Intrepid Shipping Reporter dives into Davy Jones's Locker, surfaces with Cosmic Scoop .
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Magnetic Island's mysterious mutilated mermaid is a refugee from Victoria , according to our scuba diving waterfront roundsman.
He says the fibreglass mermaid was bought from a shop in Geelong for about fifty bucks by a man who lives in Victoria ,but also has a Magnetic Island pad to which he retreats during southern winters .
But why place a mermaid on Townsville's so called Jewel in the Crown , Magnetic Island ? He explained the monotonous bare rocks at the entrance to the island needed jazzing up .
How the mermaid was transported to the island is worthy of a television special.
She was strapped next to him as he set out to drive from Victoria to Townsville and then across in the barge to Magneic Island .
But there was a looming massive hurdle - the Covid outbreak and states closing borders.
Arriving at a border in a Victorian car with a fibreglass mermaid sitting next to you is bound to attract attention , raise eyebrows . Police gaped when they saw this bloke with a mermaid !!!!! sitting next to him .
Proving he resided on the island, the driver was allowed to drive on , with his exotic passenger..
In all her glory, brandishing a trident, the mermaid was placed on rocks near the entrance to the safe harbour.
Over the months, however, the mermaid was repeatedly vandalised -like the famous Little Mermaid in Copenhagen which was taken to with a chainsaw on one occasion-. The unfortunate island mermaid had her head and arms torn off , the trident broken, a replacement one removed ; gradually reduced to just part of her torso from the navel down .
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In one terrible episode , the above ghastly cut out cardboard head that resembled the hydra-headed Prime Minister, Scott Morrison , beheaded at the last election, was placed atop her decapitated body. The sleepy mainland media gave her outrageous treatment scant coverage , not this blog.
The Shipping Reporter says the man who brought the mermaid to the island is appalled by the treatment she has received .
He backs the call for an annual mermaid festival on the island, first raised in this blog by a Darwin artist , and has even drawn up a plan for surgery on the mermaid , named Isla , by some islanders who are outraged by her mutilations.
His proposed major body makeover includes a wig from a Townsville hairdresser and arming her with a high -tech trident programmed to impale anyone attempting to do her an injury in the future . So mermaid maulers beware .
Be assured that the Shipping Reporter will keep us informed of developments .
