Left: Jane Franklin was a severe
ophidiophobe who launched a poorly-
conceived bounty in 1839 to rid Tasmania of
snakes. Image courtesy of QVMAG
Launceston (Reg. No. 1985, p.1096).
Below right: a 19 th century home on
Tasmania's frontier. Clearing the forest let
in the sun; commensal introduced rodents,
birds, and rabbits soon moved in, creating a
bonanza for local Tiger Snakes. This place
would have been alive with snakes! Image
courtesy of QVMAG Launceston (Reg. No.
1987, p.0002).
Hall Institute in Melbourne to secure a large number of
snakes from throughout Tasmania for venom research. 42
It is nowhere stated, but Kellaway may have been
providing funds to support Murray's expeditions to
locales notoriously difficult to get to. In March 1931,
Murray walked into the Advocate newspaper office in
Devonport with a collection of snakes from Cape Barren
Island and offered to display some of his catch.
He appears to have been a shrewd self-promoter for
someone so young and what followed was a lengthy
expose on his plans for the future. 43 After fearlessly
handling wild Tiger Snakes and allowing them to bite
various objects, he elaborated on his established snake
farm with large outdoor pits, and outlined plans for
catching expeditions to north-west Tasmania including
the offshore islands - especially King Island and its Tiger
Snake-infested satellites of Christmas and New Year
Islands.
* Miraculous homemade snake bite antidotes were commonly
pedalled to a desperate and gullible public during the 19 th
century by a cast of colourful characters. It is a topic way
beyond the scope of this article. Interested readers are directed
to references 36, 37, 72 and 73.
Murray is next seen on March 24 showing snakes in
Burnie 45 en route to Robbins Island to try to fill an order
from Kellaway for 500 copperheads and 250 ‘whip
snakes’. Unless deliberately exaggerated by Murray
himself for effect, clearly the men of science had no
realistic understanding of the near impossibility of
collecting those species anywhere in such numbers and in
a short period of time. On April 8, Murray has made his
way to Smithton on the north-west coast, where he was
promoting and selling his snake bite antidote at snake-
handling demonstrations while working for Vic and
Peggy Goodrick, who had been involved in the travelling
show circuit for decades. 36 We learn he has
collected some fine copperheads at the local
Mowbray Swamp but found little on Perkins
Island. 46 On Monday April 6, Murray was
demonstrating snakes at the Marrawah
sports day and selling his antidote. Members
of the crowd were taunting him that his
snakes had been stupefied or tampered with
and he was challenged to take a bite. Murray
chose the largest Chappell Island Tiger
Snake he had on hand and allowed it to bite
his right index finger. He immediately tied a
ligature round his arm, cut the bite site and
applied his antidote. On some level Murray must have
known he was in trouble as he informed the crowd the
bite was a bad one and the show was over. He packed up
his snakes and requested to be taken to medical care at
nearby Redpah. Murray was transported by train to
Smithton in the care of Dr Packham where he died at
1:30 a.m. - three months short of his 19 th birthday. 47,48
I suspect he would be delighted that we are still writing
about him today.
There have been many more bites from both wild and
captive Chappell Island Tiger Snakes during the post
antivenom era but none fatal. Several field workers
received serious bites during the 'Terry Schwaner
research era' from 1987 to 1994, including the author.
The most serious of these was to Bruce Munday in 1987,
who was lucky to survive due to delays in getting him off
the island. Some of these more recent bites have been
covered in detail elsewhere. 11,49,71
Before the introduction of antivenom in 1931, snake bites
and resultant fatalities were common in Tasmania.
Snakes were held in mortal fear and were religiously
persecuted. Newspapers of the time are full of accounts
of unnecessary attempts to kill snakes away from
dwellings, some with dire consequences. A good
example took place at Port Sorell in 1858 50 when Joseph
Moulds died three-quarters of an hour after being bitten
on the thumb. ‘He had incautiously taken hold of the
reptile by the middle, its fore part being under a log, and
instead of snatching and throwing it away, he suffered
the animal to turn back and fasten on the hand, from