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Darling Downs during the 1860s or 1870s: In 1887, Carl Lenz searched the swamps for two bunyips that "From the first, the blackfellows of the 'Blucher' tribe were he regularly heard calling half a mile apart. He also gathered unanimous in their descriptions of the 'Mochel Mochel’, reports from other settlers of encounters with bunyips. Mat Heeb which in a way corresponded with that of an otter, also was duck-shooting on the Nerang River in 1886 and observed an that it was only to be found in and about deep permanent animal with a very large rough mane and a long bushy tail that waterholes; further, that it was a very shy animal which dived into water weeds at the edge of a lagoon. Joe Daly also required great cunning and stealth to get a glimpse of, encountered a bunyip that year when he was camped beside owing to its quickness and alertness. | was told that it Merrymac Swamp and described an animal that "had a big, ugly could both see and hear underwater. That was particularly drafthorse's head, rough mane and coat and a powerful voice, part the case as regards anything moving about the bank, in the bark, part grunt and part roar". Lenz also described how a friend, vicinity of its home; further, that it could produce sounds Lionel Brown, came face to face with a bunyip on the land. He under the water... | heard a piercing kind of a scream sim- described it as a four-legged animal with a big ugly head, a big ilar to that uttered by a female in terrible distress... Much to my surprise | saw an animal similar to a low-set sheep dog, He described it as a four-legged the colour of a platypus, head animal with a big ugly head a and whiskers resembling an . y otter, passing from the shallow big mouth full of sharp teeth, a water over a strip of dry land to the deep water." shaggy mane, a rough coat and an enormous rough Seals were actually shot on a num- H ber of occasions, far up freshwater long bushy tail. rivers. In 1850, Mr E. J. Dunn, direc- tor of the Geological Survey of the Nerang—Carrara Road during Victoria, watched along with several flooding around about 1903. This other people a group of seals swimming up the flooded was one of the long-necked, horse-like bunyips, a shy creature Murrumbidgee River near Gundagai, 1,200 kilometres from the that dived back into the Nerang River when it was disturbed. In sea.” Also in 1850, a seal was shot, and it was mounted and dis- 1925, Mrs Valmai Natlock heard two bunyips calling from the played for many years in the Carnago Hotel in New South Wales, swamps almost every night behind Burleigh. In 1965 at Gilston, 1,500 kilometres from the sea and well away from the main neighbouring dairy farmers Tommy Hinde and Billy Hill both watercourses. In 1859, a three-metre-long leopard seal with a heard barking, roaring calls and found the nearby river churned up platypus in its belly was taken in the Shoalhaven River. Mr R. E. with mud splashed high up the riverbanks. A woman reported Day, chairman of the South Australian Pastoral Board, saw and that she had seen a shaggy black-haired animal attack a dog in the identified a seal 400 kilometres up the Murray River at Overland _river and throw it out of the water. Corner in 1890. Perhaps the final appearance of the bunyip in southeast In the early 1930s, a seal was stranded in a lagoon in the river- Queensland was in August 1986 when a group of teenagers camp- ine swamps of the Murray River between Renmark and Loxton, ing in swampland adjacent to Currumbin Creek fled in terror from 500 kilometres from the sea.” A Canberra fishing writer, John Turnbull, reported that a seal had been shot near Deniliquin in 1951.” The building of dams and other artificial obstructions may well have put an end to stray seals venturing far up our waterways and then being reported as bunyips. However, sightings of large and mysterious water creatures continued up until late into the 20th century in some localities. The Bunyip of Lismore in far northeastern NSW was frequently observed in a large lagoon as late as 1971, feeding on waterfowl. It was described as very seal-like, with a dog-like head with small ears.” mouth full of sharp teeth, a shaggy mane, a rough coat and an enormous rough long bushy tail. It opened its mouth and snarled at him and, of course, he turned and ran for his life. His sister Faith took their father's military Marting rifle and fired at it from the road the next day. It dived and was not seen again. Lenz eventu- ally saw a saltwater crocodile in these wetlands and believed that it was responsible for the bunyip stories.“ Another bunyip was observed on QUEENSLAND ENCOUNTERS Further north across the border in the Gold Coast hinterland in southeastern Queensland, the 800 hectares of lagoons and swamps stretching from Mudgeeraba to at Burleigh Heads had a very long tradition of Palorchestes azael, illustrated by Peter Schouten. bunyips. (Source: Prehistoric Animals of Australia, Australian Museum, Sydney, 1983) He described it as a four-legged animal with a big ugly head, a big mouth full of sharp teeth, a shaggy mane, a rough coat and an enormous rough NEXUS = 63 long bushy tail. DECEMBER 2001 — JANUARY 2002 www.nexusmagazine.com