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extended from the head to the shoulders, a horse-like tail, four legs kilometres from the junction of t and three flipper-like webbed toes on each foot. rivers, at a time of extensive flood Hovell must have been fascinated with the idea of an unknown "The Lachlan when flooded species of large aquatic mammal and wrote an article for the immense extent of lowland, « Sydney Morning Herald that was published on 9 February 1847, which the water finds its wé entitled "The apocryphal animal of the interior of New South Murrumbidgee. There is on Wales". bed, about 12 miles from th One such animal was subsequently said to have been killed by recently settled by a Mr Tyso the Aboriginal people of the lower Murrumbidgee. A local set- flowing these reed beds for so! tler, Athol T. Fletcher, heard about it, visited the site near "Well, some few weeks ago Balranald and found a strange skull, with blood, membranes and employ, who was in search ligaments still attached, that measured 23 centimetres in length. edge, and just inside this reec Although the top of the cranium, the front of the snout and the sional patches of good grass lower jaw were missing, having been chewed at by dingos, all the these openings, upon an ani Aboriginal people to whom he showed the skull confirmed that it describes: it was about as big was in fact the skull of a katenpai and that the missing front of the dark brown colour, a long ne jaw would have supported two downward-projecting large tusks. Fletcher showed the skull to William Hovell who then wrote to the Sydney Morning Herald, which on 19 February 1847 pub- lished his letter describing the discovery of a bunyip's skull. Fletcher then took the skull to Melbourne and showed it to Governor La Trobe, who described it as having a long bill-like snout, the forehead ris- ing abruptly, the eyes placed very low, strong grinding teeth and a very large brain cavity. The anatomists Dr Hobson and Mr Greeves examined it, and then it was sent to the biologist Ronald Gunn in Launceston, Tasmania. Dr James Grant described it in the Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science (January 1847) as a young, pos- sibly even foetal (stillborn or miscarried) bunyip and said that the arrangement of the head and teeth were unlike anything he +. ros Z = inkl e- - Emu-headed bunyip, illustrated by Sarah Stevens. (Source: Josie Flett's book, A History of Bunyips, Australia’s Great Mystery Water Beasts, Free Spirit Press, 1999) was familiar with. respects tally with that of abo The skull was then returned to New South Wales and given to seen them, so that | am incli Sir Charles Nicholson, Speaker of the Legislative Council in these extraordinary animals si Sydney, who handed it over to the naturalist William S. Macleay, of me, and | cannot but ente who exhibited it in the Colonial Museum (now the Australian day fortunate enough to come Museum) as the skull of a bunyip. Macleay eventually decided so, I shall do my best to bring that it was actually the skull of a deformed colt and a drawing of it "Captain Hovell, who comr was sent to Sir Richard Owen, curator of the Hunterian Museum to the Herald, gives a similat in London, who thought that it was a calf." The skull eventually specimen seen by a shepherd disappeared, probably having been thrown out as nothing more than the remains of a domestic animal, even though various Following is that portion of th anatomists were unable to identify it as such. Morning Herald of 16 June 184 However, a description of the living animal appeared in the sighting:” Melbourne Argus on 29 June 1847, written by George Hobler, a "While he was standing on the settler at Nap Nap on the Murrumbidgee, to William Hovell. It he saw something (similar in described how in May 1847, near Oxley, a white man had tioned in the accompanied le observed what the Aboriginal people of that district called a middle of the stream, that it sh kinepratia on a cattle station owned by Mr Tyson, situated 20 half of its figure, and that whi kilometres from the junction of the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee rivers, at a time of extensive flooding:" "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 12 miles from the junction, a cattle station, recently settled by a Mr Tyson: the river has been over- flowing 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 occa- sional 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-month-old calf, of a dark brown colour, a long neck and long pointed head; it had large ears, which it pricked up when it per- ceived 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 glances he took of it, he described it as having an awkward shambling gallop; the fore- quarters of the animal were very large in proportion to the hindquarters, and it had a large tail, but whether he compared it to a horse or a bullock | do not recollect; he took two men to the place next morning to look for its tracks, which they describe as broad and square, some- what like the spread hand of a man would make in soft muddy ground. The , : ., lad had never heard of the History of Bunyips, Australia's kinepratia, and yet his ts, Free Spirit Press, 1999) descriptions in some respects tally with that of aborigines, who pretend to have seen them, so that | am inclined to think there is one of these extraordinary animals still living within a few miles of me, and | cannot but entertain a hope of being some day fortunate enough to come in contact with one, and, if so, | shall do my best to bring him home with me. "Captain Hovell, who communicates Mr Hobler's letter to the Herald, gives a similar description of another live specimen seen by a shepherd on the Murrumbidgee" = strated by Sarah Stevens. Following is that portion of the letter published in the Sydney Morning Herald of 16 June 1847 that included the shepherd's sighting: "While he was standing on the bank of the Murrumbidgee, he saw something (similar in appearance to the one men- tioned in the accompanied letter) rise suddenly out of the middle of the stream, that it showed, as he supposes, about half of its figure, and that while in the act of shaking itself, NEXUS = 61 DECEMBER 2001 — JANUARY 2002 www.nexusmagazine.com