Carnivorous Nights_ On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger - Margaret Mittelbach [151]
We had dreams, too. Of stripes in the grass and shadows darting through the bush. The tiger and Tasmania were obsessions we would never shake.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
All three of us would like to thank: Judy Sternlight for her boundless enthusiasm and brilliant editing; Peter McGuiguan for being the stealthiest (and friendliest) carnivore in town; Mary Bahr for believing in tigers; everyone at Villard/Random House including Bruce Tracy, Libby McGuire, Carole Schneider, Simon Sullivan, Robbin Schiff, Tom Perry, and Vincent La Scala; copy editor Fred Chase; Joanne Cassullo at the Dorothea L. Leonhardt Fund for her friendship and generous support of this project; Darrin Lunde and Steve Quinn for taking us behind the scenes at the American Museum of Natural History; and Jay Gorney, Sheri Pasquarella, and Kristen Becker at the Gorney Bravin + Lee Gallery New York and Kimi Weart for their kind attention to the artwork.
This book would not have been possible without the warmth, hospitality, and patience of the people of Tasmania and the Australian mainland. Thanks to: Geoff King for turning the world's most beautiful coastal real estate into a nature preserve; Todd Walsh for revealing the secret world of the tayatea; Les Bursill for taking time out during a difficult period in his life to show us the tiger's past; Michele McGinity and Brand Tasmania for vital, muchappreciated support; Nick Mooney for invaluable advice; Maria Lurighi for a place to stay in Hobart; and Senator Bob Brown, our favorite politician on either side of Wallace's Line.
We would also like to express our gratitude to: James Malley; Col Bailey; Trudy Richards; Don Colgan, Karen Firestone, and Sandy Ingleby of the Australian Museum; Tony Marshall of the State Library of Tasmania; Jim Nelson, Danny Soccol, Alison Green, John Simmons, and the members of the Launceston Field Naturalists Club; Androo Kelly, Darlene Mansell, and Chris Coupland at the Trowunna Wildlife Park; Suzi Pipes of the Wilderness Society; Chris Parker, Ken Wright, John McConnell, Terry Reid, and Brooke Cohn at the Tasmanian Parks & Wildlife Service; Warren and Betty Murphy in Arthur River; Richard Gerathy at the Cascade Brewery; Peter Althaus of Domaine A; Menna Jones and Kevin Bonham at the University of Tasmania; and David Pemberton, Leslie Kirby, and Peter West of Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.
All of our friends and family at home and in Australia, including: Kay Clayton; Siabon and Shawn Seet; Sarah Reilly; Jennifer Soo; Peter Rathborne; Pamela Gregory; Nellie Castan; Ned Rockman; Sandy Rockman; Sara and Ashley Simon; Tazzy diZerega; Huma Baba; Diana diZerega Wall and Murray Wall; Gabrielle Wall; Raphael Wall; Varuni Kulasekera; David Quammen; Jack Schwartz at the Times; Ricardo Hinkle, Richard Sandman, John Denaro, Julie Rose; Mari Muki; Judy Sklar; Robaire Warren; Karen Bender; Matthew Testa; Frank, Paul, Mary, Gabrielle, and Stella Mittelbach; Mark Fresh; Jocko Weyland; Mark Binke; Anabel Ressner; Carole, Gregory, Ivy, and Lilianna Crewdson; Natasha and Liam; Ellen Levy; and Chris Vroom and Dorothy Spears.
NOTES
1. a peCULIaR aNImaL
PP. 8–9, L. 36 and LL. 1– 7. forty-second black-and-white film of the Tasmanian tiger: This clip is available at www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/. C. Campbell, “The Thylacine Museum.”
2. ROCK aRt
P. 21, LL. 5–12. The day was fine … Anxious for the slaughter: Hugh Anderson, “ ‘Paddy’ The Sydney Street Poet,” Labour History, vol. 82 (May 2002), p. 137. The poem “Hacking Shark Tragedy” was written by Sydney poet Patrick Francis Collins in 1927 and distributed as a broadside.
5. CROSSINg tHE StRaIt
P. 51, LL. 4–11. The first day that we landed: Philip Butterss and Elizabeth Webby (eds.), The Penguin Book of Australian Ballads (Ringwood, Australia: Penguin Books Australia, 1993), pp. 17–18. This version of the nineteenth-century ballad “Van Dieman's Land