Comments on: Cess, the hermit of Oobagooma:

By: Phil

Phil — Fri, 29 May 2026 00:50:44 +0000

Hi Catherine, I met Cecil at Oobagooma in 1983. I worked for a French Company which had a licence to drill for Uranium in the area. We had a camp with about a dozen people and the cook would save the food scraps for Cecil’s pigs. He would always get first go at the scraps before giving it to the pigs. When arriving at his camp there would be 30 pigs surrounding our vehicle which was a bit off putting. We also gave him used batteries which he heated up and reused in his transistor radio. He was known to drink methylated spirits but rarely. He boiled dead cattle portions to feed his pigs. I have never seen anyone with such deep wrinkles from the sun damage. In the wet season he said he would swim out into the lagoon to harvest the bulbs of a native lotus which tasted like potato when roasted. A real character and gentleman.

By: Moya Sharp

Moya Sharp — Sat, 11 Feb 2023 01:41:23 +0000

In reply to Catherine Shepperd. Hi Catherine What a great story, I will pass it on to Roger who took the photos and told me Cess's story, he will be so pleased. he sounds like he was quite a character. I particularly love this story as we also had pet pigs when I was young, they were called Wilberforce and Walter. (:

By: Catherine Shepperd

Catherine Shepperd — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 10:49:52 +0000

I met Cess back in 1980. I was a Nurse in Derby. Another nurse and I got bogged near Oobagooma station. We walked to the station and found some camp beds to sleep on. At 3 am we heard banging and cursing – Cecil was pinching/ getting food from the station fridge. The staff were away for some RNR in Darwin at the time. We met Cess and had a lovely chat to him, met his pet pigs as they came to visit at dawn and heard how he named them after Australian politicians – based on their personalities. He gave us a jar of tea and would tell us how to operate the radio ( he enjoyed our company apparently). We visited him regularly until our time in Derby finished. He told us he went to Derby every wet season and got completely inebriated for a week or two. His return plane ride was pre booked and, no matter what was said by Cecil, he was to be dropped back at his camp to sober up and rejoin his pigs. Catherine McNelis ( and Judy Rahn)