Australia's 'Bunyip Bird' on the brink

Dubbed Australia's 'bunyip bird', the Australasian Bittern is among the nation's most endangered species, and they've taken a liking to rice crops.

A pilot study conducted last summer identified rice growers as custodians of what appears to be the largest population ever recorded.

Neil Bull from the Ricegrowers’ Association of Australia (RGA) said it was very encouraging to confirm a minimum of 70 individuals using rice crops during the 2012-13 season.

"Only a small proportion of rice crops were surveyed, so the actual number was likely to run well into the hundreds. It's now clear that the rice industry can play in a key role in the conservation of bitterns," Mr Bull said.

Bitterns Boom in Rice from BitternsBoomInRice on Vimeo.

Ecologist Matt Herring, who is continuing the bitterns in rice study this season, said there are some key questions to answer in order to help the birds.

"Now that we know rice crops are so important for bitterns, we need to get a more accurate population estimate so that we can monitor them, especially for birds that are breeding," he said.

"We want to get a better idea of what it is about rice crops that bitterns like most.

"Many rice farmers I've spoken to are chuffed to be supporting an endangered species and are keen to adopt bittern-friendly rice-growing guidelines where possible," Mr Herring said.

Andrew Silcocks from Birdlife Australia is encouraging rice farmers to report their sightings of bitterns.

"This is a very poorly-known species and it's a national conservation priority. The more we learn about bitterns, the better chance we'll have of boosting their numbers."

Sightings can be reported online via the Birdlife Australia website.

Read more at: http://www.theland.com.au/news/agriculture/cropping/general-news/bitterns-sweet-returns/2682232.aspx

Bunyip billabong retains air of mystery

The legend of the bunyip has lived long in Australian history.

Elders and long-time cattlemen have told of bubbling water, disappearing cattle and eerie sensations throughout the generations.

Several communities claim the mythical creature lurks in their local rivers, but residents in one small Queensland township insist they have the waterhole where the bunyip resides.

The Bunyip Hole at Mulgildie in the upper North Burnett is unsettling.

It's a still pool blanketed with green slime, silent except for the occasional buzz of birds and flies.

Known to bubble and gurgle, some Aboriginal elders believe the hole is connected to a network of underground waterways.

Joan Farrell is the president of the local Bunyip Committee, and says the bunyip has a strong presence in the community.

"I came here in 1975 and I kept hearing about the bunyip at the Bunyip Hole," she said.

"Now, you don't go out there especially on dark and don't swim in it, because you can get dragged down never to be seen again."

She said it was always her aim to see the Bunyip Hole become an attraction.

"It was our 80th year in CWA and money became available, so we decided we would do it," she said.

"Because I've been fascinated; I've had this thing with the bunyip all the time, that I would like to see it become like it is."

On the side of the highway coming into Mulgilde stands a tall statue of the famed bunyip.

He looks like a cross between a crocodile and a small dinosaur, and he's the creation of Brett Benecke.

"We began with a bit of a design and nobody knew what a bunyip looked like so we made something up."

The bunyip statue, which holds a cow's skull in one arm and a lungfish in the other, is made of 6mm plate mild steel and took 18 months to construct.

The tiny 49-house township held its annual bunyip festival on the weekend, which attracted about 250 visitors.

The day was complete with a bunyip pie competition.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-21/bunyip-legend/5108398

From the archives: 1939 'bunyip' sighting had district agog

LOWOOD had a "Bunyip" in December 1939. News had been circulated that some strange creature in the Brisbane River was taking Mr John Roulston's calves. A watch was kept but nothing definite could be established.

This "strange creature" was "seen" at Wivenhoe, Lowood and Fernvale, yet no one could explain what it was really like.

One night, Mr C.H.D. Lindemann, among other opossum shooters, when walking along the river bank near Lowood caught sight of what appeared to be a bunyip crossing the river. Shots were fired at it but missed the creature.

The whole district was soon agog with the excitement of the hunt and a reward of 200 pounds was offered for finding the creature.

An organised hunt was arranged and rifles and ammunition were made available at the Drill Hall. In charge of the hunt was an officer of the K Company Moreton Regiment.

With so much firing of guns, one of the bullets "cut the wire" which had been pulling the strange animal across the river.

The whole thing had been a hoax and it was later found that Mr C.H.D. Lindemann was the perpetrator.

The "bunyip" was a box covered with wallaby hide with swansdown ears and leather sewn on for its nose. It had been made by Messrs Lindemann and F.Smythe who was a bootmaker.

The two men had fastened the "bunyip" to a wire across the river and it was worked by a device and pulleys by Mr Jack Lindemann on the Lowood side.

Later the body of the "strange creature" was taken to Lowood where it was viewed by hundreds of people. All southern newspapers gave it widespread publicity.

The Murray Bridge Bunyip

European settlers of the 1800s were told about the bunyip by local Aboriginies, according to the City of Murray Bridge website.

The bunyip was said to live in creeks, riverbeds, waterholes and swamps, emerging at night to terrify and devour any animal or human prey in the vicinity. Its terrifying cries were said to ring out, disturbing the stillness of the night. Lonel and isolated white settlers heard these unfamiliar sounds, wondering and worrying about the existence of an animal monster, native only to Australia.

Aborigines seemed genuinely afraid of the creature and would not go near any area of water where they thought a bunyip might be lurking. Settlers were anxious to prove or disprove its physical existence. Various believed the sightings of bunyips and were reported in the press with the findings of fossil bones being scientifically examined.

It was not until the turn of the century that the physical existence of the bunyip was disproved.

Some Local Bunyip Facts

• The Murray Bridge Bunyip was built by Dennis Newell and launched in 1972.
• For 20 cents the bunyip emerged from below the water a gave a very loud roar - twice. This roar could be heard up to one kilometre away. The ugly looking monster did frighten many small children.
• His name was Bert the Bunyip.
• The Bunyip was given a baby about 10 years after the launch... Bert then became Bertha.
• The sound box has had many problems during its time... at one stage vandals somehow worked out how to jam it so it would continue to roar - often through all hours of the night.
• Then the Bunyip and baby were also vandalised and part was broken off.
• A quieter, more friendly looking bunyip was built and his cave was revamped in 2000.
• The price rose to $1 for three appearances.
• The bunyip recieves in excess of 20,000 visitors per year.
• The Murray Bridge Bunyip can be found lurking in his cave today on the banks of the Murray River at Sturt Reserve Murray Bridge.

From the Archives: Bunyip art (1927)

What does a Bunyip look like?

The folk over at The Bunyip Movie are busy creating the monster of the title, and have come up with the concept above - which to our way of thinking smacks a little of the repulsive reptilians of Alien fame!

So we thought it was worth pondering on the blog: what do Bunyips look like? 

Escaped convict William Buckley, in his 1852 biography of 30 years living with the Wathaurong people, recounts "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. 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."

Naturalist George French Angas collected a description of a bunyip as a "water spirit" from the Moorundi people of the Murray River before 1847, stating it was "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 10 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."

In many 19th-century newspaper accounts the bunyip was variously attributed a dog-like face, dark fur, a horse-like tail, flippers, and walrus-like tusks or horns or a duck-like bill.

Many modern-day researchers now believe the descriptions may have referred to seals or walruses, or even a 'cultural memory of megafauna such as the diprotodon.

Quite a few artists have had a crack at the water-dwelling beastie said to terrorise early colonial Australians and prey on Aborigines - based occasionally on witness testimony and more often springing from their own imagination.

The Bunyip Terror of Geelong

The Geelong Advertiser has this fascinating bit of local lore in the paper this week.

Devil's Pool, the Bunyip Hole - the Barwon River precinct at Queens Park better known as Buckley Falls, for the British convict who lived with Aborigines for 32 years - has long hosted an unusual rocky cascade, water race and remnants of a long-gone industry.

That's not to mention enough snakes among its rocks to make anyone nervous on a warm summer's day. But as a picturesque riverside scene it is difficult to match the bluestone, red brickwork and craggy texture of the former paper mills that operated at Buckley Falls from 1878 to 1923.

At its height, the mill employed 200 people, making paper from not just wood pulp but rags, sacking, used paper, rope ends and other species of refuse to make some 40 different types of paper for writing, printing, wrapping, blotting and more.

It was set up by Robert Miller, at a cost of between 40,000 and 50,000, as the Barwon Paper Mill. It underwent various changes of ownership; in 1888 to Victorian paper Manufacturing Company and two years later again to H.L. Littlewood & Co.

The mill buildings lay unoccupied from 1923 to 1929 after which the Hydro Manufacturing Company ran iceworks and cool storage until the war years. More recent years have seen them utilised as factoriettes for a variety of trades pursuits.

The 3/4-mile water race to a Belfast-manufactured turbine that generated some 300 horsepower of cheap electricity to the mill was constructed by 30 men who blasted their way through solid rock, presumably oblivious to the devil or bunyip allusions of the pool. Had they been aware of local bunyip lore, however, they might have been a tad nervous. For some years earlier, in the 1840s, a bunyip scare struck fear into the fledgling Geelong settlement.

As this newspaper reported in 1845: "We have been favoured by Mr Menzies with the inspection of a petrified bone found on the shores of Lake Timboon to the westward of Lake Colac.

"The bone is apparently the head of the tibia, or lower joint of the knee. The dimensions of this fragment of bone are of the most colossal nature, measuring as it does 10 inches across the front of the knee (in diameter, not circumference)."

On being shown to an "intelligent black" it was "at once recognised ... as belonging to the bunyip". This was corroborated with several other Aborigines.

No big deal, you might have thought, but next came detailed reports of several bestial attacks on animals: a mare at Little River, a mutilated cow near Barwon Heads. Bunyip fever whipped through the area. And purported attacks further afield even led scientists of the day to study and speculate on the Timboon bone. Hysteria peaked in 1847-48 when a bunyip "skull' was found in a stream near the Murrumbidgee River.

But the scientists were never able to corroborate any bunyip. Speculation has since ranged from seals to bitterns to diprotodons but the creature has remained steadfastly untouchable - and consigned to history as much as Robert Miller's operations next to the Bunyip Pool.

Yowie footprints in the bush?

Is this a Yowie footprint?

This bushwalker is puzzled when he finds a solitary human-looking footprint in otherwise remote, untouched bushland. What do you think?

A bunyip with bite

Is it something in the air?

We're not sure, but The Bunyip Movie is the fourth Aussie cryptid film on the books in the past two years, albeit another horror much along the same lines as Gone Missing (except the big cat has been replaced with a feisty bunyip).

And they have all passed through the Blue Mountains shooting their Yowie/Bunyip-related docu- and mockumentaries.

So what's the premise?

Following in the steps of The Blair Witch Project, the original suspense horror Alien and the inspired crowd-sourcing heart of films like The Tunnel, The Bunyip Movie* (working title) is a micro-budget suspense horror being shot in New South Wales, Australia.

According to the script...

Entrepreneur Tanc Lorenzo has just sold his tech security startup, ThinkTanc, for millions. As he and his small team of staff set out on their usual monthly team-building weekend, the new Board of Directors makes their presence known. No longer will Tanc's team-building trips consist of death-defying sky-dives, supersonic flights or bungee jumps - this time, he's taking the team on an easy 2-day hike in The Blue Mountains. 

But when Tanc disappears on the first night, the team discover that their tame weekend away is turning out unexpectedly. Pursued by an unseen and malevolent creature in the harsh Australian wilderness, the group will have to overcome all odds just to survive. 

Who knows, they may well come across some real cryptids during their shoot!

Of course the Blue Mountains are better known for bush-bashing Yowies rather than water-dwelling Bunyips - a small technical detail!

Can we expect an eyeful of Aussie cryptid entertainment in 2013? Watch this space...

From the archives: Bunyip-Crocodile found at Merrimac (1938)

Meet the Mulgildie Bunyip

A likeness of the Australian version of the Yeti hulks over a highway between Monto and Eidsvold, about 10km from where the horror was born, The Gladstone Observer reports.

The Bunyip may have disturbed the dreams of the Aborigines of that area in days gone and still scares some folk today but, according to resident Joan Farrell, that's no reason not to celebrate this monster from the deep.

Joan is the spokeswoman for the Mulgildie Bunyip Committee.

She admitted that the resurrecting of the genuine Aussie monster was inspired by mercenary considerations.

"We saw the tourist potential in this," she said.

"I mean, no one has heard of Mulgildie, have they? But now nearby shopkeepers tell me people are pulling up to take pictures of the Bunyip."

The Bunyip statue was made by self-taught metal sculptor and resident Brett Benecke who is a descendant of the area's pioneering family.

Joan said he was reluctant to take on the task at first, but soon become enthusiastic.

"He collected umpteen descriptions, then drew up his design and used it to make the sculpture."

Joan said many locals, including members of her own family, avoid the waterhole said to be the Bunyip's home, particularly at night.

"Locals have claimed mysterious gurgling noises emerge from the waterhole and stockmen have told tales of cattle being pulled under while fording the stream.

Bunyip's bandicoots an endangered species

The future of the Southern Brown bandicoot population in Australia is under threat, but the shy marsupials are popping up in and around Bunyip, Longwarry and Kooweerup, according to the Pakenham Gazette.

The Bunyip Landcare group hosted an information night last week for residents interested in protecting the Southern Brown bandicoot population in East Gippsland. 

More than 100 residents, who came to the information session, discussed their concerns about cats and foxes killing off bandicoots, and shared stories of the native animals. 

Bunyip or Yowie? The hunt is on in Richmond Vale

Here's a bit of school holiday fun...

Richmond Vale Railway Museum volunteers continue to report strange sounds and the feeling of being watched. One or two volunteers have even suggested that there is a bunyip or a yowie living near the drainage pond or maybe Browns dam or the forest around the former Hunter Valley NSW colliery.

Well-known yowie mythologist Hummer M. Brainslow has confirmed that the area is suitable habitat for these creatures and has asked that a search be undertaken (for scientific purposes of course!).

To resolve this matter and to get the frightened volunteers back to work, the board of the RVRM has decided to organise a hunt for this creature. To maximise the chance of a favourable result a reward of $25 will be offered to the two most successful parent and child teams

Children are a must because [as professor Brainslow pointed out] their eyes are better attuned to see such creatures especially at night.

The hunt will take place at the Richmond Main and Pelaw Main Colliery sites in July 2011 school holidays on Friday 8th July. Intending participants should be onsite ready for a briefing session from the mythologist and head yowie tracker at 8.30pm at the mining museum at the former Richmond Main Colliery administration building.

Tickets must be pre-purchased.

Visit http://www.richmondvalerailwaymuseum.org/night-steam/index.html

Rare Helmeted Honeyeater released at Bunyip State Park

Eleven captive-bred helmeted honey-eaters will be released into the Bunyip State Park, east of Melbourne today, to boost the bird's numbers.

Seven of the critically endangered birds were bred at Healesville Sanctuary and four came from the Taronga Zoo in Sydney.

Bruce Quin, of the Department of Sustainability and Environment, says volunteers will be keeping a close watch on the birds because they are vulnerable to predators such as hawks.

He says the birds will also be radio-tracked.

"We want to look at the movements of the birds, what habitats they use, where they go to, the general activity in terms of whether they are habitat searching or foraging," he said.

Bunyip immortalised in bronze

Wow! It's been about 30 years since one CFZer read Michael Salmon's children's book, The Monster that Ate Canberra, which introduced the iconic Alexander Bunyip!

And now the famous cryptid has been immortalised by sculptor Anne Ross in 500kg of bronze in her 'A is for Alexander, B is for Bunyip, C is for Canberra' creation. The 2.2m sculpture has been erected out the front of the new Gungahlin Library.

The $175,000 artwork was commissioned by the ACT Government for Gungahlin's $3.8million town park. It includes miniature versions of the National Library, the Shine Dome and Telstra Tower some of the buildings eaten by the Bunyip throughout The Monster that Ate Canberra.

When author Michael Salmon sat by Lake Burley Griffin as a student in 1970, he envisaged a King Kong-type character munching its way through Canberra's cultural institutions.

"Alexander Bunyip has always been Canberra's bunyip from the moment I conceived him in book form,'' he said. "To actually see him here almost 40 years later is brilliant."

The Werribee River's 'Banyip Hole'

A great story in the Wyndham Weekly this week talks about the stories surrounding the infamous Bungies Hole, which has been known by many names over the years.

Local historian Lance Pritchard writes:

"BUNGIES Hole on the Werribee River has a long an interesting history.

It was once a popular location to collect water which was carted in barrels by horse and cart to houses in the developing township. This water hole, just behind Werribee Bowling Club, was the township's swimming hole with diving boards and swimming lanes.

In Werribee's early days, Elliott Armstrong - owner of what is now the Racecourse Hotel - operated a ferry in the area, so people could access the township when the river was in flood.
Several myths have been circulated regarding Bungies Hole, which over the years many have accepted as fact.

The first one being that it's bottomless - this is wrong. It has been determined to be 30 metres deep and has a fresh water spring entering towards the downstream end.

The second is the origin of its name. Supposedly, it was named after a Mr Bungie who accidentally drove his horse and buggy off the clifftop into the water and drowned. However, investigations show that there was never a Mr Bungie living in Werribee, nor any coroners report to back up this story.
What has been determined is that it was named Budgel Carnie's hole in 1845, before the township started to develop. It is thought that Budgel Carnie was probably an Aboriginal elder of the clan living in the area at the time.

It's easy to see that over the years Carnie was dropped and by word of mouth, Budgel could have very easily become Bungy. Interestingly, on a 1845 map there is a notation that Budgel Carnies' Hole is a 'famed resort of the banyip', instead of bunyip.

From the archives: The Case of the Euroa Bunyip (1890)

A NEW BUNYIP?

The Euroa correspondent of the Melbourne Argus writes:-

  Considerable excitement has been caused in Euroa by reports as to an extra- ordinary animal having been seen in a swamp at Wylonemby, about fourteen miles distant. The swamp is about 150 yards across, and a creek flows through it. 



For six years or more the swamp is reputed to have been the haunt of something abnormal, tales being told of dogs flying out of the place, and never again being induced to enter. Last week a couple of young men went into the swamp for the purpose of cutting reeds, which are 6ft. high and very thick, when they were alarmed by a sudden splashing and snorting near at hand, and the rushes waved as if allowing passage to some large animal.

They quickly retired, but next day one ventured back to carry out the reeds be had cut, when he was again alarmed by strange sounds, he leaped upon a log, and at some thirty paces away saw a large head upreared, which he likens to that of a bulldog. It kept this position for about ten minutes, when it disappeared, the motion of the rushes giving the idea of an animal some 30ft. long.

The young man was greatly scared. On a report of the occurrence appearing in the local journal a party of Euroa sportsmen went out to the swamp, where they were joined by local residents on horseback. 

After beating about for more than an hour they were about to give up the quest, when a sudden rustling was heard, and two of the party saw an enormous tail as thick as a man's thigh disappearing into the large trunk of a fallen tree. 



A shot was fired at the animal, but, its effect is a matter of conjecture. Attempts were made to dislodge the bunyip, but without avail, the only result being a small black snake, which was quickly despatched. Night coming on the party retired, but will again visit the scene on Saturday.



Those who saw the animal describe it as being of a yellow colour underneath and a dark brown above, "as thick as Mr. Barr's bell-topper." It is supposed to be an immense serpent, such as is found in Queensland.

Footage of the Murray River Bunyip surfaces

This coin-operated monstrosity has been delighting South Australian tourists for years. Is it a patch on a real bunyip? Well, it's in the water for starters...

Various sightings of the Bunyip have been recorded as having fur, feathers, fishy scales and or a shiny brown coat. It has a long tail or an elongated neck (depending on which end you thought you saw). Half man, half animal, it is tall with a round head, big eyes, long ears and utters a blood curdling cry when approached. Altogether it sounds like a most alarming animal to encounter!

Brown's Bunyip - A Christmas Tale (1883)

But wait, there's more!

From the archives: A 'true' bunyip tale? (1909)