
ETHEREAL or EARTHLY?
FRIEND or FOE ? :
Bunyips in Australian Children's Literature.
From the Children's Literature Research Collection and the Ken Pound Collection
An exhibition held at the State Library of Victoria, The Queen's Hall
11th December, 1995 to 22nd January, 1996.
Fierce, scary bunyips that bellow in the night; timid, docile bunyips; black bunyips; pink bunyips; animal bunyips; spirit bunyips; bunyips from swamps and waterholes; bunyips from outer space. What a range of bunyips there are in picture books, poetry an
d fiction written for Australian children!
The Macquarie Dictionary defines the bunyip as 'an imaginary creature of Aboriginal legend, said to haunt rushy swamps and billabongs'.1 European settlers of the 1800s were told about this creature by Aborigines. The bunyip was said t
o live in creeks, riverbeds, waterholes and swamps, emerging at night to terrify and devour any animal or human prey in the vicinity. Its terrifying cries were said to ring out, disturbing the stillness of the night. Lonely and isolated white settlers, he
aring unfamiliar sounds at night, wondered and worried about the existence of an animal monster, native only to Australia. Aborigines seemed genuinely afraid of the creature and would not go near any area of water where they thought a bunyip might be lurk
ing. Settlers were anxious to prove or disprove its physical existence. Various believed sightings of bunyips were reported in the press and findings of fossil bones examined. It was not until the turn of the century that the physical existence of the bun
yip was disproved.
Meanwhile the bunyip had made its way into literature and into Australian children's literature; authors and illustrators making their own interpretations of the bunyip, both in appearance and in character and deed. The mysterious bunyip continues to app
ear in picture books and fiction today. Most representations of bunyips, whether they be in earthly or spirit form, focus on the fear engendered by them.
Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker) in her book Stradbroke Dreamtime, recalling stories told to her in childhood, reveals that the bunyip is a spirit from the Aboriginal Dreamtime, an evil or punishing spirit. It is a spirit that haunts the waterholes and s
wamps, rather than an amphibious animal monster.
On display are retellings of Aboriginal stories concerning the bunyip. There are three stories about bunyips in Stradbroke Dreamtime. In 'Biami and Bunyip', some young women of the tribe disobeyed Biami, the Good Spirit and went to see Bunyip, the Evil S
pirit. Bunyip turned them into water spirits who lured men to death by drowning in nearby swamps and waterholes. In 'Tia-Gam', Tia Gam wandered away from the tribe and was captured by Bunyip, the Evil Spirit. Bunyip did not want Sun entering the forest an
d instructed Tia Gam to weave the top branches of the trees together. He is now the lawyer vine. Wonga and Nudu, the two mischievous Aboriginal children from the story of the same name, wander away from the women of the tribe. They are tricked into believ
ing that Bunyip is chasing them.
Two editions of Stradbroke Dreamtime are featured in the exhibition. The illustrations of the 1972 Angus and Robertson edition, black and white line drawings by Dennis Schapel, are in stark contrast to the illustrations of the contemporary Aboriginal art
ist Bronwyn Bancroft in the 1993 version by the same publisher. Another traditional story is 'The Bunyee Bunyee or Bunyip'. Wandjina, Children of the Dreamtime; Aboriginal Myths and Legends contains this story as does Woggheeguy; Australian Aboriginal Leg
ends. The black and white illustrations of the Bunyee Bunyees in Woggheeguy are by Nora Heysen and the illustrations in Wandjina by Roderick Shaw.
Black and white line drawings are a popular medium in which to illustrate the bunyip. Ola Cohn's Bunyip in The Fairies' Tree is a particularly ferocious looking beast ; most of him being black. Annie Rentoul's fairy book Mollie's Bunyip is also illustrat
ed in black and white by her sister, Ida Rentoul (Outhwaite). Her bunyip is ethereal and is described as 'a lost soul of the ancient forests'.
Modern retellings of Aboriginal Stories in picture book format include The Wollondilly Bunyip and the Koala (1990). Julie Morris' Bunyip is yellow and bird-like and not at all frightening to the Koala he befriends. The other koalas are wary and distrustf
ul of Bunyip however and make sure that the friendship is terminated. Another picture book is Black Duck and Water Rat (1988). Percy Trezise and Mary Haginikitas show a bunyip in the act of swallowing two members of the Black Duck tribe. Their illustratio
n of a bunyip for Rex Ingamell's humorous poem and picture book Platypus and Kookaburra is similar. Bunyip is still a feared being, as he swallows Kookaplatyburrapus and Platyburrakookapus. Humour prevails also in the poem 'The Bunyip' from Tails ... and
Tarradiddles.
Other poems create an atmosphere of fear around the bunyip. These include John Manifold's poem 'The Bunyip and the Whistling Kettle' in The Moving Skull and other awesome Australian Verse; 'The Bunyip is here', from Australian Nursery Rhymes and James De
vaney's poem 'The Bunyip' from Sing in Bright Colours. Mark Svendsen, in his book of six poems, presents a psychological interpretation of the Bunyip. In The Bunyip and the Night, bunyips are 'the manifestations of fear in us all'.2 Th
is interpretation is heightened by the illustrations throughout the book. Although illustrated by six different artists, most of the illustrations are in dark, sombre colours.
The bunyip appears in collections of myths and legends from all over the world. Fabulous Beasts contains a pictorial representation of the bunyip as does 'The Bunyip' in Old Witch Boneyleg, by Ruth Manning-Sanders. Both illustrations for these books repr
esent the bunyip in traditional water monster form. An interesting interpretation of the origin of the bunyip appears in The Boy who talked with Bunyips. Here the bunyips are extraterrestials, marooned in Australia when their flying saucer broke down, bef
ore the commencement of white settlement.
Not all bunyips in books for children are frightening creatures striking fear into all they encounter. A kindly bunyip appears as early as 1871 in books for Australian children in R.J. Lockeyear's Old Bunyip, the Australian River Monster, published again
in the same year as Mr. Bunyip: or Mary Somerville's Ramble: an Australian Story for Children. The bunyip's physical appearance is monstrous. He looks 'a little like an elephant ...fins at his sides, which give him more the appearance of a whale ...(he h
as) difficulty in moving along the ground ... (and is) so much more at home in the water'.3 But though he may look frightening, he is nothing but friendly and amiable towards schoolgirl Mary, who comes across the bunyip while she is wa
lking in the bush. He is also an instructive and admonishing bunyip - managing to impress on Mary her duties to her parents, teachers and elders. She should always treat Aborigines kindly. Alcohol and its evils also are a topic of his instruction.
Helpful, friendly bunyips are found in modern picture books. In The Bunyip in the Swamp, Percy the bunyip shows lost children Becky and Matthew the way home. The bunyip in Panda and the Bunyips is friendly and hospitable and shows world travellers Panda
and Lion round Australia. The bunyips of The Pontis and the Bunyips introduce the Ponti family to the enjoyment of outdoor picnics and camping in Australia. Another helpful bunyip is Alexander Bunyip of the Alexander Bunyip Series Although Melissa's Buny
ip is only an imaginary bunyip, he helps Melissa overcome her problems with racist Jason. Judith Whitlock's Bunyip from the series including Bunyip and the Brolga Bird is small, fat, green and friendly.
The bunyip in Aboriginal tradition has power and is a dominating presence. Two books take up the theme of the bunyip being forced out by European civilisation. In both, the bunyip is in a powerless situation. Both books are written in a light hearted, hu
morous vein, the illustrations extending the humour of the text. Gloop the Bunyip and his relations were used to sleeping in their pools by day and waking at night to frighten the Aborigines with their blood curdling yells. European civilisation comes and
gradually uses up all the water available in rivers, creeks and waterholes. Gloop has nowhere to live and nowhere to go. The Zoo seems the only place for him, but the great flood solves all his problems.
Sally Odgers' bunyip in The Bunyip Wakes, a story book for younger readers, is in a similar situation. He is pictured as large, helpless and docile. Awakened from his 300 year sleep when Adam's father starts excavating to build a dam, this bunyip needs t
o be rescued from the trouble he gets himself into by Adam. The bunyip's housing problems are solved when Uncle Penrose takes him to another creek where he meets another bunyip. Although the tone of the book is light, we feel a certain amount of concern a
nd pity for the bunyip in a world alien to him. Likewise The Bunyip of Berkeley's Creek arouses feelings of compassion. He is searching for his identity and acceptance. This he finds when he too meets another bunyip at the end of his quest.
Some very tall tales and lengthy yarns have been told concerning the bunyip. The picture book The Ballad of the Blue Lake Bunyip is one such tall tale as is the full length novel The Incredible Steam-driven Adventures of Riverboat Bill. There is a bunyip
guarding a princess in the modern fairy tale, Whispering in the Wind. The Bunyip in the Billycan is in dire trouble but has a swagman and his friends all rallying around to release him from the billycan. Pumpkin Paddy meets the Bunyip recounts the proble
ms of a pink bunyip who has overeaten. The Song of the Shearer is a humorous poem which ends with the bunyip being invited to join in the music and fun. We learn about 'A Way to Get Rid of Bunyips' in More Stuff and Nonsense and find out about the incredi
ble appetite of the bunyip in 'The Hungry Bunyip' from the All-Australian Ha Ha Book. Ron Edwards' bunyip in The Bunyip's Breakfast is a far cry from the traditional bunyip - he is built something like a human and walks on two legs.
What do bunyips look like? This vexing question is never solved in Bunyip Says So and Bunyip Told Me, early twentieth century children's books by W.M. Fleming, who tells the reader 'I know that quite a lot of you would like to know what Bunyip is like to
look at ... he is not like anything you ever saw ... So it is no use trying to describe him, is
it?'4 The reader never sees the bunyip in The Bunyip on Little Mountain either, because bunyips 'must never, never allow themselves to be
seen'.5 Tinka and Shelley in Tinka and the Bunyip need to find the bunyip to help solve the mystery of the dried up creeks, but nobody seems to know what he looks like. In Down by the Waterhole we see a large range of Australian creatu
res but never the Bunyip until he gradually emerges from the waterhole.
In more recent writing for children, Patricia Wrightson, after painstaking research, has incorporated some of the lesser spirits of the Aboriginal oral tradition into her fictional writing. The bunyip appears briefly in The Ice is Coming. Wrightson's her
o Wirrun recognises it instantly. ' It was Mu-ru-bul, Tu-ru-dun, Bunyip that seized men and dragged them into water-holes or waited for them quietly in reeds; that killed or ate men, or only held them close to it till they died'.6 Ede
l Wignell's bunyip in Escape by Deluge is a bunyip of the Dreamtime tradition, trapped in a modern city, Melbourne.
Writers of Australian children's books have taken a great amount of licence with the original concept of the bunyip from the Aboriginal Dreamtime. As clever and imaginative as the books may be, is it the right thing to do? Bunbury and Tabbert ponder this
issue and question 'What have the Aboriginal people lost in the process of this transition? And is a nation's identity any more coherent or assured if its new strength grows without care being taken to guard the deep roots of its older cultures?'7

This exhibition and catalogue were funded by the
Events Committee of the State Library of Victoria.
Copyright: the author and the State Library of Victoria, 1995.
Published to accompany the exhibition:
Ethereal or earthly? Friend or Foe?: Bunyips in Australian Children's Literature,
held in the Queen's Hall, State Library of Victoria,
11th December, 1995 to 22nd January, 1996.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
REFERENCES
CATALOGUE
FOOTNOTES