Recently I entered the Cage of Death with a 5.1 metre, 800 kilogram crocodile called Daly. This was in Darwin in the Northern Territory. Almost a century ago, another Australian city had its own Cage of Death. I told a version of this story live on Ipswich’s West Bremer Radio.

I went swimming with crocodiles. Specifically it was with Daly which was a monster crocodile that had been captured in the Daly River in the Northern Territory because he was menacing an Indigenous community there, taking their pets and possibly some people.

Sadly, one of the Indigenous families who later shared a turtle meal with me when I was there, they lost a thirteen-year-old daughter to a croc in a waterhole not so long ago. I was in the Territory leading a small group on my annual charity trek to raise money for Drug ARM.

Anyway, the Cage of Death reminded me of Ipswich’s crocodiles, and other dangerous reptiles that were there over the years.

Back in 1949, a snake farm was planned for ten acres of land at Ipswich. It was to be run by the snake trader Mr. Warren Froben. He was a Swiss-German man who immigrated to Australia after the First World War and enjoyed a colourful career. As well as a snake trader for the European and American markets, Froben was an engineer, and a private investigator. I don’t think his Ipswich snake farm ever opened though.

In 1957, a freshwater crocodile by the name of Colin was seen wandering the streets of Ipswich, before he was captured and returned to his owner.

But go back to 1938, that’s when Ipswich got its own city crocodile by the name of Josiah. Josiah was one of the first zoo crocodiles in Queensland history and was quite a story back in his day.

Josiah came from the Adelaide River in the Northern Territory, which is just 100km away from where my Cage of Death croc Daly is from.

Josiah was a gift to the city from an Ipswich politician and federal government minister whose grandfather, Josiah Francis, was twice the mayor of Ipswich.

Josiah was supposed to be a giant crocodile, but when he arrived, he was quite underwhelming. That’s because when he crawled out of the crate at Queen’s Park, he was just a tiny three feet long. In fact, he was so small he was in danger of disappearing down the plug hole of his pool, so someone had to dive in and put in the plug.

Josiah was then discovered not to be a male crocodile at all, but was actually a girl and so was quickly renamed Bunty.

Bunty became quite an attraction, and large crowds came to see her sunning herself on a rock. However, one night just two or three weeks after she arrived, Bunty got the wrong sort of attention. Rocks were thrown at Bunty, and she was murdered which is a crime that remains unsolved to this day. Bunty’s enclosure at Queen’s Park became her own Cage of Death of the tragic kind.

Another crocodile was procured for Ipswich, that was in 1940. This time the crocodile was slightly bigger, but when it arrived, it was in the depths of winter.

The weather was so cold that the crocodile never came out from under the straw in its enclosure, and so no one came to see it, and Ipswich’s own Cage of Death became a thing of the past.

Today when you go visit the Nature Centre at Queen’s Park, you can see furry animals, but certainly no crocodiles like back in Bunty’s day.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A VERION OF THIS STORY TOLD ON WEST BREMER RADIO.

Photo credits:
Cage of Death, 2025 – Harold Peacock IMG_7618.
Cage of Death, 2025 – Harold Peacock IMG_7575.
Josiah Francis, Mayor of Ipswich, 1878-1879 1884-1886 – Picture Ipswich.
Josiah finds new home – Courier-Mail, Brisbane, 23rd September 1938, page 3.