Inner West Escapee Buys ‘Dream Home with Land’ in Grays Point, Immediately Confronted by Giant Deer and Existential Crisis

Finn Seabrook | Local Correspondent | Sutherland Shire Gazette

22 August 2025

GRAYS POINT - A recent escapee from Sydney’s Inner West is questioning everything after her dream of backyard bliss collided head-on with the cold, unblinking eyes of a full-antlered deer.

Miriam, 38, relocated from a two-bedroom Marrickville terrace last month after “finally accepting that her toddler needed grass and her kombucha SCOBY needed fridge space.”

But her vision of serene suburban living was shattered during her first dusk-time compost trip, when she came face-to-snout with a 120kg deer named, according to neighbours, "Graham."

“I thought it was a lawn sculpture,” said Miriam, clutching a half-empty packet of lentil chips. “Then it blinked.”

Sources confirm Graham was accompanied by at least three other wild deer, a suspiciously large possum, and what appeared to be a gang of bin chickens “just watching.”

Local wildlife experts say the deer have roamed the Royal National Park fringe for years, but usually avoid humans - unless, as in this case, the humans bring Aldi cauliflower bites outside.

In a twist of cultural integration, Miriam has since learned that true Grays Point locals don’t fight the deer - they surrender. “They’ve got right of way now,” said one neighbour. “Footpaths, driveways, the trampoline. It’s their suburb. We just pay the rates.”

She’s taken to doing bin night in full activewear armour and has joined a Facebook group called Grays Point Deer Watch: Pray, Don’t Feed.

Graham the stag is now trending on TikTok after being filmed refusing to move from someone’s driveway for 47 minutes straight.