Bunyip, kianpraty, yowie…just some of the names to describe the beast that lurks within the swamps and billabongs of the Australian outback. The bunyip is a creature of Aboriginal myth and legend who some people believe still exists today.
Much like the Loch Ness monster, there are tales of it being seen emerging from the deep, from a distance of course, and not quite whole. Reports vary as to what it actually looks like and it wasn’t until it was written about in newspapers in the mid-1800s that it really acquired form.
It was thought to be a giant animal, maybe covered with fur, feathers or scales — or a combination of all three. It had a dog-like face, a horse-like tail, walrus-like tusks and seal-like flippers. It resided in swamps, billabongs, creeks, waterholes and rivers.
It’s this connection with water that led some people to think that bunyips were really stranded seals that had travelled upstream from the ocean and got stuck inland. The bunyip’s bellow was thought to be much like the call of a seal, or perhaps it was a bird, or some other noisy and unusual animal of the Australian bush.
Unlike the Bunyip of Berkeley Creek, who was a bit of a sad figure, most accounts of the bunyip describe it as a vicious beast, capable of tearing a person to shreds and devouring them. And it had a penchant for women particularly. Sounds like anyone?
When early settlers heard about the bunyip, failing to heed the warning of Aborigines in the area that it’s not really something you want to meet, they were hell-bent on finding one. Intrepid explorers followed dead-end trails to bring back knowledge of the mysterious bunyip. On the way they found fossil and bones and talked to Aborigines about the monster, gaining “proof” that it existed. It was just very good at hiding.
Then, lo! In 1847 a bunyip skull was found and put on display in the Australian Museum. For two days. After that it was revealed to be the deformed foetal skull of a foal or calf. Science had ruined everything once again. The skull’s display did prompt a lot of people to speak out about their own encounters and sightings of the bunyip. Most of them probably happening while they were outside the pub having a pee.
One theory of how the bunyip came into being was that it was a diprotodon, the world’s largest known marsupial. Also called a giant wombat or rhinoceros wombat, it died out about 20,000 to 50,000 years ago. However, one theory posits that this animal became embedded in Aboriginal cultural memory and the tale of it passed down through the millennia to spark the excitement of simple early settlers.
The four-legged Diprotodon stood taller than a man, slightly pigeon-toed, with strong claws on its front feet. Despite its size, it seems to have been high up on the hunter’s list and one theory suggests that it was hunted to extinction when people first came to Australia about 50,000 years ago. Maybe there were a few very angry diprotodons who took a swipe at their attackers. In which case, good for them. Poor diprotodons.
Then again, the bunyip could be something else entirely. A spirit. A half-man, half-beast. A tail spun to encourage early settlers to go off into the bush in search of the yowie…who were then never heard of again.
Whatever it actually is, it certainly holds a special place in the Australian psyche.
Want to know more? There’s a Yowie Research website at www.yowiehunters.com.au. Seriously.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
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