIEF INSPECTOR.

"Mr Estoppey is a very live man in his district and renders this department a great deal of valuable assistance, and besides this is a very observant man and his views are therefore entitled to respect."

1926

March 4: Estoppey applies to the council to provide concrete for the creek crossing near his place which he would build.

1928

December 20: Assistant inspector under the Fisheries and Games Act combats non-indigenous trout.

Note: This article refers to Estoppey as an "honorary inspector".

1930

January 2: Bee Keeper.

1931

October 5: Estoppey informs council about the poor condition of fire breaks in Briagolong district.

1932

January 21: "The forest ranger (Mr. Frank Whitelaw), Messrs. Edward Gibbs (fire guard), and L. F. Gibbs and R. Estoppey attempted to stem the forest fire, but they were driven back, narrowly escaping with their lives."

January 28: "The properties of Messrs E. E. Gibbs, R. A. Estoppey. and T. Prowd were saved. Fortunately the wind changed when the fire was within three miles of the town."

May 23: Honorary inspector Estoppey testifies against against poachers.

June 20: Receives consignment of 500 yearling trout.

July 27: Maffra Angling Club.

September 5: Maffra Angling Club.

1933

November 27: MAY BE A PUMA. In Briagolong District. BUT MAY BE A DOG. SEARCH PARTY OUT.

1934

June 7: Estoppey rescues injured bushwalker.

August 10: Maffra Angling Club.

1936

April 16: Gippsland Hospital. Payments. Wages. R. A. Estoppey £15.

1937

May 27: Writes about threat of cormorants to young trout.

1938

April 28: Rifle shooting, Briagolong Club.

1939

March 3: Forest fires reduce food supply for Estoppey's bees.

March 9: Honorary Forest Officer Estoppey recommends controlled burn offs.

June 15: Estoppey agrees to do work between his place and Maffra shire boundary.

September 28: Tinamba Pig Market.

December 9: "MONSTERS" OF MYSTERY. See article below.

1943

December 9: Drawing attention to the need for a low-level bridge over Freestone Creek.

1946

July 4: Recommends controlled burn offs.

1948

August 2: Finds RAAF weather meter.

1949

September 8: Asks council to erect a low-level bridge over Freestone Creek.

1950

May 4: Draws attention to the work which had been done on the crossing over Freestone Creek.

1951

July 5: Draws attention to flood damageon the crossing over Freestone Creek.

1953

February 2: Eldest son, James, becomes engaged.

March 19: Draws attention to the need for improvements on the crossing over Freestone Creek.

April 27: Eldest son, James, weds.

1954

May 6: Requests assistance in maintaining crossing over Freestone Creek.

Apropos of that elusive crocodile in the north, it is well to remember that during the past one hundred and eighteen years and probably for longer, strange animals that "have alarmed the countryside" have appeared intermittently in Australia I have investigated the stories of these incomprehensible animals and amassed a quantity of very surprising infoimation concerning them.
     The latest creature, said to resemble a large crocodile, appeared, on this occasion, at Angourie Beach, near Yamba. The first record, presumably, of one of such quaint visitors comes from the journal of Hamilton Hume, the explorer. In 1821, the Philosophical Society of Austialasia, received a report from Hume to the effect that a large beast of some unknown species had taken up its abode in Lake Bathurst, near Goulburn. Hume stated that the animal was "something like a hippopotamus or manatee." It was seen on two or three occasions by himself and the members of his exploring expedition The Philosophical Society was quite fascinated by the news, and informed Hume that it would reimburse him for any expense he might be put to in capturing the monster, or in collecting its head, skin, or bones. But the society was too optimistic as many other people have been since that day regarding the capture of these creatures. The animal was neither apprehended nor killed and, indeed, it was never seen again.
     In March, 1872, an animal of rather frightful mien was reported as having been seen for a few weeks in a lagoon near Narrandera. Its appearance was vouched for by "highly respectable people living in the locality. It surprised them more than anything they had ever seen in their lives." A party was organised to try and catch it but with the usual result. The visitor simply moved on to fresh fields or blue lagoons elsewhere.
     Throughout all the records, not one of these animals has ever been captured or killed. They have all seemingly borne charmed lives.

Unclaimed Reward

     The "great Euroa monster" of 1890 was hunted by a heavily armed party from the Melbourne Zoo. Although dozens of people had been frightened out of their wits by this brute, the hunters did not get so much as a glimpse of it.
     The famous Tantanoola tiger, which materialised in 1895, was supposed to have been shot but the animal stuffed and exhibited as the "bumped off" tiger raised such a storm of protest from those people at Tantanoola who had seen the authentic "tiger," that the claim was not pressed, and so the Tantanoola tiger goes down in history as just another intruder that came and went without even a tigers farewell.
     Another hairy nondescilpt was seen at Crystal Brook, South Australia, in 1876. This one reduced the local population to jitters for a time, and the Government offered a reward of fifty pounds for it dead or alive. No one ever claimed the prize.
     At Molonglo River, in 1886, four men on horseback were crossing the stream when one of the leading horses shied at "a remarkable animal." It was "whitish in colour and about the size of a large dog. Its face was like the face of a child!" (My own note of exclamation—it sounds so like an animal out of the Book of Revelations.)
There was no attempt to capture this creature. Its debut was made in the midst of a shower of stones from the shocked horseman, who apparently were not of the Apocalypse type or they might have recognised it. It is to be hoped that they were all bad shots. The "animal" was not seen again.

Ugly Blend.

In March, 1935, another monster arrived from regions unknown and made its appearance in the Barwon River, near Brewarrina. It was said to have been a cross between a crocodile and a wild pig! Staggered observers would, naturally, as Pliny of Vesuvius fame, said, get a distorted view of this alarming specimen which was accused of having fed on local cattle. One riverside dweller sadly related how it had taken his calf! However, after a brief visit, the raider left, and the place knew it no more.
     The animals noted have been of a seemingly amphibian type except the great tiger, but it is the lion-like and tigeir-like brutes that almost swamp the records in the number of their appearances. There are also records of gorilla-like animals and the stories of them are so well attested by reputable people that it would be quite offensive to class these unexplained creatures as mere phantasms.
     There are records from Pipers Creek, Mansfield, Lockwood Chiltern, Briagolong, and other places in Victoria, from Harden, Tantawonglo, Goulburn, Gloucester, Wellington, Jamberoo, Orange, and other places in New South Wales, from the Three Mile Scrub, Brisbane, the St George district, and Normanton in Queensland, of mystery animals that may have been lions or tigers but which no one ever got close enough to properly identify.
     Mr. Estoppey of Briagolong, Victoria, has sent the writer many particulars and measurements, paws body length, etc , of these lionlike creatures. He has taken people accustomed to menageiies to presumed habitats, and they have averred that the odour in these lairs resembles that from animal cages. As to the paws, measmements tend to confirm the belief that they are the paws or no known Australian animal.
     It might be added that in all his investigations the writer has not come across one authenticated case in which a lion or tiger has escaped from a menagerie and gone bush. This is mentioned because the first announcement generally issued when these animals are seen abroad is that they "must have escaped from some travelling menagerie."
     The animal seen at Angourie Beach, perhaps only an ordinary runaway crocodile, may lie shot or captured, but if it is in the same category as some of those monsters alluded to here as "get-away" will be all (from its own viewpoint) that could be desired. Alarmed by the publicity it is getting it will doubtless retuin to the silence from which it temporarily emerged.

R. A. Estoppey is Rudolph Alexander Estoppey or "Rod", my great grandfather who was born lived and died at "Culloden" on the freestone creek 6 miles north of Briagolong.

Rod's father was Ferdinand Arnold Estoppey a Swiss man who followed his other three brothers to the Briagolong area, arriving in 1889 and acquiring "Culloden" in 1893. Ferdinand married Isabella Wishart (Scottish born) in Sale in 1895 and Rod was born on 1st Jan 1896.

Rod had two brothers Andrew "Andy" (b.1898) and Charles "Charlie" (b.1902).

The family were devout Plymouth Brethren and travelled regularly to Calulu just outside Bairnsdale for religious meetings. During WW1 the 3 boys were forbidden to participate by Ferdinand and Isabella due to their religious beliefs and some of Ferdinand's sisters had married German men so they didn't want to shoot relatives. Also Ferdinand NEVER became a naturalised Australian citizen.

Ferdinand died in 1920 and Rod continued to drive his mother to the meetings at Calulu until her death in 1947. Rod married Gladys Rose DePerrior (From Trafalgar) on 7th Apr 1923 in Trafalgar. Rod and Gladys had my grandfather James (1925) and his brother David (1927).

As far as we are aware Rod was Forest Ranger and Assistant Inspector of Fisheries and Game from about 1933 until about 1936 and we have always been told that the Briagolong Tiger is why he lost his position. We are all believers in the "Tigers" existence as many in our family have had sightings of a Cat like animal fawn in colour even into the mid 1990's at or around Culloden. One person being my grandmother.

As a young boy growing up at Culloden I was always told by my grandfather James that the Big Cat was released in the early days by a travelling circus who had to lighten it's load to get over the high plains.

After all the fiasco with the Tiger Rod continued to farm at Culloden producing many varieties of fruit and honey from bees until Rod died of a heart attack and was found in the "Sheep Gully" about 300m from the house on 6th May 1964 aged 68 years.

Many at this time believed our family were a strange but well respected people. So over time the area healed it's wounds against Rod and "The Tiger" however he certainly in some respects took on the bad stigma in Briagolong which both his parents had started in the 1890's.

The picture attached of Rod driving his Model T ford could be a possible hunting party. We know the pic is at Culloden in about 1935. Rod's Model T was also used as a fire truck before Briagolong purchased it's first tanker.

Daniel Parker-Estoppey
15.07.2014

Iain Estoppey’s recollections from himself and his father James Estoppey about Rudolph and Gladys Estoppey (James’s parents) and the “Briagolong Tiger”. July 2014

“Someone in the early days 1920s or 1930s was camped in a tent up near Culloden when they heard a low moaning outside their tent. The person didn’t get out of the tent to investigate as it was believed that the Cougar/mountain lion had been set free by a travelling circus. Being used to seeing tents the people at the time believed that the Cougar/mountain lion must be looking to be fed by them, thinking the tent was a circus person’s tent”

“My father (James) told me that in the 1920s or 1930s a woodcutter was either stopping into the Briagolong Hotel (Pub) or calling in for a drink when he overheard a couple of men talking about a lion. The woodcutter thought the two were mad and said “don’t give me that rubbish” in similar words. Not long after this (days) the woodcutter reappeared in the hotel to get a drink to calm his nerves explaining to the people in the hotel at Briagolong that while riding his bike down a track he was stunned and shaken to see a lion walk across down the track in front of him in broad daylight.”

These are the two main stories which Iain Estoppey can recall his father James telling him.

(Supplied by Daniel Parker-Estoppey)