Bunyip

Abstract

'Bunyip': This is the name, taken from Aboriginal Wergaia dialect of the Wembawemba of western Victoria, of a fabulous large, black, amphibious monster supposed to inhabit waterways in various inland locations, especially in lakes, swamps, pools and rivers in south-eastern mainland Australia and Tasmania. Its lore has been further coloured by two forces: Irish memories of the 'poukha' (a similar threatening and mysterious night monster) and, at least in the earlier nineteenth century, natural scientists like G. F. Angas comparing it to the much larger Maori 'Tanniwha' of New Zealand, which was capable of devouring 'men, women, children and all weapons of war'.