Beware The Bunyip

The Bunyip (what an utterly cool word!) hails from Australia and was a creature which lived in rivers, lakes, swamps, and billabongs. As with most weird things they were pretty much hostile towards we human folk, so having one as a pet was a nonstarter. Bugger. The Bunyip would defend it's watery home from all who dared to visit, normally eating the hapless tresapasser. At night the Bunyip was said to go and prey upon women and children which were presumably more succulent than beer bloated guys.


A Bunyip ~ tastes like chicken

Here is one of the first written descriptions of the bunyip in 1845 ~

“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

Again in 1845 there were reports of the bunyip in the coastal town of Geelong, Victoria. Bones were discovered and a local Aborigine man identified them without hesitation as bunyip bones.
And Geelong offered up more evidences of the creature too. A local claimed that his mother had been killed by a bunyip at Barwon Lakes, a few miles from Geelong. Also there were reports of a woman being killed at the lakes where boats crossed to South Geelong and a Aborigine was said to have revealed nasty wounds on his chest which were made by the claws of a bunyip he came across at the Barwon waters.
Today the bunyip does not hold as much mystery and respect as it once did. Nowadays Australian children don't fear playing near waterholes and rivers, and the animal has become almost a joke. Something to enjoy mocking. But if you were on your own in the wilderness and suddenly heard something moving in the shrubs and heard a piercing scream that curdled your blood, you just might start believing in the bunyip again.