There is growing speculation that some of the unusual cartoon characters devised by Melbourne illustrator, author and great Australian , Michael Leunig, are somehow being magnetically attracted to a North Queensland island . On the other hand ,it could just be the lousy Victorian weather forcing them to flee to Magnetic Island , off Townsville .
Despite what our Shipping Reporter wrote about the mysterious mermaid(above) who came ashore on Magnetic Island , fleeing freezing Tasmania and its beaut scallops, one of Leunig's island fans says she is actually the mermaid who appeared in his book Wild Figments,on the title page and in a piece about a sailor in which she is shown swimming with a shark and a manta ray .
We recently ran a post from the Shipping Reporter about Leunig's characters, the intrepid explorer Vasco Pyjama and his direction finding duck, painted on a caravan parked on the island .
And while patrolling one of the cluttered pristine beaches on the island our waterfront scribe came across another Leunig creation (above)-a rather green about the gills and elsewhere poor little man with a lumpy head and snozzle.
We recently ran a post from the Shipping Reporter about Leunig's characters, the intrepid explorer Vasco Pyjama and his direction finding duck, painted on a caravan parked on the island .
The Shipping Reporter reckons any day now that strange Leunig man who gets about with a teapot on his head will be washed shore and he will take him to the Marlin Bar to thaw our with a pint of Captain Kidd's rotgut,poured from a Royal Doulton bedchamber,followed by a rum and raisin double scoop of icecream from Adele's Cafe, at Horseshoe Bay .
Meanwhile the siren like mermaid continues to cause chaos to the island's sea transport by luring deckhands on ferries to jump ship and swim towards her, only to be devoured by sharks.
The mainland media still have not caught up with the fact that a mysterious mermaid has appeared at the entrance to Townville's Jewel in the Crown ,Magnetic island .
Captain Cook experienced some mysterious force when he hove to off the island and his cheap made in China compass went haywire, so he called it Magnetical Island.
STOP PRESS: Mermaid's trident has disappeared .
Meanwhile the siren like mermaid continues to cause chaos to the island's sea transport by luring deckhands on ferries to jump ship and swim towards her, only to be devoured by sharks.
The mainland media still have not caught up with the fact that a mysterious mermaid has appeared at the entrance to Townville's Jewel in the Crown ,Magnetic island .
Captain Cook experienced some mysterious force when he hove to off the island and his cheap made in China compass went haywire, so he called it Magnetical Island.
STOP PRESS: Mermaid's trident has disappeared .
