The Mysterious Bunyip: Real or Fake?

 Author: Cole Grice

Down in the swamps and lagoons of Australia, a creature called a Bunyip prowls the land and water hunting for human prey, especially women and children. Although there are many stories about this terrifying creature, does it actually exist or is it just a hoax?  

As described by Bernadette Giacomazzo in “Meet The Bunyip, The Monstrous Cryptid Said To Inhabit Australia’s Swamps," the Bunyip has black fur, a round head, a long neck, sharp teeth, and a body type that is similar to an ox, hippopotamus, or seal. This creature is allegedly between five and fifteen feet long in size. The Bunyip supposedly made load, roaring noises while waiting to devour human beings. Its roars can echo across all of Australia. The article also states that the first sighting of the creature occurred in New South Wales in the year of 1818, when two explorers named Hamilton Hume and James Meehan discovered a large set of strange bones by a lakeshore. Most people believed the bones were from a deceased hippopotamus.

Although the Bunyip’s appearance has not been reported in current time, it began to become popular in the nineteenth century. According to an article called, "18 Facts About The Bunyip, A Cryptic From The Swamps Of Australia," by January Nelson, the most frequent reports of the mythical creature happened throughout the years of the 1840s and 1850s. During these years, the actual term, “The Bunyip,” was given to the creature. The word, “Bunyip,” stands for ‘devil’ or ‘evil spirit’ (Fae). It was given this name as it attacked people which caused a lot of fear among the communities in Australia. 

The Bunyip still plays a large role in Australia’s culture today. The creature may just be a myth in a folktale, but it continues to thrive in modern time Australia. As talked about by Gabriel Berreteaga in “A Fantastic Rendition and Jubilee of the Bunyip in Australia,” the Bunyip is seen in many children’s books and films. It is also displayed around the country as statues. This article also acknowledge the Bunyip Park, which is located in southern Australia. The park includes the Button Grass Nature Trail and educates children about the Bunyip through interactive story books. 

Overall, it is only up to you whether you want to believe in this man-eating creature. Does it wait through the night for people or was it made up to scare us? Will we ever truly know if it is real or fake?

Works cited: 

Berreteaga, Gabriel. “A Fantastic Rendition and Jubilee of the Bunyip in Australia.” YOAIR Blog. October 3, 2022, https://www.yoair.com/blog/a-fantastic-rendition-and-jubilee-of-the-bunyip-in-australia/

Fae, Kota. “Aboriginal Lore: The Bunyip (Devil Spirit of Australia).” Amino. June, 19, 2018, https://aminoapps.com/c/thewitchescircle/page/blog/aboriginal-lore-the-bunyip-devil-spirit-of-australia/8qv1_pjSmuW5YWz1WpgLErK2XMR851GGP 

Giacomazzo, Bernadette. “Meet The Bunyip, The Monstrous Cryptid Said To Inhabit Australia’s Swamps." ATI. January 25, 2022, https://allthatsinteresting.com/bunyip

Macfarlane, J. Bunyip. 1890. Photograph. “The Bunyip,” Wikipedia. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/Bunyip_1890.jpg/440px-Bunyip_1890.jpg

Nelson, January.  “18 Facts About The Bunyip, A Cryptic From The Swamps Of Australia." Thought Catalog. March 27, 2021, https://thoughtcatalog.com/january-nelson/2018/08/bunyip/

 Links for further research:

       New Idea Magazine’s Aussie Woman Tells: My Yowie Terror

 https://www.newidea.com.au/aussie-woman-tells-my-yowie-terror 

This article by Danielle K. presents a phone interview with a woman who had a personal encounter with a creature in which she thinks is the Yowie (also known as the Bunyip).

    The Age: Rediscovered Rock Art Reveals an Ancient Monster

 https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/rediscovered-rock-art-reveals-an-ancient-monster-20190106-p50pu1.html?fbclid=IwAR3HYSnpht9Fp1Q5Yz--cBykB8ZVv1jOAOOyGzAoUc1lhlvxAVD8_YeRLLM

 This article by Joe Hinchliffe, tells the readers about a Bunyip drawing in a cave that can be dated back to many years ago.

      Project Gutenberg License: The Brown Fairy Book

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3282/pg3282-images.htmink2H_4_0006

This book, written by a Scottish novelist named Andrew Lang, tells a story about young men who had an interaction with a Bunyip while on a camping trip.

 

Burrunjor

Author: Brandon Sharpe

Many stories have been passed down through the years about a giant reptilian carnivore called the “Burrunjor.”  This is a huge walking reptile, which roams in Australia, looking for both humans and animals for food.  Some of the “Burrunjor’s” distinct characteristics, such as its short arms and its huge three-toed track, relate it to other dinosaurs like the Tyrannosaurus and the Megalania Prisca.  Another characteristic the “Burrunjor” had was a bipedal stance, which allowed the creature to run a great distance with it.  This reptile would belong to a group of dinosaurs that became extinct many years ago called the Theropods.

            The Aboriginal tribe of Australia, here “long before the coming of White Men,” believed these monsters entered came from the past though “time windows” (The Cryptozoologist).  Other views that the tribe may have on “the creation of the world” are known as the “Dreamtime” (The Cryptozoologist).  This theory could also be used to explain mysteries of other extinct animals that have been seen in other places, but have never been captured.  This tribe has passed down information of this reptile by cave drawings and oral tradition.  Because it was simply passed down orally form one generation to the next, who knows where there story could have changed.  The stories included such tales as farmers reporting their cattle as missing or being half-eaten.  Loud rumbling sounds in the distant and even personal encounters with the Burrunjor are other stories the Aboriginal tribe members can tell.  One story specifically was told by the “part-Aboriginal tracker” Johnny Mathews.  Mathews said he saw “a 25-foot tall” creature described as a Burrunjor “moving through scrub…one day in 1961” (The Cryptozoologist). 

            There are many other stories and claims that have been told regarding the Burrunjor.  One certain well-known account is from the book Out of the Dreamtime – The Search from Australasia’s Unknown Animals written by Rex and Heather Gilroy.  The Gilroy’s write about a man named Bryan Clark who was tending to a group of cattle, but got lost out in the woods.  Little to Clark’s knowledge a policeman and two Aboriginal trackers set out to find him.  Once darkness fell the three men decided they needed to set up camp, which so happened to be in the area around the “Burrunjor’s land.”  Much to the Aboriginals’ dismay the men tried to catch some sleep.  Soon the policeman’s sleep was disturbed by the yelling and screaming of the Aboriginals and he finally realized the ground was shaking.  The men quickly got their things together and ran out of the woods, never looking back.  Later, the policeman reportedly told Clark that if he ever found himself in that situation again, it was every man to his own.  No one wanted to go back in there in fear of the terrible sounds thought to come from the Burrunjor. 

Image of the Burrunjor from SyFy's Destination Truth

Works Cited

“KASAI REX, BURRUNJOR, AND MINI-T-REX: EVIDENCE OF SURVIVING CARNIVOROUS DINOSAURS? PART 2.” The Cryptozoologist. The Cryptozoologist, 30 May 2012. Web. 17 Oct 2013.

For Further Research:

Syfy

www.syfy.com/destinationtruth/creatures/burrunjor

This website gives a little bit of background information on the Burrunjor.

Truedinos

http://truedinos.webnode.com/cryptozoology/land-cryptids/

The link gives an in-depth analysis of many creatures that are believed to be extinct.  This will give a lot of accounts from the book by Rex and Heather Gilroy that was mentioned earlier.

National Geographic

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/06/aboriginal-australians/finkel-text

This link will lead you to website that will give further information on the Aboriginal people, which were one of the first to give claims on the Burrunjor.

Burrunjor

Author: Breona White

A Burrunjor is a bipedal between 20-30 feet tall and is 3 toed, scaly skinned and Tyrannosaurus Rex like cryptic. It has 2 short arms like the Tyrannosaurus. The Burrunjor is said to resemble the Theropod dinosaurs and is believed to be a carnivorous animal. The Burrunjor is mostly seen in the Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is said that the Burrunjor is based off a giant lizard “Megalania prisca. (Gilroy)” “The Megalania prisca, the largest terrestrial lizard known, was a giant goanna (monitor lizard)” (Mussuer). The Megalania is around 5 meters long and could be found around the southern Australian coast. The Burrunjor is most likely originated from Aboriginal  oral tradition.

The Aboriginals are tribes in the Australia region. “They are believed to have lived in Australia for between 60,000 and 40,000 years, their early ancestors coming from South-East Asia” (Dunlop ). There are around 500 different aboriginal tribes in Australia each with their own language. “There were many myths and rituals connected to both the tribe's ancestors and the creators of the world, none of whom ever died but merged with the natural world and thus remained a part of the present” (Dunlop). Some of those myths are the stories of the Burrunjor and it’s sightings.

There are many stories that are told till this day of the Burrunjor. One of a man who went into the woods and got lost; he was being tracked by policemen and two aboriginals. They woke up one night to a loud thunderous sound and the ground shaking. The policemen later told the man that if he ever went back into the woods and got lost that they would not come looking for him. He would not tell what exactly he saw, because he said that nobody would believe him. The most recent sighting of the Burrunjor was in 1985 by a modern day family, who were going to a Roper River Mission. They reported that the monster was around 20ft. tall. The family said that they didn’t stick around to stay and left immediately. Another sighting was in 1950’s: “Back in 1950, cattlemen lost stock to some mysterious beast that left the mutilated, half-eaten remains of cows and bulls in its wake over a wide area, stretching between the border country and Burketown. Searchers on horseback found huge reptilian tracks of some bipedal-walking beast. They followed these three-toed tracks with their cattle dogs through some rough jungle terrain until they entered swampland beyond which was more dense scrub. However, it was at this point that the cattle dogs became uneasy and ran off. The horses were also uneasy and obviously did not want to cross the swamp. While most of the cattlemen decided their animals knew best, two men set off on foot with their carbines. The story goes that they soon came across further tracks in an open area beyond the swamp. While his mate searched about, the other man briefly spotted the dark form of an enormous creature, perhaps 30ft in height, further off in dense timber. The men left the scene in haste” ("Webnode").

Burrunjor

Further Research:

Australian Museum

http://australianmuseum.net.au/Megalania-prisca

This website has information on the Megalania, which is what the Burrunjor is supposed to be originated from.

Truedinos

http://truedinos.webnode.com/cryptozoology/land-cryptids/

This website has all types of cryptic dinosaurs, which would be useful for anyone comparing cryptids.

The Cryptozoologist

http://thecryptozoologist.webs.com/apps/blog/show/15608929-kasai-rex-burrunjor-and-mini-t-rex-evidence-of-surviving-carnivorous-dinosaurs-part-2

This website has plenty of information on the Burrunjor.