One of the more intriguing accounts of a supposed bunyip is the one encountered at the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee Rivers after extensive flooding had taken place in 1847.
The encounter was reported in The
Sydney Morning Herald (NSW) Wednesday 16 June 1847, following a letter from William Hovell, an
English sailor who had previously explored the New South Wales region and the
Murrumbidgee River, in 1824. It was entitled, The Apocryphal Bunyip.
Gentleman, on the 9th
of February last you did me the favour to publish a letter I sent you, on the
subject of the skull of the Kinepratia. I now send you the copy of a letter I
received by the last mail, not on the subject of the skull only, but on a
living animal of that name, which you are at liberty to publish. I will merely
observe that this beast, with many names, viz.:Kinepratia, Katimpia, Tanatbah,
Dengas, and Bunyip, agrees with the description given me by a shepherd, who
states that while he was standing on the bank of the Murrumbidgee, he saw
something similar in appearance to the one mentioned in the accompanied letter
rise suddenly out of the middle of the stream, that it showed, as he supposes,
about half its figure, and that while in the act of shaking itself, it caught
sight of him, and instantly disappeared, but although the time could not have
exceeded a few moments, he saw sufficient to enable him to describe it to me,
and which nearly agrees with what I have been told by the aborigines.
The letter was sent to Hovell by one George Hobler;
Nap Nap, Murrumbidgee, 6th May, 1847. My Dear Sir,—The interest you have
shown in the Kinepratia, induces me, in return for your kindness in sending me
all the information you could gather, when in this part of the country, to
furnish you with such as we have since acquired, and I shall not be much
surprised if you one of these days receive an invitation to repeat your visit
to this part, and have a look at one dead or alive. You know that the Lachlan
when flooded spreads its waters over an immense extent of lowland, covered with
reeds, through which the water finds its way to the junction with the
Murrumbidgee. There is on the edge of this large reed bed, about twelve miles
from the junction, a cattle station, recently settled by a Mr Tyson, the river
has been overflowing these reed beds for some months past. Well, some few weeks
ago, an intelligent lad in Tyson's employ, who was in search of the milking
cows on the edge, and just inside this reed bed, where there are occasionally
patches of good grass, came suddenly, in one of these openings, upon an animal
grazing, which he thus describes: it was about as big as a six months old calf,
of a dark brown colour, a long neck and long pointed head; it had large ears, which it pricked up when it perceived him; 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 the glance he took at
it, he describes it as having an awkward shambling gallop; the fore-quarters of
the animal were very large in proportion to the hind- quarters, and it
had a large tail, but whether he compared it to that of a horse or a bullock I
do not recollect; he took two men to the place next morning to look for
its track, which they describe as broad and square, somewhat like what the
spread hand of a man would make in soft muddy ground. The lad had never heard
of the kinepratia, and yet his description in some respects tally with that of
the aborigines, who pretend to have seen them, so that I am inclined to think
there is one of these extraordinary animals still living within a few miles of
me, and I cannot but entertain a hope of being someday fortunate enough to come
in contact with one, and if so, I shall do my best to bring him home with me.
If you should again risk the perils and dangers by flood and field necessarily
to enable us to meet again at Nap Nap, I hope you will escape the scourge of
blight, and be able to see more clearly the barrenness of most of this part of
the country which makes it necessary to devote so large a space to the
maintenance of a flock compared with more favoured land.
As bunyips go this report differs from the norm, describing horns, not a usual feature from similar contemporary accounts and tempted some researchers to speculate on it being some undocumented pinniped or novel semi-aqautic species.
Shortly after the publication of Hovells letter however one Fred Thompson wrote to the paper with a possible explanation and one which should be taken into account when viewing such reports.
One of the suggestions made to explain the encounter was an extinct marsupial creature that died out around 40,000 years ago; the Diprotodontid (diprotodontid meaning two front
teeth). Specifically, a particular species known as Palorchestes azael, which did apparently have two downward pointing
tusks. A description by Tim Flannery, in the Australian Museum’s
1983 book Prehistoric Animals of
Australia;
Perhaps no animal is as suited to have inspired the
legend of the bunyip as Palorchestes azael. Although a herbivore, it must have
been a fearsome sight. The largest of the three known species of the genus,
Palorchestes azael was the size of a bull. The skeletons of the species of
Palorchestes are highly unusual. Perhaps their most striking feature is the
structure of the front legs. …The nature of the articulation of the upper and
lower arm bones in Palorchestes azael is very unusual and appears to indicate
that this joint was immobile, the front legs being permanently locked in a
partly flexed position….The finger bones possess large, semi-circular
articulations and appear to have been highly mobile, but only in a
forwards-backwards direction. In comparison with the forelimb, the hind limb
was delicate….The massive claws must have presented a problem.
Indeed there are many features which seem to fit the aboriginal
description and make this beast an interesting supposition for some form of
bunyip. However such a clumsy and predominantly land based creature would
surely have been captured over the intervening years?
On a vaguely similar note Heuvelmans suggested that a number of bunyips
witnessed by the aboriginal peoples were simply Indian Long horn cattle which
were not indigenous to Australia but had been brought from overseas. These were
subsequently viewed by the aboriginal peoples as some form of monster. This is
interesting as if we recap on the Lachlan report we learn that there had been
extensive flooding sometime before the apparent bunyip was seen. If we now try
and reconcile what exactly was meant by tusks; i.e. could they have been horns,
then it is not hard to imagine a dishevelled, perhaps wounded bovine animal
struggling on its feet after having been washed away from its normal pasture.
Shortly after the publication of Hovells letter however one Fred Thompson wrote to the paper with a possible explanation and one which should be taken into account when viewing such reports.
To the Editors of the Sydney Morning Herald,
Gentleman,—Some months since a number of bones were found upon the banks of the
Murrumbidgee, near the junction with the Lachlan, and which were supposed to
belong to an extinct animal, whose existence was alone chronicled in the
traditionary legends of the
aboriginals. The printed report of the discovery above alluded to (and
which appeared in your journal in the
form of a letter from Mr Hovell, of Goulburn,) caused great conjecture to arise, and excited much interest on the
subject, but failed to produce any authentic data on which the naturalist could
form a reasonable surmise as to the "order" to which the apocryphal
animal belonged. Beyond the fact that certain indescribable bodies had been seen
in various places, by parties who did not profess to be able to form an opinion
as to whether they might be otters or horses; and certain nondescript sounds
had been heard (whether produced by oxen or whales, the writers could not say),
the subject of the supposed existence
of a new order of animals has been veiled in obscurity until now, when
something tangible has been elicited.
Both Mr Hobler and Mr Hovell have taken
much interest in the subject, and by the letter of the former gentleman,
which appears in your columns of Wednesday last, it is evident he at least has
no doubt of the actual existence of an animal which he there describes as
having been seen by one, in whose report, it would appear, he is satisfied he
can place reliance, Mr Hovell was also informed by a shepherd that he (his
informant) had actually seen an animal similar in appearance to that described
by Tyson's stockman. These two pieces of evidence, taken abstractedly, may
certainly be regarded as proof that in the neighbourhood of the Lachlan there exists an animal of
which the zoological history of New South Wales presents no parallel. Still it
is not to be wondered at if people (like myself) who are well acquainted with
the Munchausen propensities of the shepherds and stockmen beyond the limits,
take the liberty to call in question the veracity of their statements on such a
question as this. Few persons would credit the excitement which was caused
amongst all classes on the Lower Murrumbidgee by the printed report of the
supposed existence of so formidable an animal as the "bunyip" was
made to appear, and almost every one became immediately aware that he had heard
"strange sounds" from the
lagoons at night, or had seen "something black" in the water, which
if not a whale, was "very like a whale;" and some who read this will
smile at the remembrance of the high state of excitement they were thrown into
by the appearance (on the surface of the Murrumbidgee) of a sleeping turtle,
which being rather larger than usual, and appearing in a peculiar manner, was
taken for the crown of the bunyip's head ! At a sheep station of my father's,
situated on the edge of a deep but
small lagoon, sounds were heard in the water during the night, as of a
large body floundering about ; and a noise resembling the pawing of a heavy
animal, round the borders of the little lake, caused a superstitious dread to
seize the inmates of the hut, but it turned out to be the result of some
gambolling wild colts freaks, who, in the hot summer nights, were enjoying a
bathe in the cool waters of the lagoon, and the luxury of a good roll
afterwards in the dry sands on the bank ! Such errors of judgment and false
conclusions arose solely from the reported existence of a bunyip; and I am of
opinion the same morbid ideas might lead equally to an optical as to an oral
delusion. I, therefore, in common with many, doubt the evidence on which Mr
Hobler relies.
The Sydney Morning Herald, Tuesday 13 July 1847
Adapted from The Seal Serpent
robcornes1@btinternet.com
Adapted from The Seal Serpent
robcornes1@btinternet.com
