Is the thylacine really extinct? It's a question that has fascinated Australians for generations, and one that has consumed Tasmanian based researcher Neil Waters for the past 12 years.
Come July, Prom Coast audiences will have the chance to decide for themselves when the documentary Eyes Like Diamonds screens in Yarram (Sun 12 July) and Foster (Mon 13), followed by a question-and-answer session with Waters himself.
Part wildlife mystery, part personal journey, the film follows Waters' relentless search for evidence that the animal better known as the Tasmanian tiger still survives in remote corners of Australia.
Waters is no casual enthusiast. Through the Thylacine Awareness Group of Australia, he has spent more than a decade collecting reports, interviewing witnesses and investigating sightings from across the country. His Facebook community now numbers more than 13,000 members, with reports still arriving on a regular basis.
What makes the screenings particularly intriguing for local audiences and despite the animal supposedly not having survived the introduction of the dingo to these shores some 4,000 odd years ago, is the long history of reported sightings across Gippsland. "There's just so many sightings of thylacines, especially in the Gippsland area, going back well over 100 years," Waters said.
He believes many people have remained reluctant to speak publicly about what they have seen for fear of ridicule. "People do know what they saw. They're not crazy," he said.
That theme runs throughout Eyes Like Diamonds. Rather than simply asking whether the thylacine survives, the documentary explores why so many ordinary Australians continue to report encounters with an animal officially declared extinct almost 90 years ago.
For Waters, the search began after what he describes as his own encounter with a thylacine shortly after moving to Tasmania in 2010. What followed was a journey that has seen him become one of Australia's most recognisable and controversial thylacine researchers.
Critics remain unconvinced. Scientists continue to regard the species as extinct. Yet Waters remains adamant there is enough evidence to at least question the accepted narrative.
That tension between belief and scepticism sits at the heart of the film.
Whether viewers leave convinced, doubtful or somewhere in between, Eyes Like Diamonds promises an evening that will spark discussion long after the credits roll. And in a region where stories of strange animals, unexplained sightings and whispers from the bush have been passed down through generations, there may be no better place to ask the question: What if Australia's most famous extinct animal never disappeared at all? David Barrett
