The Argus
Melbourne, Australia
August 13, 1932
Queer Beasts of the Bush: The Legend of the Bunyip
by J. C. Le Souef
Little is heard of the “bunyip” these enlightened days, but the blacks, and even the white settlers in the early days of colonisation, believed in the existence of that mysterious animal, and were afraid of meeting it in the bush at night.
It is recorded that William Buckley, the “wild white man,” saw the bunyip during his peregrinations with the blacks, in a lake or billabong not far from the Murray.
He said that it appeared to be about the size of a calf, with a covering of what looked like slaty-grey feathers, but he could not learn from the blacks whether it had a head or a tail, or what it looked like, as those who looked at it were supposed to die immediately!
Seals used frequently to go up the Murray many years ago, and enter the
billabongs and swamps in flood time. They would stay there for some time, feeding on fish, waterfowl, and occasionally a platypus.
When the floods receded they would be stranded, and it would be difficult for them to find their way back to the river.
My father, Mr. Dudley le Souef, mentioned that they usually lay up during the day time, and came out to feed at night.
Buckley’s aborigines had never seen seals so far from the sea, and it is probable that one of those animals was the “bunyip” which was regarded with so much awe. A seal was killed at Conargo (N.S.W.) in 1850. It was stuffed, and set up in the local hotel, where it stayed for many years. In November of last year one was seen near Mildura, showing that the “bunyip” continues to journey inland for more than 700 miles. There was much excitement at Docker’s Plains, near Wangaratta, last year, when a seal was seen in a swamp. It had escaped from a circus at Yackandandah some time previously, and had gone down the Ovens River. The ”bunyip” was found in the Koo-wee-rup swamp many years ago — a fact which gave the town of Bunyip its name.
The fierceness of the “bunyip” is, of course, legendary, but there are still some
terrifying animals abroad if reports may be believed. Last February a man at Myrtleford, in the Bright district, said that he was attacked by an animal at night, while on his way home. The creature tore his shirt as he was about to open his gate.
He declared that it was about 7ft. in height, with a round, hairy head, and four tusks, and that it stood on two legs and looked like an ape. Apparently it was a large kangaroo which felt that it was about to be attacked.
The Queensland Wild Cat.
There is an animal in North Queensland which has greatly frightened people in the last 60 years. It has never been seen by a naturalist, and many leading naturalists doubt its existence. But Mr. A. S. le Souef, of Taronga Park, Sydney, is satisfied that there is such an animal, and he quotes in “Wild Animals of Australia” the descriptions of the beast given by those who have seen it. He calls it a marsupial cat.
It is found in the impenetrable jungle country, where men seldom go and it lives.
Hawera & Normanby Star
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