Bunyip | Non-alien Creatures Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit The origin of the word bunyip has been traced to the Wemba-Wemba or Wergaia language of Aboriginal people of South-Eastern Australia. However, the bunyip appears to have formed part of traditional Aboriginal beliefs and stories throughout Australia, although its name varied according to tribal nomenclature. In his 2001 book, writer Robert Holden identified at least nine regional variations for the creature known as the bunyip, across Aboriginal Australia. Various written accounts of bunyips were made by Europeans in the early and mid-19th century, as settlement spread across Australia. The word bunyip is usually translated by Aboriginal Australians today as "devil" or "evil spirit". However, this translation may not accurately represent the role of the bunyip in Aboriginal mythology or its possible origins before written accounts were made. Some modern sources allude to a linguistic connection between the bunyip and Bunjil, "a mythic 'Great Man' who made the mountains and rivers and man and all the animals." The word bunyip may not have appeared in print in English until the mid 1840s.

Descriptions of bunyips vary widely. George French Angus may have collected a description of a bunyip in his account of a "water spirit" from the Moorundi people of the Murray River before 1847, stating it is "much dreaded by them… It inhabits the Murray; but…they have some difficulty describing it. Its most usual form…is said to be that of an enormous starfish" Robert Brough Smyth’s Aborigines of Victoria of 1878 devoted ten pages to the bunyip, but concluded "in truth little is known among the blacks respecting its form, covering or habits; they appear to have been in such dread of it as to have been unable to take note of its characteristics." However, common features in many 19th century newspaper accounts include a dog-like face, dark fur, a horse-like tail, flippers, and walrus-like tusks or horns or a duck-like bill. The "Challicum bunyip", an outline image of a bunyip carved by Aborigines into the bank of Fiery Creek, near Ararat, Victoria, was first recorded by The Australasian newspaper in 1851.

According to the report, the bunyip had been speared after killing an Aboriginal man. Antiquarian Reynell Johns claimed that until the mid-1850s, Aboriginal people made a "habit of visiting the place annually and retracing the outlines of the figure [of the bunyip] which is about 11 paces long and 4 paces in extreme breadth." Non-Aboriginal Australians have made various attempts to understand and explain the origins of the bunyip as a physical entity over the past 150 years. Writing in 1933, Charles Fenner suggested it was likely the "actual origin of the bunyip myth lies in the fact that from time to time seals have made their way up the …Murray and Darling (Rivers)." He provided examples of seals found as far inland as Overland Corner, Loxton and Conargo and reminded readers "the smooth fur, prominent 'apricot' eyes and the bellowing cry are characteristic of the seal." Another suggestion is that the bunyip may be a cultural memory of extinct Australian marsupials such as the Diprotodon or Palorchestes. This connection was first formally made by Dr.

George Bennett of Australian Museum in 1871, but in the early 1990s palaeontologist Pat Vickers-Rich and geologist Neil Archbold also cautiously suggested that Aboriginal legends "perhaps had stemmed from an acquaintance with prehistoric bones or even living prehistoric animals themselves… When confronted with the remains of some of the now extinct Australian marsupials, Aborigines would often identify them as the bunyip." Another connection to the bunyip is the shy Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus). During the breeding season the male call of this marsh dwelling bird is a "low pitched boom," hence it is occasionally called the "bunyip bird." During the early settlement of Australia by Europeans the notion that the bunyip was an actual unknown animal that awaited discovery became common. Early European settlers, unfamiliar with the sights and sounds of the island continent's peculiar fauna, regarded the bunyip as one more strange Australian animal and sometimes attributed unfamiliar animal calls or cries to it. It has also been suggested that 19th century bunyip-lore was reinforced by imported European memories, such as that of the Irish Púca.

A large number of bunyip sightings occurred between 1840s and 1850s, particularly in the southeastern colonies of Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia, as European settlers extended their reach. The following is not an exhaustive list of accounts: Hume find of 1818 Edit One of the earliest accounts relating to a large unknown freshwater animal was in 1818 when Hamilton Hume and James Meehan found some large bones at Lake Bathurst in New South Wales. They did not call the animal a bunyip, but described the remains indicating the creature as very much like a hippopotamus or manatee. The Philosophical Society of Australasia later offered to reimburse Hume for any costs incurred in recovering a specimen of the unknown animal, but for various reasons Hume did not return to the lake. Wellington Caves fossils 1830 Edit More significant was the discovery of fossilised bones of "some quadruped much larger than the ox or buffalo" in the Wellington Caves in mid 1830 by bushman George Rankin and later, Thomas Mitchell.

Sydney's Reverend John Dunmore Lang announced the find as "convincing proof of the deluge." However, it was British anatomist Sir Richard Owen who identified the fossils as the gigantic marsupials Nototherium and Diprotodon. At the same time, some settlers observed "all natives throughout these... districts have a tradition (of) a very large animal having at one time existed in the large creeks and rivers and by many it is said that such animals now exist." First written use of the word bunyip in 1845 Edit Fossils found near Geelong were revealed by The Geelong Advertiser in July 1845, under the headline Wonderful Discovery of a new Animal. It continued "On the bone being shown to an intelligent black (sic), he at once recognised it as belonging to the bunyip, which he declared he had seen.

On being requested to make a drawing of it, he did so without hesitation." The account noted a story of an Aboriginal woman being killed by a bunyip, and the "most direct evidence of all," which was that of a man named Mumbowran, "who showed several deep wounds on his breast made by the claws of the animal." The account provided this description of the creature “The Bunyip, then, is represented as uniting the characteristics of a bird and of an alligator. It has a head resembling an emu, with a long bill, at the extremity of which is a transverse projection on each side, with serrated edges like the bone of the stingray. Its body and legs partake of the nature of the alligator. The hind legs are remarkably thick and strong, and the fore legs are much longer, but still of great strength. The extremities are furnished with long claws, but the blacks say its usual method of killing its prey is by hugging it to death.

When in the water it swims like a frog, and when on shore it walks on its hind legs with its head erect, in which position it measures twelve or thirteen feet in height.”—Peter Ravenscroft, Shortly after this account appeared, it was repeated in other Australian newspapers. However it appears to be the first use of the word bunyip in a written publication. The Australian Museum's bunyip of 1847 Edit [1] [2] The so-called Bunyip skullIn January 1846, a peculiar skull was taken from the banks of Murrumbidgee River near Balranald, New South Wales. Initial reports suggested that it was the skull of something unknown to science. The squatter who found it remarked "all the natives to whom it was shown called [it ] a bunyip" By July 1847 several experts had identified the skull as the deformed foetal skull of a foal or calf. At the same time however, the so-called bunyip skull was put on display in the Australian Museum (Sydney) for two days.

Visitors flocked to see it and The Sydney Morning Herald said that it prompted many people to speak out about their 'bunyip sightings.' William Buckley's account of bunyips 1852 Edit Another early written account is attributed to escaped convict William Buckley in his 1852 biography of 30 years living with the Wathaurong people. His 1852 account records "in... Lake Moodewarri [now Lake Modewarre] as well as in most of the others inland...is a...very extraordinary amphibious animal, which the natives call Bunyip." Buckley's account suggests he saw such a creature on several occasions. He adds "I could never see any part, except the back, which appeared to be covered with feathers of a dusky grey colour. It seemed to be about the size of a full grown calf... I could never learn from any of the natives that they had seen either the head or tail." Buckley also claimed the creature was common in the Barwon River and cites an example he heard of an Aboriginal woman being killed by one. He emphasized the Bunyip was believed to have supernatural powers.

1000+ images about Myths & Ledgends on Pinterest | Mythology, Mythical creatures and Folklore Forward Yowie...unidentified hominid reputed to lurk in the Australian wilderness. An Australian cryptid similar to the Himalayan Yeti and the North American Bigfoot. The origins of the yowie may lie in a mythological character in native Australian Aboriginal folklore. This creature's characteristics and legend are sometimes interchangeable with those of the bunyip. Reports of yowie-type creatures are common in the legends and stories of Australian Aboriginal tribes. See More Bunyip | New Cryptozoology Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Share The bunyip, or kianpraty, [1 ] is a large mythical creature from Aboriginal mythology , said to lurk in swamps , billabongs , creeks , riverbeds , and waterholes . The origin of the wordbunyip has been traced to the Wemba-Wemba or Wergaia language of Aboriginal people of South-Eastern Australia . [2 ] [3 ] [4 ] However, the bunyip appears to have formed part of traditional Aboriginal beliefs and stories throughout Australia, although its name varied according to tribal nomenclature.

[5 ] In his 2001 book, writer Robert Holden identified at least nine regional variations for the creature known as the bunyip across Aboriginal Australia. [4 ] Various written accounts of bunyips were made by Europeans in the early and mid-19th century, as settlement spread across the country. The word bunyip is usually translated by Aboriginal Australians today as "devil" or "evil spirit". [6 ] However, this translation may not accurately represent the role of the bunyip in Aboriginal mythology or its possible origins before written accounts were made. Some modern sources allude to a linguistic connection between the bunyip and Bunjil , "a mythic 'Great Man' who made the mountains and rivers and man and all the animals." [7 ] The word bunyip may not have appeared in print in English until the mid-1840s. [8 ] By the 1850s, bunyip had also become a "synonym for impostor, pretender, humbug and the like" in the broader Australian community. [2 ] The term bunyip aristocracy was first coined in 1853 to describe Australians aspiring to be aristocrats.

In the early 1990s, it was famously used by Prime Minister Paul Keating to describe members of the conservative Liberal Party of Australia opposition. [9 ] The word bunyip can still be found in a number of Australian contexts, including place names such as the Bunyip River (which flows into Westernport Bay in southern Victoria ) and the town of Bunyip , Victoria. Descriptions of bunyips vary widely. George French Angus may have collected a description of a bunyip in his account of a "water spirit" from the Moorundi people of the Murray River before 1847, stating it is "much dreaded by them… It inhabits the Murray; but…they have some difficulty describing it.

Its most usual form…is said to be that of an enormous starfish." [10 ] Robert Brough Smyth's Aborigines of Victoria of 1878 devoted ten pages to the bunyip, but concluded "in truth little is known among the blacks respecting its form, covering or habits; they appear to have been in such dread of it as to have been unable to take note of its characteristics." [11 ] However, common features in many 19th-century newspaper accounts include a dog-like face, dark fur, a horse -like tail , flippers , and walrus -like tusks or horns or a duck -like bill. [12 ] The Challicum bunyip , an outline image of a bunyip carved by Aborigines into the bank of Fiery Creek, near Ararat , Victoria, was first recorded by The Australasian newspaper in 1851. According to the report, the bunyip had been speared after killing an Aboriginal man.

Antiquarian Reynell Johns claimed that until the mid-1850s, Aboriginal people made a "habit of visiting the place annually and retracing the outlines of the figure [of the bunyip] which is about 11 paces long and 4 paces in extreme breadth." Non-Aboriginal Australians have made various attempts to understand and explain the origins of the bunyip as a physical entity over the past 150 years. Writing in 1933, Charles Fenner suggested that it was likely that the "actual origin of the bunyip myth lies in the fact that from time to time seals have made their way up the ... Murray and Darling (Rivers)". He provided examples of seals found as far inland as Overland Corner , Loxton , and Conargo and reminded readers that "the smooth fur, prominent 'apricot' eyes and the bellowing cry are characteristic of the seal." [14 ] Another suggestion is that the bunyip may be a cultural memory of extinct Australian marsupials such as the Diprotodon or Palorchestes .

This connection was first formally made by Dr George Bennett of the Australian Museum in 1871, [15 ] but in the early 1990s, palaeontologist Pat Vickers-Rich and geologist Neil Archbold also cautiously suggested that Aboriginal legends "perhaps had stemmed from an acquaintance with prehistoric bones or even living prehistoric animals themselves ... When confronted with the remains of some of the now extinct Australian marsupials, Aborigines would often identify them as the bunyip." [16 ] Another connection to the bunyip is the shy Australasian bittern ( Botaurus poiciloptilus ). [17 ] During the breeding season, the male call of this marsh-dwelling bird is a "low pitched boom"; [18 ] hence, it is occasionally called the "bunyip bird". During the early settlement of Australia by Europeans, the notion that the bunyip was an actual unknown animal that awaited discovery became common. Early European settlers, unfamiliar with the sights and sounds of the island continent's peculiar fauna, regarded the bunyip as one more strange Australian animal and sometimes attributed unfamiliar animal calls or cries to it.

It has also been suggested that 19th-century bunyip lore was reinforced by imported European memories, such as that of the Irish Púca . [7 ] A large number of bunyip sightings occurred during the 1840s and 1850s, particularly in the southeastern colonies of Victoria , New South Wales and South Australia , as European settlers extended their reach. The following is not an exhaustive list of accounts: Contents An undiscovered aquatic marsupial 1 An undiscovered variety of freshwater seal 1 A Diprotodon, extinct for some 20,000 years, which is known to have terrified early Australian settlers 3 ,4, 6, 8 An Australian Fur Seal, which emits a loud cry similar to the bunyip when it is trapped inland by flooding 3, 8 Based on fossilized animal skeletons that the Indigenous Australians came across, such as of the prehistoric giant kangaroo, the Procoptodon, whose fossils indicate they weighed more than 5.8 kg or 500 pounds. 3, 8, 9 Even though today most Australians consider the bunyip to be mythical, they have not dismissed its lore.

In fact, the National Library of Australia sponsors a traveling exhibition on bunyips, and several folk-tales appear on the government’s Web site. In addition, a set of four postage stamps has been issued with different version of its likeness to commemorate the legendary bunyip.8, 10 Part of aboriginal folklore, the Bunyip was a spirit, which inhabited the rivers, lakes, swamps and billabongs of Australia. The Bunyip was said to be malevolent towards humans and would defend its water home from anyone foolish enough to enter it. At night the Bunyip was said to prey upon the women and children of aboriginal tribes. To the Aborigines the Bunyip was a beast of many different shapes and sizes. Some Bunyips were covered in feathers; some even had scales like crocodiles. Common features in most Aboriginal drawings of Bunyips are a horse-like tail, flippers, and tusks like the ones found on walruses. [1] Modern Bunyip’s, or at least those reported by the original settlers as well as today’s residence of Australia, vary greatly from the Bunyip in aboriginal stories.

The aboriginal Bunyip was a fierce man killer where as the more modern view sees them as herbivorous grazing animals. During early settlement of Australia the notion that the Bunyip was an actual unknown creature awaiting discovery was widely held as truth. Early European settlers were not accustom to the sights and sounds of the islands perculiar animal species regarded the Bunyip as one more strange Australian animal, and sometimes attributed unfamiliar calls or cries to it. In 1846 the discovery of a strange skull in an isolated area associated with these 'bunyip calls' seemed to provide physical evidence of the bunyip's existence. [2] The percular skull was found on the banks of Murrumbidgee River in New South Wales, several experts concluded the that skull was from a creature unknown to science. In 1847 the “Bunyip Skull” was put on exhibition at the Australian Museum in Sydney for two days. During the skull’s stay at the museum the Sydney Morning Herald reported a extreme increase in Bunyip sightings. It seemed that everyone became immediately aware that they had heard 'strange sounds' from the lagoons at night, or had seen 'something black' in the water.

It was later concluded that the skull was nothing more than that of a disfigured horse or calf and disappeared from the museum soon afterwards. Based on eye wittness reports there are two different kidns of Bunyip, the first being the more common, Dog Faced Bunyip, said to have a face like a dog and a shaggy coat, and the second being the Long Necked Bunyip, said to have a long haired mane and a similar shaggy coat. The Dog Faced Bunyip is thought to inhabit the lakes and rivers of New South Wales, Victoria and the Austrelian capital territory, there have even been sightings on the off shore island state of Tasmania. Reports of the rarer Long Necked Bunyip seem to only come from New South Wales. Some researchers believe that the Bunyip may be a surviving Diprotodons, which was a large rhino sized plant eating marsupials, said to have gone extinct about 10,000 years ago. Much like reports of the modern Bunyip the Diprotodon was a grazing animal, the two also shared many of the same physical features.

The Diprotodon had a face somewhat like that of a dog, as well as a somewhat shaggy coat; both major traits of the Bunyip. Scientists who find this theory a little unlikely suggest that the Bunyip is nothing more than a seal, a common marine mammal found along the coasts of Australia. These scientists suggest that the seals worked their way into the interior lakes and swamps through rivers only to be spotted by locals who where not accustom to seals and misidentify them as Bunyips. One thing is for certain, as long as there have been humans in Australia there have been sightings of the Bunyip and until there is a dedicated team of individuals willing to spend the time and money in search of this creature, it will remain a mystery. The Physical Evidence Beyond sightings of the Bunyip, and tales passed down by aboriginals, there remains no evidence of the existence of the Bunyip. Unfortunately, a lack of sightings in recent years has led some researches to believe that the Bunyip has gone extinct. The Sightings One morning in November 1821, E.S.

Hall saw a Dog-faced Bunyip with jet-black hair in the marsh running into Lake Bathurst South, New South Wales. In 1847 a young herdsmen saw a Long-necked Bunyip grazing while he was looking for some cows in a flooded area. A local settler, George Hobler, reported the young herdsman's story to the Sydney Morning Herald. According to the report made Hobler: "It was about as big as a six months' old calf, of a dark brown color, a long neck, and long pointed head; it had large ears which pricked up when it perceived him (the herdsmen); had a thick mane of hair from the head down the neck, and two large tusks. He turned to run away, and this creature equally alarmed ran off too, and from glance he took at it he describes it as having an awkward shambling gallop; the forequarters of the animal were very large in proportion to the hindquarters, and it had a large tail." He took two men to the place next morning to look for its track, which they described as broad and square, somewhat like what the spread hand of a man would make in soft muddy ground.

In 1852 a Dog-faced Bunyip was observed in Lake Tiberias, Tasmania. It was described as being 4 to 4½ feet long, with a head like a bulldog and black shaggy fur. While rowing across Great Lake, Tasmania, Charles Headlam and a friend almost bumped into a Dog-faced Bunyip. They described it as being about the size of a fully-grown sheepdog, and having two small wing-like flippers. The Bunyip stayed at the top of the water until it swam out of view. In 1872 three men watched a Dog-faced Bunyip swimming in Midgeon Lagoon, New South Wales for about a half-hour. One of the men gave the following first-hand description to the Wagga Wagga Advertiser: Half as long again as an ordinary retriever dog; the hair all over its body was jet-black and shining, its coat was very long, the hair spreading out on the surface of the water for about 5 inches, and floating loosely as the creature rose and fell by its own motion.

I could not detect any tail, and the hair about its head was too long and glossy to admit of my seeing its eyes; the ears were well marked. In 1886 some horsemen who were fording a river near Canberra reported seeing a Dog-faced Bunyip, which was about the size of a dog and had a white coat. They threw stones at the Bunyip until it was out of sight. In 1890 a Bunyip with a white coat was shot at in New South Wales; it retreated into a lagoon and was said to make a grunting sound. The Stats – (Where applicable) • Classification: Unknown • Size: About that of a large dog. • Weight: Unknown • Diet: Unknown • Location: Australia and Tasmania • Movement: Can Travel both on land and in water. • Environment: Rivers, Marshes, Lakes, Swamps ad Billabongs. Having stalked its way through Aboriginal legends into modern folklore, the Bunyip is a bizarre aquatic mammal that is said to lurk beneath the placid waters of Australia’s lakes, riverbeds and watering holes.

Harkening back to the Aboriginal “Dreamtime” legends of creation, the Bunyip was considered to be a malevolent water spirit, which emerged only at night to devour any human or animal foolish enough to wander too close to it’s watery abode. The more modern interpretation of this creature is that of an animal that is a biologically manifest and decidedly gentle — if slightly eccentric — herbivore. Known for its blood-curdling shriek, descriptions of this animal vary as often as the stories told about them. According to the Aborigines, the Bunyip was a species that inhabited numerous amphibious forms, including the “dog-faced” — not unlike the infamous EUROA BEAST — and “long neck” varieties. That having been stated, the “long neck” version of this creature might actually represent traditional LAKE MONSTER sightings. Perhaps some eyewitnesses — who were more familiar with local Bunyip legends than those of famous freshwater beasts like CHAMP — may have confused these creatures with the somewhat more common indigenous cryptid. The debate between the “dog-faced” and “long neck” Bunyips notwithstanding, there are a very few traits which have commonly held true regarding the appearance of this ostensibly HYBRID BEAST.

Said to be approximately the size of a calf, with a canine-like features and a coat of shaggy hair, this animal has also been depicted as having tusks, fins, scales, claws, wings, a long tail and even feathers. As if the creature’s appearance weren’t strange enough,the Bunyip was said to lay turtle-like eggs in a platypus nest, while subsisting on a diet which varied from crayfish to human beings. It was also said that its guttural growl was akin to a sonic “boom,” which inspired terror in the locals who were often woken in the dead of night by its nefarious cry. Due to the bizarre nature of these accounts, the Bunyip has suffered much ridicule, even among cryptozoological circles. [3] Despite the obvious multifariousness of the features attributed to this beast, one must admit that the similarities between the Bunyip and other AQUATIC ENIGMAS of Europe — such as the DOBHAR-CHU , EACH-UISGE and KELPIE — are startlingly evident.

While the Bunyip had been recorded in Aboriginal folklore for centuries — where it was described as being as large as a bull with an emu’s head and neck, a horse’s mane and tail and a seal-like flippers — the first modern account of the beast hails from a lagoon near Narrandera where white settlers of the area claimed to have seen the creature in 1872. These witnesses described the mystery animal as being: “half as long again as a retriever dog, with long black hair all over its body.” Approximately a year later another Bunyip was seen Dalby, which is located in Queensland, home of the QUEENSLAND CARCASS. This creature was described as having the head of a seal, a fish-like tail and, oddly, one small and one large fin. [4] While these cases may seem to be the product of rich native folklore and settlers with overactive imaginations, the fact remains that Australia is the home to some of the Earth’s most unique animals and that the Bunyip may well be a living, breathing member of Australia’s incredibly diverse fauna.

It has also been suggested by some researchers that the Bunyip may, in fact, be a modern descendant of a prehistoric marsupial known as Diprotodon Australis or, as it more commonly referred, the giant sloth. Australia - Bunyips Mythology AUSTRALIA THE MAKING OF A BUNYIP - A MYTH Long ago, when the world was nearly new, marvellous inexplicable things were taking place. In the Land of Perfection, where barren wastelands were unknown and lush vegetation reigned supreme, "the sun was concentrating her rays upon the water of the earth, and was bringing forth life in forms most strange to behold. Among these was Moolgewanke, the bunyip". From such miraculous beginnings the bunyip emerged to tantalise the wits of aboriginal tribes roaming the Lake Alexandrina district of South Australia. As Moolgewanke, the bunyip had a dual role to play, for by the 1870s his long-term career as both respected ghost-figure and actual water-monster was assured.

Moolgewanke provided ritual material in the form of a fearful devil-spirit, while his earthly presence caused the Narrinyeri tribesmen of that region to tremble with terror. Narrinyen people regarded Moolgewanke as a water-spirit who took the form of man and fish combined, wore a garment of matted weeds and boomed in the night like canon blasts. Worst of all, Moolgewanke the bunyip caused rheumatism, although nobody seems to know how or why this accusation came about. Likewise, nobody can say how many of the dozen or so major tribes that inhabited the south-eastern corner of Australia relied on the bunyip as their main source of devil-omen. We do know that in aboriginal ritual and legend the bunyip takes an emulated place among assorted lesser and superior spirit-figures, however. For example, in his detailed account of aboriginal tribal law and custom, W. Ramsay Smith (1930), p.349 explains how girls of an undisclosed tribe endured the tests of adolescence.

After long fasting, the removal of their front teeth by force, and a night spent lying on ant-nests (as introductory steps in their trial by ordeal), the girls' final fear-conquering challenge was as follows: "On a fresh camping-ground in the dark night, with the campfires gleaming on the trees, and casting dark, gloomy shadows, the elders told them tales about the bunyip and the muldarpe. The latter is a spirit which assumes many shapes. It may come as a kangaroo, or a wombat, or a lizard. The girls were told fearful stories of these dreadful beings, and of ghosts, to which they listened tremblingly. The more highly strung among them could scarcely refrain from crying out. they found themselves looking over their shoulders, and imagining that the dark shadows were the bunyip ior the muldarpe or other spirits. For hours they listened, until it was time to go to bed .... They lay down to sleep, resolved not to be afraid of any ghosts or spirits". The account is one of many which point to the bunyip as a separate, unidentified species rather than a spirit-form of something else.

Certainly, whatever form he chose to adopt during his spontaneous personal appearances, the bunyip rated high in the terrorism stakes. The bunyip of Mt William swamp caught intruders in his mouth and devoured their entrails. The grey-haired, sabre-toothed Bunyee-Bunyee, "four times the size of the biggest dogs", didn't eat tribesmen, but rounded them up for the crocodiles. The bunyip which frequented the waters of Lake Buninjon in the Maroona area was considered "more into the watery depths. the rainforest bunyip, however, could change his form in order to trick people into doing things for him - as in the case of Tia Gam, the little boy who wandered off into the forest and became bunyip's lifelong slave. Perhaps the most grim, hideous and bloodthirsty of all bunyips was Euro, the creature feared by tribes of Victoria's Western District. Euro's reputation in legend was as a partly divine being - a moaning, groaning guardian of the waterholes.

Aboriginal tribes in Port Fairy in south-western Victoria knew the bunyip as Tunutpan, a bullock-sized, horse-featured, seal-flippered, blackfellow-eating and egg-laying creature with the head and neck of an emu. Those of the Port Phillip district in Victoria and the Great Lakes district of Tasmania called the calf-sized monster which frequented their waterholes a native word probably meaning "devil-spirit" - ie. Bunyip. A variation on this was "Bunyil", meaning inexplicable, therefore supreme, being. This feathered devil-spirit was said to exert supernatural power over his victims - usually aborigines or fish - prior to dining on them. He covered himself with reeds in order to camouflage himself while carrying out his habitual hunting excursions. Said to be "the most dreadful creature in existence", the huge six-legged, goanna-like Whowie inhabited the sandy caves and hills which bordered the Murray River in Victoria's Riverina District. The Whowie had a large frog-shaped head and although slow moving, was particularly cunning when it came to securing a meal.

The water-rat tribe of that area revealed that this beast could devour between thirty and sixty people at a time by sneaking up on them as they slept. It is easy to see why children of that tribe stayed on their best behaviour when threatened with this dragon-sized bunyhip. Whatever his shape, size and colour, the bunyip inspired a wealth of literary storylines for aboriginal people of east-coast Australia. No doubt each tribe had its favourite tale, complete with spine-chilling descriptions of bunyip's dastardly deeds and a moral of suitable enormity. Take the case of Totyerguil, the mighty aboriginal hunter. It seems Totyerguil one day speared a huge codfish named Otchout which squirmed and thrashed about so much a vast channel was eventually churned up. this turned into al new waterway of great length and depth. Otchout refused to die, so Totyerguil the hunter was forced to spear him again and again. Each time one of his spears sank into Otchout's back, the codfish writhed about some more, until finally the Murray River rushed in from the ocean, forming numerous large streams at this spot on the earth.

Unfortunately Totyerguil had a spiteful mother-in-law who was jealous of her daughter's husband. Some time after it became known that Totyergul was responsible for the spines on the codfish's back (each spine representing one spear thrown by the mighty hunter), this mother-in-law happened to spy a bunyip moving about in a deep, dark waterhole. She covered the waterhole with armloads of leaves and grass; then pretending it was a bandicoot's nest, she sent Totyerguil to catch the beast for their supper. Alas, the mighty hunter was dragged beneath the water, never to be seen again. That very night a new star appeared in the sky, and Totyergul's tribes-people named it Altair in memory of their friend who had caused the Murray River to be created. One other reference source talks of Totyargeil, who was killed by bunyips while swimming in a lagoon and who became part of the galaxy made up of smoke from tribal fires and "the two Mindi or bunyip-snakes which made the Murray River".

Another tale recorded in aboriginal mythology tells how, while out hunting near the big river, the young men of a mountain tribe once speared an enormous fish. Unhappily, when dragged shore this fish turned out not to be a fish at all, but a strange seal-like calf. it was, in fact, the thing all aborigines fear most - the bunyip. Yet somehow this particular bunyip appeared smaller than the one their aboriginal ancestors had taught them to fear. The reason was soon to become clear to the huntsmen. This was a baby bunyip. Soon one man with more courage than all the rest decided he would take it back to the camp and give it to the girl he loved. He hoisted it onto his shoulders, but to the dismay of his companions there came a frightening wailing and roaring from the depths of the nearby water. The Great Mother Bunyip emerged from the river, her eyes flashing with rage and her body thumping about with such force that huge mountainous waves rose up all around her. Despite his companions' please to throw back their catch, this brave young man started to run, his shoulders bent almost double under the creature's weight.

the baby bunyip's long, thick tail waves about helplessly as the tribesmen fled towards the safety of their caves in the hills. But as they ran across the flat plain the sky grew dark and there suddenly came the sound of advancing flood waters. Looking back they saw whole trees disappear beneath a glistening, moving sheet of water; and as they started to scramble up to where their women and children sat awaiting their return, the water followed. "Drop the bunyip", ordered the men, women and children in one voice as they fled to a safe spot higher up the cliff face. By this time the water was lapping at their feet. The young tribesman released his grasp on the baby bunyip. too late! With one final swirling movement the silvery water whisked him off his feet, and along with his family and friends he was forced to swim for his life. Then it is told how this young man felt a strange desire to glide - a new kind of weightless, floating sensation. And when he looked down he saw he now had webbed feet, feathered wings and all the features of a large black bird.

Angry because her baby had been kidnapped, Great Mother bunyip had turned the brave hunter and every member of the tribe into black swans. Needless to say, no aboriginal tribe ever went near that spot in the river again . A third story tells how another bunyip stole the wife of a duck-hunter as she sat by the edge of a large billabong. Quick as a flash this bunyip reached out his long hairy arm and seized his unsuspecting victim around the waist. Before she could call out for help he had carried her off into the dark tangle of weeds below. Now the duck-hunter had seen the bunyip's huge grey body moving through the water. the man sprang forwards, just in time to see the bunyip disappear, his wife tightly clenched under his arm. The duck-hunter, being renowned for his ingenuity in moments of crisis, went to work straight away. First he collected several long, thin sticks which he sharpened at one end. After attaching a frog to each, he held the sticks out over the reeds where the bunyip had hidden himself away.

Because bunyips are attracted to anything that moves, it was not long before this one loomed up out of his grassy retreat to snatch at the wriggling, croaking morsels of food. With that, the duck-hunter aimed his throwing stick at the bunyip, hitting him hard in the left eye, whereupon the creature roared out in pain so terribly that the leaves shook from the trees for many kilometres around. In his half-blind fury, the bunyip rushed headlong into a large gumtree which he climbed until his weight bent the trunk almost double. So angry was the bunyip that he cast a powerful spell over the duck-hunter and his wife causing them to follow him up the gumtree. There he turned them both into statues, and it was not until fifty years later when the gumtree blew down in a storm that the spell was broken and the couple reunited. It is said that some Murray River tribes still leave frogs at the water's edge to appease the same bunyip. And in the legend it is told that the eye of the bunyip which stole the duck-hunter's wife eventually became the bright, shining moon.

According to aboriginal legend, the koala was not immune to the bunyip's advances either. One young koala had never heard any of the stories related about this wicked, ugly creature of the swamps. It seems this koala one day invited the bunyip to visit his family at their treetop home on the mountainside. Naturally the bunyip was delighted to accept, and so one afternoon he made his way up the steep slope towards the koala's tree. Bushes snapped asunder and huge rocks rolled away down the hill as the bunyip approached. The earth shuddered under the weight of his footsteps, the bush creatures fled. The koalas huddled together in the highest branch of their gumtree; except for the young koala who slid down the trunk and rushed to greet his large hairy friend. Afterwards, when the bunyip had returned to his favourite swamp, the koalas held a meeting to decide the most suitable punishment for their wayward young friend. From that day on he and his family were made to wear painted taboo colours as a warning that anyone who values life should not associate with bunyips!

Such colourful tales from the culture of the aborigines have served as useful background in our search for an explanation of the bunyip. there are many more, dealing with mythical monsters the size of a hippopotamus or the shape of an immense serpent. Inevitably, these creatures were also as fierce as a crater full of dinosaurs, as cunning as Satan himself. Theories about the bunyip's alternative identity as a giant sea or land serpent or crocodile have been largely dispelled by the weight of scientific opinion, yet the legends live on regardless. Drawings of a "monster turtle-fish" about ten metres long and featuring dome-shaped body, fishlike tail and a fine set of teeth resulted from a sighting in June 1890 by a schoolteacher, Miss S. Lovell. In her description of this creature, Miss Lovell wrote: "Natives call it the Moha Moha, and say they like to eat it". Miss Lovell's sea monster at Great Sandy Beach on Queensland's Great Barrier Ref has been dismissed as an exaggerated version of the Australian oar-fish which grows to a length of ten metres or more, has a shining silver skin and horse-like head.

since its existence was accounted for by natives not too terrified to devour its flesh, it is doubtful whether the Moha Moha was ever really mistaken for a bunyip. The dreaded mindi (Myndie) described by the early Yara Yarra tribe were said to be Bunyip-snakes with magical powers granted to them by the mighty Bun-jil (alternatively Pund-jil or Pun-jil, meaning "god of things as they are"). With the aid of his lesser Mindis, the huge Bunyip-snake could spread disease, poison his enemies, or merely frighten them into submission. Two Bunyip-snakes n in New South Wales, ate native fishermen who ventured into its lagoon or the numerous waterways churned up during its travels. In addition, a gigantic, bright-coloured snake known by the Central Australian aborigines as Wanambi came complete with emu-like head, a mane, beard and all the terrible mystique of a bunyip. Although he appears throughout aboriginal folklore in a multitude of forms, the bunyip has managed to maintain his designation as a symbol of warning to could-be sinners.

he rates in local history as a "sort of Australian bogie", yet we will never know whether his rather comic features derive more from folk-tales carried down through ages of telling or from descriptions of an actual animal recently seen. ABORIGINAL BUNYIPS

Question: The Bunyip is a mythical creature in the folklore of which native people?
Answer: Australian aborigine