Wildman Wayne at Staaten River

It was getting late so we pulled into a spot by the Staaten River crossing. We woke in the morning to see a man come trotting out of the bush behind us with his swag and camping gear and three dogs on leads. He was a wild and wooly looking individual but seemed friendly enough and he asked if we could give him some coffee. Wayne told us he lives in the bush hunting and fishing with his dogs and rarely ever visits any of the towns. He doesn’t have a vehicle and lives mostly on the river banks eating bush food and killing pigs for meat. He also eats goannas and crocodile when he can catch them. He showed us some good waterholes for fishing and between us we caught 12 good sized catfish and 1 bream. He caught most of them on his hand line. He doesn’t bother with rods. It was quite a surreal experience to meet such a character, he doesn’t wear shoes, so his feet were as tough as old boots.
While we were camped there, a truck pulled up and put up a sign authorised by Queensland Police. It threatened fines and imprisonment for trespassing, camping, fishing and hunting. The people putting up the signs spoke to us and said they were contracted to do the job by the owner of the surrounding stations. They were friendly folk and said we haven’t seen you as they left. We thought it best to leave the following morning, and Wayne decided he better move a few hundred metres upstream to avoid being seen from the road. We left him some flour, sugar, salt, rice, pasta, potatoes, onions and couple of other things. He was pretty happy about that.Read more