by Sheryl Gottschall © 2018
The Min Min is an unusual light phenomenon that has often been reported to stalk travelers in the Australian outback. Stories about the lights can be found in Aboriginal myths and Australian folklore, but what are they?
As many Australians are aware, the mysterious Min Min lights have been known about for a long time, but we still don’t know what they are. Various scientists and researchers have investigated them, and some think they have found the answer to the phenomenon being swamp gas, the reflection of the bio-luminescent feathers of some Australian birds, swarms of glow worms, or it’s a Fata Morgana phenomenon which occurs when light from a natural or man-made source is refracted to an observer who is tens or even hundreds of kilometres away by an inverted mirage. However none of these explanations hold up when investigating genuine Min Min reports. Sometimes the lights frighten animals and other times they don’t. They can pace vehicles at incredible speeds and do so for up to 2 hours or more. Mostly they are known to be responsive to the proximity of the viewer, and when approached they will withdraw. Then, when the observer withdraws, they approach. Consequently it can be soundly reasoned that the Min Min lights seem to display some type of intelligence that we are yet to understand.
Where To See The Min Min
The best-known area for recorded Min Min sightings is bordered by four small central west Queensland towns – Boulia, Warenda, Middleton and the township of Min Min itself. The sightings are so frequent that the Shire Council of Boulia has erected a sign on the outskirts of the town saying, “For the next 120klms you are in the land of the Min Min. This unsolved modern mystery is a light that at times follows travelers for long distances – it has been approached but never identified.”
While the Min Min lights have been mentioned in various books that delve into Australian mysteries, the most comprehensive book, including 140 cases of witness descriptions of Min Min sightings, was written by the late Maureen Kozika and entitled, “The Mystery of The Min Min Light.” In 1992 Maureen received an Arts Council grant and travelled through Queensland interviewing and documenting witness testimonies of Min Min reports. What she discovered was fascinating and easily dispelled any suggestion of them being explainable by scientific enquiry.
While researchers, tourists and even local residents in these areas would like to see the Min Min Lights for themselves and be able to make up their own minds about the phenomenon, it’s very difficult to track them down given the size of the area where they are commonly reported. Added to that, caution must be used when travelling in country because of the potential to become isolated when the annual rains set in. So it’s not an easy task to study the Min Min light phenomenon when restricted by the weather and the land size.
Animal Responses
The first recorded report of a Min Min sighting was published in a book by Thomas Horton James in 1838 entitled “Six Months In South Australia,” and over the decades since its settlement by Europeans, we have heard many legends from our indigenous culture that contain warnings that if you follow the Min Min you will do so at great peril and probably die!
In his younger years, my own father spent a lot of time living and working with the aboriginal people as a stockman and station manager, but he never saw a Min Min light himself. However, many outback stockmen have had very close experiences and have seen the lights “bob across a mob of cattle without disturbing them.” (1)
Other reports describe similar observations causing us to wonder if animals see them at all.
“Once I camped a thousand cattle of cows, calves, bullocks and bulls in a fenced stock route corner. They were uneasy and ready for mischief until after midnight when they began to settle down and cud. Then came the Min Min lights to dance all over and amongst the cattle, until I was near frantic that they would up and rush. I even saw the reflective flicker of light on the white face of a cow but she paid no attention. Yet when the headlights of a car washed over the mob they were on their feet and ready to be gone in an instant, and it took all five men to settle them down again. It’s the same with horses and sheep. They either don’t see or don’t take any notice of the Min Min lights. Or do they have greater perception than we have, the superior beings, and know what they are.” (2)
The Colours of the Min Min
Min Min lights are often reported as being white, but not always. A 1912 report from the Warenda Station manager at the time, describes his experience while riding his horse 27 miles (43klms) from Warenda to Slashers Creek. Leaving the station at midnight he crossed a river and about 2am saw a light in the distance coming straight at him. He knew it wasn’t a car because there were only two or three in the local district in those days, plus the light was green. Also being too high for a car, it floated rather than travelled, casting a glow all around it rather than cutting a straight line ahead if it was a headlight. His mare didn’t seem perturbed by the light but he knew if it was a car it would have spooked her. He went on to describe the light as being so close that he could see a small beetle climbing through the hairs on his arm. What he found curious was when a few miles later he struck a match to light a cigarette, and his horse started when the match flared as well as when it went out, showing a typical reaction of an animal unused to lights at night.
The Barkly Tableland runs from the Northern Territory into western Queensland, and it’s from here that we hear of other reports of the Min Min.
“The horizon is there all around, filled with dips, rises, floodways and jumpups. Lights 10 kilometres away appear quite close. Often we’d see a pinpoint of blue/green light and would expect it to materialise into a vehicle only to see it disappear. A few seconds or minutes later it would reappear, perhaps brighter this time. Off it would go again and so on. Sometimes it emerged out of the night as a reassuring car or truck rushing past. Other times the black night would keep its own counsel.” (3)
Another report describes the Min Min light as white and having “attained a brilliance exceeding some 200 percent of any planetary bodies observed at the time. The brilliance was not constant and at times when it appeared to fade a little, a bright red flash formed part of it. The light moved in irregular circles and spirals, though sometimes straight upwards to an estimated 1000 feet (304 metres) and then downwards almost to the ground. (4)
A Responsive Phenomenon
Some people are very frightened of the Min Min Lights while others are just extremely curious, so we have a collection of different reactions by individuals as well as the lights themselves. When the more curious approach the lights, the lights will withdraw and sometimes disappear. At other times, when people withdraw from the lights, the lights will come closer and begin to follow them, whether they are on foot or in a vehicle. These mysterious lights have been known to follow and keep pace with vehicles for up to 2 hours while maintaining 100 klm/hr speeds. One case that was reported to me was of a family driving in the outback late at night with the adults in the front of their utility vehicle while their two children were riding in the back, a typical way for a family in the country to travel at the time. The children saw a strange light appear and begin to follow them. They began banging on the rear window of the vehicle just behind their parents to get their attention so they could also witness the lights, however their parents dismissed their attempts and the children were left to watch the light in fear until it disappeared some time later. (5)
Station manager, Leslie Simmons, describes driving alone one night and witnessing a Min Min light keeping pace with her vehicle for 50 miles, passing through fences, trees and gullies. She describes a huge yellow glow that was behind a tree. She couldn’t see any edges to the light and when she looked it didn’t hurt her eyes. (6)
Peter Craig is an experienced bushman who spent most of his adult life guiding tours through the Australian outback. He’s gathered many stories of the Min Min over the years and has had his own experience when he was driving a small group of tourists one night. It was a moonless night when Peter was driving along a familiar road and saw two very bright blinding lights approach him at high speed. The lights came closer and blinded him, leaving him to drive from memory. As the lights got very close he swung the driver’s wheel over but the lights kept on coming, hitting the front of his vehicle. When they hit the lights just disappeared. Peter then came to a full stop and got out of his vehicle to inspect it but found no damage. (7)
The Min Min also seems to emanate no heat and leaves no trail or marks. It often repeats its movements and in one report the witness states, “It’s always the same pattern. Night after night the Min Min light would come from behind the shearers quarters, around and into the bore drain. South of Hughenden there was a Min Min light that used to appear with monotonous regularity in the 20s.” (8)
Going Against The Breeze
What exactly the Min Min are still remains a mystery and to add to the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle, there are reports of the lights ploughing effortlessly against headwinds. One witness reports, “It just looked like a balloon but it was floating against the breeze”. Another states, “It travelled fast beside me into a westerly wind and it stayed put for four miles.” (9)
While it’s unclear as to whether the Min Min light phenomena falls into the category of UFOs, they have certainly displayed some of their common characteristics. One report from 1994 took place at Harvest Home out of Cooktown. It was 4am on a dark moonless night when the witness was asleep on the veranda. “I woke up in a panic to clearly see the countryside lit up with the glow of a brilliant round light, the size of the full Moon. It shone in on me and moved around the room as though purposefully inspecting everything. To my great relief it slowly backed away over the trees and moved behind a nearby mountain which stood out in perfect black silhouette against the glow of the light which gradually dimmed, and in about 2 minutes had completely disappeared.” (10)
Another report took place in 1982 on Rutchillo Station between Gilliat and McKinlay. “We couldn’t help but notice a huge light dancing just north of the house. It appeared to be close, within 200 metres between the main homestead and the head stockman’s house. It went up and down getting very bright, then getting small again. The light was bright enough to light up the room like daylight, the colour of a welding arc. It kept this up for ages, going up and down, dull and bright. By midnight we decided we’d had enough and rolled over and ignored it as we had to get up early.” (11)
Around In Circles
Min Min lights are commonly reported to travel just above tree top height while pacing vehicles, however this is not always the case. One report by a witness describes it taking place in the 1960s when his friend was driving from Mt Isa
and was startled by a light which overtook him, circled his car then disappeared. Another report comes from stockmen who were finishing off a fencing job out of Winton. It was about 9pm when a light emerged out of the ground and came towards them as they were packing up their ute. The light went around them about 16 times before they threw their equipment into their ute and took off. The light then followed them for half a kilometre. “We drowned our sorrows at the Winton pub. It was mind blowing, the silence. It put the fear of God into us.” (12)
Modern Times
In 2015, a woman and her family were driving from Eva Valley to Mataranka when they witnessed a strange light flickering from one side of their car and jumping to the other. It appeared to follow their car and would come down towards them about 100-200m from them, so they pulled over and parked behind a tree, finding something stationary to compare the movements of the light with so they could establish if what they were seeing was merely a star. The report doesn’t describe what happened next but whatever they saw frightened them so deeply that they decided to discontinue their journey and returned to Mataranka. (13)
Genevieve Hammond lives in the outback town of Boulia, right in the heart of Min Min country. One night while camping on a remote cattle station in western Queensland’s channel country, she and her husband observed a greenish, oval shaped, blurry light bobbing up and down. Parallel to the horizon, it seemed to be one kilometre from them and one metre above the ground. Silent and eerie, it moved very slowly to the left but returned to its original position and continued to do this movement for about 15 minutes. Their sighting is mirrored in many other reports received by the Boulia Shire Councils Tourism officer, Shelley Norton. One of the reports she received was from a family camping out one evening when the husband got up to look at what he thought was the Moon. He then turned around and saw the actual Moon. For a brief time there were two Moons, but then one disappeared. (14)
The Mayor of Boulia, Rick Britton, is happy for visitors to have such a keen interest in the mystery surrounding his town which brings tourists to its Min Min Encounter Tourist Centre every year. This centre will tell you that the legend of the first report of the Min Min lights took place in the 1890s over the grave of the Min Min Hotel, which was a stopover point for the Cobb and Co coaches, further encouraging the story of the Min Min being spirits. (15)
It seems that whatever they are, Min Min lights will not easily give up their identity and may remain as one of many secrets of the Australian outback.
References:
1. The Mystery of the Min Min Light, Maureen G. Kozica1994 (self-published)
2. ibid.
3. ibid.
4. ibid.
5. Report to Sheryl Gottschall
6. The Min Min Lights https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W_7TybTszM
7. The Min Min Lights – Australian Mystery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZINjeKygPU
8. The Mystery of the Min Min Light, Maureen G. Kozica1994 (self-published)
9. ibid.
10. ibid.
11. ibid.
12. ibid.
13. Mysterious Min Min lights Follow Family Near Mataranka https://tinyurl.com/y74g7htr
14. The Mystery of Queensland’s Eerie Min Min lights https://tinyurl.com/yb25fjvo
15. Boulia Shire Council. http://www.boulia.qld.gov.au/min-min-encounter-tourist-centre
