Almanac Memoir: Tasmanian Tiger Tales (or Tails)

June 14, 2026 by Allan Barden Leave a Comment

Recently, while imbibing a lovely German dark beer (Dunkel) at the local BierHaus, maitre de Samantha (aka Sammy), gave me a copy of an article from ‘The Saturday Evening Mercury’, of November 3, 1973 (p35 and p53). The article titled ‘Time of the Tiger’ and written by Vera Fisher, is a mix of the writer’s reflections on early to mid 20C Tasmanian rural life and interesting information about the Tasmanian Tiger (now deceased!). A copy of the article is below.

Fisher’s article reminded me of a story about my great, great grandfather, William Cotton, and his experience in the early 20C capturing a tiger in one of his hunting snares. I wrote the following piece some time ago based on an old newspaper reference, family folklore and notes, and a note I found written by a local resident which is kept in the Swansea (Tasmania) Historical Society and Museum.

A CHRISTMAS TAIL

Around Christmas, 1905 several significant world events occurred. These included the first Russian revolution, the discovery of gold in Dunedin New Zealand, smoke famously killing 100 mules in a mine fire in the USA, Frank Lehar’s operetta ‘The Merry Widow’ was first performed in Vienna and in Swansea, Tasmania, my great, great grandfather William Cotton, captured a Tasmanian Tiger.

In 1905 William lived on a small sheep property named ‘The Hermitage’ on the outskirts of Swansea, Tasmania. In those days the hunting of wallabies, kangaroos, possums and any type of wild animal was permitted. So, in country Tasmania, trapping and snaring of wild animals for food and fur was a common activity. William habitually set his snares in bushland about seven kilometres west of his homestead at a place called ‘The Sugarloaf’.

Upon checking his snares on a December morning just before Christmas, William found that he had snared a very unhappy but surprisingly docile adult Tasmanian Tiger. How to release the tiger safely though?

After some consideration, William cut a short pole about 1.5 metres long and at one end he attached a piece of rope with a noose which he managed to slip around the Tiger’s neck. He was now able to hold the animal at bay while he cut the snare. This allowed him to safely secure and lead the animal back to his homestead. His plan was to show it off to the townsfolk at that afternoon’s Christmas street pageant before releasing it back into the wild.

That afternoon on his way to town William had some trouble getting the Tiger to walk with him. After a few hundred metres however, the animal began to act just like a domesticated dog walking alongside him obediently for the rest of journey to the township. As was expected, the Tiger was a huge hit and captivated the townsfolk at the pageant.

Returning to ‘The Hermitage’ homestead, William fed and watered the Tiger and managed to slip a collar around its neck and chain it in an empty horse stall. Over the course of the evening many more locals visited the homestead to glimpse in wonderment at the large marsupial. The Tiger had generated so much interest in the community that William decided to keep it for two more days before releasing it back into the wild.

After two days however, the animal began to get very restless. Obviously it was distressed and keen to return to its natural habitat. On its second night in captivity, the Tiger tried to escape its confinement by jumping over a partition in the horse stable. Sadly, the chain was not long enough to allow the Tiger to touch the other side of the partition and it choked itself.

On finding the Tiger the next morning William was very distressed. According to family lore, he was quite disconsolate during the Christmas new year period and was never again to place snares at ‘The Sugarloaf’.

Hopefully, readers of the Almanac will find the attachment below and the above story of interest.

Time of the tiger