Min Min lights in rural Queensland subject of new documentary film

Camping under the night skies, documentary maker Don Meers says he looked out and saw what he had travelled for — the famed Min Min lights.

A close-up shot of the light Don Meers and his crew captured on film. (Supplied: Don Meers)

There's plenty of conjecture around the origins of what have been described over the years as fast, floating balls of colour glowing in the outback night.

On Saturday, a new documentary will be premiered in the rural Queensland town of Boulia, where the lights have been reported more times than one can remember.

The legend

Mr Meers said while camping at the old site of the Min Min Hotel, which burned down in the early 1900s, his team managed to get what he said "could definitely be" a Min Min on camera.

The Min Min-focused documentary will be available to view in Australia in November. (Supplied: Don Meers)

The hotel is known as the first reported site of a Min Min encounter, when a stockman was passing by the burning ruins and saw a light orb rise up and chase him to the nearest station.

While allegedly laughed at at the time, the story is now part of Boulia's Min Min history.

"We did camp out there and it's very odd," Mr Meers said.

"In the day it's very windy out there, and at night around sunset it just stops and becomes dead still ... to the point where you're almost hearing your heartbeat and you're going, 'This is really creepy'."

The start of it all

A Facebook post was the catalyst for the documentary, after Mr Meers and his team at Dojo Media posted about the phenomenon.

"I happened to put up a post about the Min Min lights and it went absolutely ballistic," he said.

"In the 3,000 or so comments we got, people were writing in with their stories around Australia.

Matty Currow shared his Min Min experience for the documentary. (Supplied: Don Meers)

"We got this amazing story through by a gentleman called Matty Currow, who used to be a supervisor at the Cloncurry railway station.

"He came with a story that happened way back in the '90s with two other workmates, where they had this encounter with what they believe could have been a Min Min light which happened for about an hour."

Mr Currow then became involved with the documentary project and even appears in the film.

Mr Meers said while the documentary didn't cover every aspect of the lights, nor provided any answers, he hoped to shoot a sequel.

"When you get down the rabbit hole of the Min Min light, you soon realise that in some ways the Min Min light is a catchphrase that has been used to describe a whole plethora of light phenomenon," he said.

"In many ways in the film we actually say this is probably just a part one — there's probably going to be another part."

The tourism appeal

For Boulia, the Min Min lights are not only an incredible phenomenon, but also a tourist attraction.

The local council's community services manager, Julie Woodhouse, said this year that the town's television advertising campaign was based solely around the lights.

The documentary was filmed in outback Queensland near Boulia. (Supplied: Don Meers)

But while tourists travel to see the lights, not all of them are versed on what it is — or isn't.

"A lot of people come out here hoping to see one, and I think a lot of people think it's a star or a comet," Ms Woodhouse said.

"People ask what's the best time, what's the best day and when it will appear, but we can't predict if or when you will see it."

Ms Woodhouse said her own possible experience with the Min Min was 40 years ago when stopped in a ute to open a gate with her partner.

"It was about 1:00am 40 years ago and I wouldn't get out of the car," she laughed.

"I saw this strange light and I got down into the footwell of the ute — I wasn't a bush girl, I was from the city, and I saw this light out in the paddock.

"He said, so calmly, 'Oh, it's probably just a Min Min', and I was so scared and I certainly wasn't getting out to open the gate.

"I've never seen one since, but I'm not out and about at those hours anymore."

The documentary will become available in Australia on November 13 on all major pay-per-view websites and apps.

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By Zara Margolis / ABC Reporter

After spending her formative years growing up on the breezy shores of Bribie Island Zara was excited to learn her innate ability to talk under water was, in fact, a profession. Zara joined the ABC in 2014 as an intern while completely a Bachelor of Journalism at the University of Queensland. She later worked as a rural reporter and news journalist at ABC Capricornia before relocating to ABC North West QLD in Mount Isa where she now works as a bi-media reporter. Zara tweets from @zaramargolis.

By Kelly Butterworth / ABC Reporter North West Qld
(Source: abc.net.au; October 20, 2019; http://tinyurl.com/y4acp8gq)
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