On the eve of Australia’s national poll to determine its next leader, two hunks of meat were dangled above a murky pool.
Attached to one line, the picture of prime minister, Anthony Albanese. Upon the other, the man who would dethrone him, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton.
In the water lurked a 36-year-old saltwater crocodile called Speckles.
Associate professor of Greek history at the University of Queensland, David Pritchard, says ancient Athenian democracy, the birthplace of democracy, was thick with ritual and magic. So it’s only fitting Speckles was once again put to the test, this time with chunks of buffalo meat.
“That’s a form of divination,” Pritchard says. “That is a form of interpreting portents to work out what is going to happen in the future.”
So whom did the gods of the tropical north ordain for electoral victory this Saturday?
Once again Speckles predicted the fall of a government – only this time, he was decisive. In 2022, the 4.8 metre saltie predicted, via plucked chook, that Albanese would defeat then prime minister Scott Morrison.
“He did it really really quickly,” Crocodylus Park’s Jess Grills says. “Straight up for Peter Dutton.”
But while Speckles might have an unblemished record as an oracle, Pritchard cautioned against fatalistically accepting his verdict.
The historian says that while the ancient Athenians performed many similar rituals as part of their democracy and often looked to the gods for guidance, it was up to people to interpret signs from the divine.
“Keeping the gods happy was very important to the Athenians,” Pritchard says. “But they took control of their own lives.”
Which is another tradition that Anne-Marie Condé, senior curator at the Museum Of Australian Democracy At Old Parliament House, hopes lives on in the modern world.
Condé says she believes Australians are proud of the nation’s innovations in democracy, from the pioneering of the secret ballot to universal suffrage to compulsory voting.
And this sense of ownership over the democratic process means that “we can have a little fun with it if we want to”. But she hopes the spectacle of Speckles adds to, not distract from, the duties of the day.
“It’s fun watching crocodiles decide who might be the next prime minister,” Condé says. “But you know what: your vote does count, it’s not a random thing.
“So it’s great if people can have a bit of think before they vote to how they want to use that vote – because the outcome will determine the future of us all.”
