THE NULLABOR NYMPH
It was Christmas in 1971 in the bar of the Eucla Motel where the Nullarbor Nymph was created. Locals including kangaroo shooters, fishermen, and bus driver were sitting around the busy motel bar, drinking beer and telling stories, when out of the beer came some made-up yarn about a naked sheila living in the desert with the kangaroos. At the time they had laughed at the speculation about the half-naked white woman who ran with wild Kanagroos around the bush land of Eucla. Before the drinking was over, everyone thought they may have seen such a woman!
In the bar was a PR bloke from Perth, heading east looking for work. He was broke and couldn't pay his motel bill so he told the motel owner, Steve Patupis, he would put his Eucla Motel on the map instead. Steve will not deny the Nullarbor Nymph was good for business, yet he maintains he was not involved in her creation.
One of the main authors of the myth sent out the story to a newspaper of a naked woman with long blonde hair, running with the kangaroos on the Nullarbor at Eucla. The Nymph story went ballistic. Journalists and news crews were coming in by the planeload. They came from Adelaide, Sydney, Perth and US. The BBC even sent a full TV documentary crew. The story was a monster, and the locals were feeding it.
One journalist wasn't buying it and he wanted to get home. He took Mr Scott (one of the original creators of the Nullarbor Nymph Myth) into the motel bar who liked scotch. "Of course it's bullshit, mate!" he finally slurred. "And you bastards are goin' for it."
The journalist phoned the story out from Eucla's phone box for the Sunday Mail's front page, "Nullarbor Nymph a Hoax".