Latest news with #Wheatbelt
ABC News
14 hours ago
- General
- ABC News
Wheatbelt farmers retrieve German backpacker Carolina Wilga's van
Farmers in Western Australia's Wheatbelt have retrieved Carolina Wilga's abandoned van, weeks after the backpacker survived 12 days missing in the outback. Friends and family of the 26-year-old raised the alarm after she had not been heard from for some days. She was eventually found safe and well when she waved down a community member who happened to be driving along a rarely used track. She returned home to Germany after receiving initial medical treatment in Perth. But her Mitsubishi van remained bogged in the remote Karroun Hill Nature Reserve, where she abandoned it in a "state of confusion". Local farmer and bushfire brigade captain Andrew Sprigg chose to retrieve the vehicle so the bush was not "full of rubbish". With his farm one of the closest to the reserve, Mr Sprigg used his knowledge of the area to help retrieve the van. "I have ridden [around Karroun Hill reserve] many times, so am familiar with the area," he said. Mr Sprigg said the track was "very overgrown" with some "storm-fallen trees", which made the retrieval mission complex. The loader he used to move the vehicle was damaged by a stick through a tyre. "I ended up having to drive the loader 100 kilometres on the weekend," he said. "Took three days in total, with support from light vehicles and some bikes to find the best route." Given the difficulty, Mr Sprigg said there were moments he questioned why he was choosing to go through all of the effort. The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, which manages the removal of abandoned vehicles from WA reserves, thanked the brigade for its assistance. Ms Wilga's friends in WA are expected to collect the vehicle.
News.com.au
23-07-2025
- News.com.au
‘Satan's Spit': Man jailed for spraying chilli substance at Bunnings
A former mine site chef who claimed he was planning a fart prank at a Bunnings store when he instead sprayed a chilli substance called 'Satan's Spit' — injuring multiple people, including children — has been jailed. The Northam store, in Western Australia's Wheatbelt region, was evacuated on Anzac Day last year amid fears of a dangerous chemical spill. Two children were among the 15 people affected, with 11 taken to hospital for treatment. They suffered burning sensations in their eyes and nose, sore throats and coughing. CCTV footage shows father of three Paul Andrew Hart enter the store wearing a black T-shirt, shorts and thongs. Shortly after, staff and customers are seen coughing, and covering their mouths and noses as they head for the exit. Hart, 52, claimed he intended to spray 'Liquid Ass' as a joke, but instead used 'Satan's Spit', which was also in his pocket. But WA District Court Judge Felicity Zempilas said the footage showed him look down at the pepper spray twice, including just before he used it. 'Even if you had taken a bottle of Satan's Spit and a bottle of fart spray, it would have been immediately clear to you which one you had in your hand on either of those occasions when you looked at it, because those bottles appear totally different,' she said. The incident cost Bunnings an estimated $16,000 in lost earnings and $3048 in workers' compensation. 'You knew what kind of substance you'd released and you were waiting to observe its impacts,' Judge Zempilas said. 'I find that you intended, for whatever reason, to annoy others in the store that day, with this noxious substance.' The online product description of Satan's Spit says it is one of their 'hottest and most dangerous products'. 'Spray with caution, as it can travel through the air and get in eyes. Use in small doses,' the description reads. Hart was arrested the next day and told police he had bought the product six weeks earlier but had not used it or read the label. He said he had woken up that day from distressing dreams, and began drinking alcohol in the morning before going to the shops. One victim said she suffered an asthma attack and was embarrassed at having to go through the decontamination shower process at the hospital. Another person described the ordeal as 'traumatic'. A teenage victim said of the incident: 'It stole my peace.' 'She's still grappling with the fear and the humiliation and the trauma,' Judge Zempilas said. Hart pleaded guilty to wilfully and unlawfully, with intent to injure or annoy, cause poison or other noxious thing to be administered to or taken by another. Judge Zempilas sentenced Hart to 16 months in prison. He must serve eight months behind bars before he can be eligible for parole.
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Dead scientist's 'time capsule' in vault key to resurrecting Aussie species
A sprawling collection of 3,500 specimens held in the vault of an Australian museum could provide an insight into a natural world that was largely destroyed last century, and help resurrect species that have disappeared from the area. Each tiny glass vial contains a trapdoor spider, and all of them were collected by one woman. Many of the species are now locally extinct from the sprawling Wheatbelt region that surrounds Perth. Spider expert Dr Mark Harvey, who is leading a project at Western Australian Museum, to digitise the collection, describes it as a 'time capsule'. By understanding which spiders were present at any given location, scientists are able to form a picture of what the wider ecosystem once looked like before it was replaced with crops of wheat and canola, or grassy paddocks for raising livestock. For instance, the shield-backed trapdoor spider (Idiosoma nigrum) preferred to live in woodland that was fairly flat and not very dense. And this same specific type of landscape would have also been home to many of the small mammals that are now locally extinct. When the shield-backed trapdoor spider was collected in the 1950s, the species was considered abundant on the Wheatbelt. Today it survives in a few small fragments of bushland that were retained in the region. 'Once they've been lost from an area, because the native habitat is a patchwork, and no longer connected, they can't move from one place to another to recolonise,' Harvey said. 'Trapdoor spiders are very bad at that at the best of times, because the spiderlings come out of the mother's burrow, they might only walk one, two or three metres before they start their own. And that's where they spend the rest of their lives — so they don't disperse like other animals do.' Related: Major weather event prompts behavioural change in Wheatbelt wildlife A healthy ecosystem in southwest Australia has 10 to 15 species of trapdoor spider, so when researchers return to an area and only find two or three, they know localised extinctions have occurred and the landscape has been degraded. Woman watched as entire region transformed The spiders were all collected by Dr Barbara York Main, known as Australia's spider lady, who died in 2019. She was born in 1929 and grew up in the Wheatbelt, giving her a front seat to watch the dramatic change that occurred over her lifetime. The collection contains a number of species that are yet to be officially described or named by scientists. By digitising her collection, the data will become available to scientists around the world, and the general public through the Atlas of Living Australia and WA's Dandjoo statewide biodiversity data platform. In 2025, the impact of habitat destruction on native species is well-known, but several species of trapdoor spider are barely surviving the ongoing threats to their range. The Euoplos dignitas in Queensland's Brigalow Belt was only identified in 2023, and it's already endangered. It survives in a heavily fragmented 1850 square kilometre area that successive state governments have allowed to be cleared for cattle grazing and crops. More incredible museum stories Decades-old Aussie museum display discovered to be entirely new species New Aussie predatory species discovered inside museum package Discovery on museum shelves hints at presence of 250 unknown scorpion species Spider DNA could help resurrect species Harvey is hopeful that in the future, as DNA technology improves, it could be possible to resurrect trapdoor spiders using genetic material from the collection. But even if de-extinction is not possible, it might be possible to help fragmented populations of spiders, that have become genetically compromised as their numbers have shrunk. 'We could use those specimens taken from when they were fairly widespread species across the landscape, look at its genetic variation, and then compare it to the modern examples we might find now. When the populations have shrunk in size, and we can see what sort of genetic variation is lacking,' Harvey said. 'We might be able to do something about it with gene splicing.' Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
Daily Mail
22-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Man is JAILED over vile prank at Bunnings Warehouse: 'I thought I was going to die'
A father-of-three has been jailed for a prank gone wrong after he sprayed a chilli substance inside a Bunnings store, leaving some shoppers with permanent injuries. Paul Andrew Hart, 52, claimed he was using 'Satan's Spit' in a fart prank at the Bunnings in Northam, a town in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. The former mine site chef deliberately dispersed the toxic spray around unsuspecting shoppers while visiting the store on Anzac Day in 2024. CCTV footage showed Hart entering the store and spraying the chilli substance as he walked past a woman and her daughter. Moments later, he is seen spraying the substance inside one of the aisles before covering his face and calmly leaving the store. Shoppers started to cough and struggle to breathe as they were exposed to the substance. Others covered their burning eyes, while some ran out of the store in a panic. Bunnings workers ushered the remaining shoppers out of the store, unsure of what was causing the sudden onset of symptoms. Eleven people were rushed to hospital where they were forced to strip and decontaminate in outdoor showers. One victim told the court they thought they were 'going to die'. 'My lungs tightened, I was gasping for air,' the victim said. Another recalled: 'We were naked and afraid, I was freezing cold and embarrassed'. Many shoppers said they were still suffering from the emotional impact of the 'prank', with one claiming they were in a constant state of paranoia. The Bunnings store was forced to close for the remainder of the public holiday and reportedly lost $16,000 in profit. Hart claimed he intended to release 'fart spray' to 'lighten the mood' inside the store. However, he told the court he accidentally grabbed the wrong can from his pocket and ended up spraying Satan's Spit instead. Hart said he woke up troubled by nightmares and couldn't remember much of the afternoon, after drinking Wild Turkey, cider, and champagne that morning, The West Australian reports. District Court judge Felicity Zempilas rejected Hart's reasoning, stating he saw the bottle and deliberately decided to dispense the toxic substance. 'You looked down at the spray twice and it would have been immediately clear,' Judge Zempilas said in her ruling on Tuesday. 'You deliberately brought a noxious and a dangerous product to a public place.' The court also heard that Hart had spent the morning drinking alcohol after he was woken up from distressing dreams. Hart was sentenced to 16 months in jail and will be eligible for parole later this year.
News.com.au
17-07-2025
- Health
- News.com.au
Truth about where backpacker went missing
A bush survival expert has warned Aussies to learn basic bush skills should they ever find themselves in a situation like German backpacker Carolina Wilga did. The 26-year-old, who was released from hospital on Wednesday, survived 12 days in the difficult terrain of Karroun Hill, at the edge of Western Australia's Wheatbelt. Ms Wilga had not been seen since June 29 and family in Germany had raised the alarm via Interpol when she failed to return their messages. After an extensive air and land search, she was found alive on the edge of Karroun Hill Nature Reserve by a local farmer. She was located barefoot 36 kilometres from her van, which she abandoned after it became bogged. Ms Wilga's survival has been described as 'extraordinary' by John Considine, a survival trainer at Bob Cooper Outback Survival, in Western Australia. 'Australia's wilderness is unforgiving and Carolina survived 11 nights which is absolutely magnificent,' he told While Ms Wilga is yet to explain how she survived an incredible 12 days in rugged bushland, Mr Considine said as a company that provides survival training, he could not emphasise enough the importance of being prepared before venturing out of the metro area. 'Anyone planning on leaving the bitumen and explore Australia's outback needs a comprehensive survival course,' he told 'There are other things that they can do to be prepared, like knowing your vehicle, carrying the requisite spares and the most important thing, telling someone where you're going, how long and when you're going to make contact again.' He said this is important because they can call for help if they don't hear from you in the time frame you provided. 'Summer would have been worse' Ms Wilga endured subzero temperatures and was 'ravaged' by mosquito bites while missing – she also lost 12kg in 12 days. Mr Considine said while winter would have its challenges like hyperthermia, the season would have also worked in her favour. 'It would have brought its own challenges because it's obviously cold, but she wouldn't have been losing water at the rate she would have if it had been in the summer,' he said. Mr Considine said if she had been rained on or got wet, she could likely have suffered from hypothermia. 'In Australia's desert environments, if you don't die of heatstroke during the day, you'll die of hyperthermia during the night,' he said. 'The interesting thing about the environment that she was in at Karroun Hill is that it's part of what's left of an enormous woodland forest – it's mostly eucalyptus and hakea, so really hard-leafed plants. 'It's a tough environment but in the particular location she was in, she may well have been able to find water. Even superficially. She ended up driving her vehicle down a granite outcrop which is where the earth's bedrock sticks up out of the soil. 'Now those features tend to carry water down into the surrounding earth. In winter, you often find superficial water (on the surface/puddles) and if it's not superficial you generally don't have to dig very far. In summer it's a different story.' Mr Considine said the water would generally be pretty safe. 'That's actually in the nature reserve, so in my estimation there's not a huge risk of E. coli or any of the other bacteria that are likely to occur in other areas,' he said. The survival bush expert said the human body can also go without food for weeks, but with water it depends on the environment and conditions. 'For example, if you're in a climate controlled hospital room doing absolutely nothing, you'll still need about 1.2 litres of water a day to maintain your basic bodily functions,' he explained. 'A sedentary modern male worker needs about 3.7 litres and a female is about 2.7 litres.' Maintaining mental clarity is just as important, as it can have negative impacts on your physical state. 'Any environmental stresses, anything that causes you to feel fear or panic or any of those emotions will cause you to lose more water,' Mr Considine said. He said until Ms Wilga comes out describing how much food and water she took from the vehicle when she set out on foot, is when they will have a better understanding of the challenges she faced. The 26-year-old was also 'ravaged' by mosquitoes but Mr Considine said, while it would have been extremely annoying, it's not life-threatening. 'If you contracted Ross River or another mosquito-borne viruses, that's potentially an issue,' he said, adding that snakes also wouldn't have presented much of an issue as it's winter. 'There's a risk, but there's a very, very small risk at this time of year,' he said. 'Snakes won't have come out of winter sleep yet, and if you make enough noise, they'll grow legs and run a mile. 'They really don't like being disturbed. And they'll only strike if they think that their life is in danger. The reality is there are very, very few environmental risks in terms of envenomation.' Mr Considine also spoke about Ms Wilga leaving her vehicle and the debate it sparked. Some questioned why she abandoned the vehicle, but the backpacker has since explained the reason. 'Some people might wonder why I even left my car, even though I had water, food, and clothing there,' Ms Wilga said in a statement on Monday. 'The answer is: I lost control of the car and rolled down a slope. In the crash, I hit my head significantly. As a result of the accident, I left my car in a state of confusion and got lost.' Mr Considine said it really depends on the circumstances you're on whether you should leave or stay with your vehicle. 'I think the important thing to recognise from the statement she made was she had suffered a head injury – from that I think we can deduce that she made decisions that she might not otherwise have made,' he said. 'She likely would have been found a day earlier if she stayed with her van. 'She's been in Australia for two years, she has been a FIFO worker – she probably done more hard graft than most young Aussies do.' During training at Bob Cooper Outback Survival participants look at the fundamentals of survival in the outback – water, fire, shelter, signalling, and food. 'We look at how to get those things from the environment that we're in, how to source water, how to filter it, if not purify it, how to make fire by friction, so if you haven't got matches or a lighter you know what to do.'
