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The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), Saturday 31 July 1976, page 9

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110819632

By Ged Martin

3M[oST Canberra children

andmany

adults know the

story of Alexander the

Bunyip who lived in Lake

Burley Griffin and ate the

city's buildings. It comcs as'

something of a surprise to

learn that eVen 50 years ago,

Canberra people firmly

believed that there were real

buhyips living in the area.

The earliest recorded bunyip

sightings were in Lake Bathurst,

nearTarago. In 1827, Peter Cun

ningham, atravelling ship's sur

geon, reported that "an animal,

bearing some affinity to a seal"

had been seen in the lake. "It

seemed to be about three feet

long',1 and appeared above water

every now and then, puffing

strongly fromits nostrils".

The Aborigines werefrighten

ed ofit,

anacalled it "Devil!

Devil!" European man, with less

reverence, had made a couplc of

.

unsuccessful attempts to shootit.

Although Cunningham was

aware that both Lake Bathurst

and Lake George tended to

shrink in dry years,it

did not oc

cur to him to ask what happened

to the strange beast, during a

drought.

I. Exactly 100 years

after Cun

ningham, John Gale published a

book aptlyentitled 'Canberra: its

history andlegends'. Gale was

enormously proud of the district,

and had lea the fight to make

Canberra the site for Australia's

capital.,

capital.,

He was convinced that the

bunyip belonged to Canberra's

histor}', not its legends. Herecalled a story

told by Captain

Sam Southwell, "one of the most

truthful of men". The Southwellswere a highly respected local

family, pillars of the Methodist

Church. If a Southwell thought

he had seen a bunyip, at leastyou

could be sure that he was sober.

Arfd Southwell was sure he had.

Riding alongside the Murrum

bidgee, just south of Cusack's

crossing — a couple of miles

beyond the modern suburb of

Holt — he spotted "a strange

animal of proportions akin to

those of a three-months'-old calf,

baskingon a sandbank

at the

water's edge". Disturbed by the

sound of the horse's hooves, the

creature wriggled into the water

and vanished.

_

Southwell jumped down from

his mount and made hisway

down to the spot. If he had been

dreaming, then the dream had

left — not footprints, but atrail

suggesting fins or flippers.

On another occasion, Galehimself, duckshooting on the

Queanbeyan River, saw "a big^dog-like amphibian" break the

surface only a hundred yards

away, only to dive again. Others

saw the animal, which seemed to

live not far from Queanbeyanitself. And, for Gale, the question

was settled by the reported cap

ture of a seal-like amphibian m

the Murrumbidgee at Lambrigg— which before long will be a

suburb in Tuggeranong."It was tne size of a mastiff

dog, having a fine fur". It refused

dog, having a fine fur". It refused

to eat fish — odd, one mightthink, for an aquatic bunyip,

although perhaps more plausible

if the strange beast was really a

wombat — and after a few daysit cscaped "and doubtless macle

itsway back to the river". And

doubtless it will turn upat Kam

bahpool one

ofthese days.

John Gale's exotic bestiary did

not end with bunyips in the

Murrumbidgee. The brothers

Webb, of Uriarra, than whom

"there are no more reliable and

truth-telling men to be found"

once had a nasty experience with

a yahoo, the hairy man of the

mountains.

After a day mustering cattle in

the Brindabellas, they camped at

twilight, with their cattle grazing

in a small valley below. Suddenly

the cattle stampeded, and the

brothers saw "a man-like thing,

whose coat was as hairy as that

of a gorilla". It took no notice oftheir shouts, but. disappeared

after a shot had been fired at it.

Next morning the Webbs follow

ed a trail of blood and foundtheir missing herd.

Why did people believe such

tales? First, we must rememberthat the early settlers were rarely

more than a generation removed

from the British Isles, wherestories of giants in the forests and

monsters in the lakes were com

mon traditions. If there was a

monster in Loch Ness, why not in

Lake Bathurst?

To the first settlers, Australia

was a strange country in which

anything might bo found:Children at Duntroon in the

1850s were warned of giant

kangaroos which would drown a

man, and of snakes so venomous

that they could kill with their

- spit, and some locals believed

therewere crocodilcs in the

Molonglo.

Perhaps the Aborigines really

believed in the Lake Bathurst

Monster, but maybe too they

hoped the story would frighten

oft the troublesome white man.

For the individual tales of

strange beasts, there isa simple

explanation. Look around any

of and see

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group of people today and see

how many wear spectacles. A

century ago very few people had

glasses — yet we may guess that

overall there was as much badeyesight as nowadays.

A flock of birds on a distant

lake, a platypus diving in a river,

a Murray cod stranded on a sand

bank, a large lizard slitheringinto the water, even a glimpse of

a rock — all might momentarily

look like a strange beastie.

The yahoo which frightened

the Webbs' cattle appeared out

of the evening gloom — andif,

after a hard day's mustering cat

tle, the brothers had taken a tot

of whisky by their campflre, who

can blame them? Perhaps if they

had shot straighter, they would

have had a wild pig to roast for

dinner.

But perhaps bushwalkcra

should keep an eyeoperu