The Woman Who Took Down a Giant 8.6-Meter Crocodile with a Single Shot
The life of an immigrant family, filled with hardship, changed forever when a woman in the family shot and killed the largest crocodile ever caught in Australia with just one bullet.
This is the story of the Pawlowski family. Krystyna Pawlowski, the woman in question, had no other choice but to kill the giant crocodile in the town of Karumba, Queensland, Australia, in 1955, as it approached her 3-year-old daughter, Barbara.
George Pawlowski, Krystyna’s son, shared with Daily Mail Australia the unforgettable moment from that day: “My older brother ran out and shouted, ‘Barbara, there’s a crocodile!’ when he saw the cold-blooded creature approaching my little sister. In a critical moment, my mother grabbed the rifle and shot the giant beast right in the skull.”
Barbara escaped the clutches of the 8.6-meter crocodile thanks to her mother’s shot (pictured above as an adult). Photo: Supplied
The single “deadly shot” made the Pawlowski family famous because the 8.6-meter-long reptile was the largest crocodile ever caught or killed in Australia.
The Pawlowski family left their homeland in Poland and migrated to Australia in 1949, facing considerable challenges as immigrants. However, they soon discovered a life-changing opportunity when they began skinning crocodiles.
“A local native person with experience helped my family skin the animal, and my parents sent the hide to a trader in the city of Brisbane, receiving $12 in return. At that time, the basic weekly wage was $16. And that’s when my father, Ron Pawlowski, came up with an idea to turn our lives around,” George shared.
After taking down the 8.6-meter “monster,” Ron built a small boat out of scrap metal and named it “Joey.” The Polish family started their journey as crocodile hunters.
The Krystyna wanted to become an accurate marksman, capable of taking down crocodiles with a single shot. In over 15 years of hunting alongside her husband, she is believed to have killed up to 10,000 crocodiles.
Many rumors suggest that Krystyna missed her target only three times in her life and was able to shoot moving crocodiles accurately, despite never having used a rifle before.
“She was a better marksman than me and even scarier when she used the rifle to aim at moving targets. We both hit the top of a bottle at a distance of about 100 meters, but Krystyna could hit the bullet hole from a previous shot,” Ron shared about his wife’s talent.
Meanwhile, George shared another interesting aspect about his mother: “Both my parents were talented, but my mother had a unique style. She didn’t mind getting covered in mud while hunting, but she always wore lipstick and painted her nails red. I think things like makeup don’t really match the profession of a hunter that she chose, but that’s what made her different from others,” George revealed.
Krystyna once shared the reason behind painting her nails with a reporter in Brisbane: “Even when I spend all day and night in the mud hunting, the feeling of seeing my favorite nail polish color while squeezing the trigger is always present within me.”
George also revealed his mother’s fashion taste. After each hunting trip, Krystyna would change out of her muddy green camouflage into traditional 1950s dresses.
Not only was Krystyna skilled at hunting, but she was also faster than anyone else at skinning crocodiles
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