Ram Chandra showed me how to reduce that fear gradually, by touching a harmless snake like a Carpet Python at first. I was also very afraid of snakes, especially Taipans. I went grey at 21, but I don't know whether that was the result of the bite or not. For about 6 months, I lost my sense of taste. When I left hospital, my weight was only 7 stone. I came home after about 20 days, I think. A year after I was bitten, a European bloke, Donald Duck from Cooktown, chased a Taipan and was bitten up at McIvor. The serum wasn't around when I was bitten. The doctor said my youth and fitness helped me survive. I'm the only person to have survived Taipan bite without the serum (antivenom). As I began to recover, people used to call me 'Mr Famous'. I had lots and lots of needles while I was there. The sisters in Cooktown told me I'd been pronounced dead four times by the doctor in Cooktown.Īt Cairns Base, I was looked after by Dr Reid. Next day, I was flown out to Cairns, still unconscious. The airstrip had to be lit with the head lights of vehicles. Blood was flown from Cairns for me that night, by Captain Bonney, a top pilot. Dr Thomas told me later I'd nearly bled to death. In town, people rang round and found a Dr Thomas, on holiday from Victoria. That's about 50 km away over a rough road. Then Clarrie Hartwig cut the site with a chisel and burnt the site with those old wax matches. (Fifteen minutes after the bite, I am told, I became unconscious). He bound my leg in two places and cut the bite site. I ran to one of the oldies, George Bowen - the old Grandfather. Since we were kids, we'd been told about this snake. He was even going to have a go at my mate, I think. They seem to like that red soil 'cos there's a lot of rats there. They're real common at Mt Webb and in the McIvor country. This snake was not real well known in other places then. At the time, the Taipan (Nguman to the Gugu yimidrr) was known and feared by Cape York Peninsula Aboriginal people. One of them just whacked it with a jolly stick. I was told later it was 7' 7" (2.27 m), I think. After dinner, about 1pm, as I walked (bare-legged and bare-footed) past some wide planks, the snake shot out and had hold of me on the right ankle. A group of us were sorting timber just near the church. I was 19, 6' 3", with a weight of 10½ stone, and very fit. People had just begun to return to Hopevale after the war. Survivors of Taipan bites Pastor George Rosendale, Hopevale, via Cooktown
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