Huge Mowbray River croc’s biggest fan keeps a close watch

BIG CROC

David Gardiner

Journalist

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‘Xerxes’ the crocodile, has a solid following among locals and tourists. Picture: Tommy Hayes

Photos of a large crocodile regularly spotted near the Mowbray River bridge have gained a big response on social media, with some croc watchers saying the animal has become a local talking point and tourist attraction.

The male croc, estimated to be at least four metres in length, has been regularly seen by locals and visitors alike just near the bridge on the Captain Cook Highway.

Tommy Hayes, who has closely watched the croc’s movements for nearly three years, said he has snapped hundreds of high-resolution photos of the male croc – which he has named ‘Xerxes’, after a Persian King.

“He’s got one main girlfriend but there are seven more in that area,” Mr Hayes recently posted on social media.

Newsport chatted to Mr Hayes, who told us he started going to the spot in 2021 to find some solitude while enduring some personal problems, including thoughts of potential self-harm.

After a few weeks he began to notice the large animal and other crocs each time he went there, saying they became familiar with his car and didn’t shy or run back into the water as crocodiles often do when humans turn up.

Mr Hayes was well aware that another large male had been removed from the area and euthanised after remains of a missing elderly woman were found inside the animal. He and other croc watchers knew that male as ‘Mo 2.0’.

“Since I got my camera and since Mo 2.0 got taken out of there, I’ve really, really focused,” he told Newsport.

“I’ve spent a lot of time up there, a lot of people will say, oh there’s three crocodiles, there’s actually ten.”

The croc watcher and increasingly avid conservationist reckons he’s also become known as the ‘croc bodyguard’ by people, both locals and visitors, who’ve heard about the many hours he sometimes spends at once, watching Xerses and the others.

“A lot of people said that, ‘we come out here every afternoon, it’s wonderful’, people from all walks of life, not just tourists – a lot of the locals, which is awesome.

“This is what the DES and what have you don’t really pay attention to – they help people like me, they help people, people are uplifted by them being there. I mean what, 200 million years, 100 millions years in their current state? I feel like they’ve earned a bit of respect!”

‘Xerxes’ the crocodile, has a solid following among locals and tourists. Picture: Tommy Hayes

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