Thursday, November 12, 2015

A KIWI CROCODILE DUNDEE

The   talented   New  Zealander, Barry Crump , subject of  this Hodder  Moa  Beckett  book, a pleasing acquisition , was  more  a  Crocodile  Dundee  type than  Australia's   Paul Hogan .  

He  hunted  many animals, wrote a book about  his  lively experiences  crocodile  shooting in Cape York, North Queensland , spending  time in Cooktown and  Cairns , fired many rifles and  wielded  a  considerable  number  of  large, sharp knives  in  his  life .

Crump spent much of his life living in the bush , moving about from  time to  time , trapping rabbits , hunting , fishing .  As a result  of  the  title of  his first book ,which sold 300,000 copies,   he  became  known  as  A Good Keen Man  , based on  the  life of  a  deer culler .

The  book  about   crocodile shooting , Gulf, published in  1964 , was later changed  to Crocodile Country.  Another of his books bore the title Bastards I Have Met , which  sold  well .

With a partner , George Johnston, Crump  ran bush camps  for boys and at one in 1969  five teenagers drowned in Lake Matahina  after a vehicle  accident . Both were  charged  with  manslaughter , later dropped . 

This blogger , who  spent some years  in  Kiwiland , followed the activities  of  Crump ,  and  for  some uncertain  reason  attributes   to  him  a story that a  woman  married  to a   ranger  left  him  because  he regarded  ground  up deer antler  as a powerful  aphrodisiac  which  he  had  on his porridge  each  morning . Crump   married  five  times .
 
Like  Paul Hogan , Crump   was  regarded as  something of a larrikin and   regularly appeared  on TV, excelled   in a  show Town and Around causing laughter  with  outlandish  yarns and jokes .  In  recent years  he  became the star  of  a series of  television  adverts  for  Toyota Hilux and also wrote poetry .

 His  24  books, still in demand ,  have  sold  well over  a  million copies . When  Sydney's  King's Cross Whisper  launched  the Kiwi  Whisper  in  the  l960s it ran a  spoofy  item  about  Crump  which apparently incurred   his  wrath and  he threatened   to  sue .