The Nullarbor Nymph was a

hoax A hoax (plural: hoaxes) is a widely publicised falsehood created to deceive its audience with false and often astonishing information, with the either malicious or humorous intent of causing shock and interest in as many people as possible. S ...

perpetrated in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

between 1971 and 1972 that involved supposed sightings of a half-naked woman living amongst

kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

s on the

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of 'no' and 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its no ...

Events

The first report on 26 December 1971 was by professional kangaroo shooters from Eucla in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, near the border with

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. They claimed to have seen a

blonde Blond () or blonde (), also referred to as fair hair, is a human hair color characterized by low levels of eumelanin, the dark pigment. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color can be ...

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

woman amongst some kangaroos, and backed their story with grainy amateur film showing a woman wearing

skins and holding a kangaroo by the tail. After further sightings were claimed, the story was reported around the world, and journalists descended upon the town of Eucla which had a population of 8 people at the time.

Unveiling of the hoax

The incident was eventually revealed as a hoax, initiated as a

publicity stunt In marketing, a publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized, or set up by amateurs. Such events are frequently utiliz ...

. The girl on the film turned out to be a 17-year-old model named Janice Beeby. She did appear in a photograph taken later, as an evidence of the Nullarbor Nymph, but the woman in the original photograph used by the media to disseminate the hoax was Geneice Brooker, the partner of Laurie Scott, one of the kangaroo-shooter hoaxers. Scott admitted to

Murray Nicoll Murray Nicoll (20 July 1943 – 2 May 2010) was an Australian journalist and broadcaster whose career spanned more than 45 years. He was best known for providing reports on 5DN radio from his own burning home during the Ash Wednesday fires of 1 ...

of '' The News'' that the hoax was created by a publicist Geoff Pearce, of Melbourne, who happened to be in the Eucla Hotel and had contacts within the media.

Influence

Nullarbor Nymph sculptures by Dora Dallwitz were shown in 1994 at an exhibition held for students graduating from their Master of Visual Arts degree in Sculpture, and in 2000 and 2004 at Top Floor Gallery in Adelaide. Her main sculpture ''After the Nullarbor Nymph'', which was cast into bronze, was exhibited in front of the

South Australian Museum The South Australian Museum is a natural history museum and research institution in Adelaide, South Australia, founded in 1856 and owned by the Government of South Australia. It occupies a complex of buildings on North Terrace in the cultur ...

for three months, was selected in the 2004

Sculpture by the Sea The Sculpture by the Sea exhibition in Sydney and Perth is Australia's largest annual outdoor sculpture Art exhibition, exhibition. This exhibition was initiated in 1997, at Bondi Beach and it featured sculptures by both Australian and overseas ...

exhibition in Sydney, and is now on display in front of the

Flinders Medical Centre Flinders Medical Centre (FMC) is a major public tertiary hospital and teaching school, co-located with Flinders University and the 130 bed Flinders Private Hospital located at Bedford Park, South Australia. It opened in 1976. It serves as the ...

in Adelaide. After_the_Nullarbor_Nymph_-_Sydney_Sculpture_by_the_Sea_2004_-_Life-size_bronze

In 1994 an installation at the

Australian National Gallery The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

referred to the myth. The issue is raised as an urban myth periodically. In 2012 a low-budget movie titled ''The Nullarbor Nymph'' was produced out of

Ceduna, South Australia Ceduna ( ) is a town in South Australia located on the shores of Murat Bay on the coast, west of the Eyre Peninsula. It lies west of the junction of the Flinders Highway, South Australia, Flinders and Eyre Highways around 786 km northwest o ...

and written and directed by Mathew J. Wilkinson. The

mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...

depicts the Nymph as tormenting men who travel across the Nullarbor. The film premiered in Ceduna on 3 March 2012 and then across Australia in following months. The film received much hype thanks to radio announcer

Merrick Watts Merrick Watts (born 18 November 1973) is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter. He is best known for performing stand-up comedy and radio works as part of the comedy duo Merrick and Rosso with Tim Ross. Career Stand up Watts beg ...

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 45 radio stations with flagship stations broadcasting a mainstream/classic rock music format in Sydney, Melbourne, and B ...

's Merrick and ''The Highway Patrol'' show which aired across Australia. A

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

premiere was held on 22 May 2012 and the film received positive reviews given its $25,000 budget.

References

{{reflist 1972 in Australia 1971 hoaxes December 1971 in Australia Australian folklore Hoaxes in Australia Nullarbor Plain Publicity stunts Fictional feral children

Events

Unveiling of the hoax

Influence

See also

References