A Belconnen construction worker lost a day's pay while driving around in the sweltering heat with his car windows wound up. The Canberra Times reported on this day in 1968 that Mr Radic, of Queanbeyan, noticed a black snake under his sedan. Motivated by a whack with a stick, the snake lodged itself above the petrol tank. Mr Radic called for assistance from a firm of pest exterminators who sprayed the underside of his car and then assured him that the four feet six inches red-bellied black snake was dead. They charged him $5. However, the snake did not die. Mr Radic discovered the poisonous snake was still very much alive when he crawled under the car to see if its body had fallen out. The snake struck at him and then retreated back into its hiding place. Unable to find a snake charmer, Mr Radic called into The Times service station in Cooyong Street, Reid. There were 12 men who, armed with compressed air hoses, pieces of wire and sticks, poked, prodded and airblasted the car's engine After an hour, the snake emerged. Mr Cochrane, coincidently, a worker at The Australian National University zoology department, was able to seize the snake and take it to the university to have it preserved. Mr Radic paid another $5 for the work the men had done. See https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/131667245
The front page of The Canberra Times on this day in 1968.
A Belconnen construction worker lost a day's pay while driving around in the sweltering heat with his car windows wound up.
The Canberra Times reported on this day in 1968 that Mr Radic, of Queanbeyan, noticed a black snake under his sedan.
Motivated by a whack with a stick, the snake lodged itself above the petrol tank. Mr Radic called for assistance from a firm of pest exterminators who sprayed the underside of his car and then assured him that the four feet six inches red-bellied black snake was dead.
They charged him $5. However, the snake did not die.
Mr Radic discovered the poisonous snake was still very much alive when he crawled under the car to see if its body had fallen out.
The snake struck at him and then retreated back into its hiding place. Unable to find a snake charmer, Mr Radic called into The Times service station in Cooyong Street, Reid.
There were 12 men who, armed with compressed air hoses, pieces of wire and sticks, poked, prodded and airblasted the car's engine
After an hour, the snake emerged. Mr Cochrane, coincidently, a worker at The Australian National University zoology department, was able to seize the snake and take it to the university to have it preserved.
Mr Radic paid another $5 for the work the men had done.
See https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/131667245
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