Ghostly Gawler
Allen Tiller is a member of the Gawler History Team executive committee and an experienced paranormal investigator. He addresses the room about the many alleged hauntings of Gawler's old buildings and Hotels.
Showing posts with label Bunyip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bunyip. Show all posts
Saturday, 7 August 2021
Ghostly Gawler - Allen Tiller - Gawler History Team Presentation
Allen Tiller is a member of the Gawler History Team executive committee and an experienced paranormal investigator. He addresses the room about the many alleged hauntings of Gawler's old buildings and Hotels.
Tuesday, 6 July 2021
The Crystal Brook Bunyip
The Crystal Brook Bunyip
 |
| The Warra Warra Waterhole southeast of Crystal Brook. |
In 1876, the mid-north town of Crystal Brook was inundated
with curious tourists trying to site the Bunyip at the Warra Warra Waterhole
(sometimes spelled Wurra Wurra or Wirra Wirra[1]
) on the Broughton River.
The waterhole is located in a bend of
the Rocky River, about two and a half kilometres from the junction with the
Broughton River, southeast of Crystal Brook.
In August of 1876, The South Australian Government issued a
reward of 50 pounds to anyone who could capture the creature, dead or alive.[2]
A reporter from the
South Australian Advertiser stated that: “the hole probably covers about two
acres, and the water is brackish. I have never heard of the water rising and
falling with the tide, and I take the Bunyip to be no other than a dog belonging
to a worthy farmer, who resides on the bank of the river near the waterhole.”[3]
The waterhole had a reputation for drownings. In January 1878,
a group of five friends left Thompsons Hotel with the intent to go swimming in
the Warra Warra Waterhole. A young man named Beasley was swimming when he
suddenly began to struggle, then sink into the waterhole. His friend, E.E. Boys
attempted to save him, but Beasley was pulled under and drowned. Thomas Wilson
eventually dived down, and after three attempts, pulled Beasley’s lifeless body
out of the waterhole.[4]
In 1889 the Bunyip was allegedly sighted by W.A. Allen and
J. Parmenter, who rode into Crystal Brook and announced their discovery. The men’s
statement was treated as a joke until they started paying for provisions to
hunt it. The men described the beast as being four feet long and fifteen inches
across its back, they could not report whether it had a head or a tail.[5]
A trap was set for the Bunyip.
During this period, there were multiple sightings
of the creature, but as a reporter for the Evening Journal pointed out, of the
six different people who had seen the Bunyip, not one could give a good description
of it.[6]
The mythology of the
Warra Warra Waterhole Bunyip can allegedly be traced to a sly grog shanty that
once stood near the river. It is alleged that in the 1870s the grog shop proprietor
told stories of the Bunyip as a real and very dangerous creature. He claimed
that the waterhole had a large tunnel underneath it that went out to sea, and
that the Bunyip used it to take its prey away. Early settlers were so convinced
of the Bunyips existence that they often formed shooting parties and staked out
the watering hole to try and kill the beast.[7]
Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2020
[1] 'CRYSTAL BROOK, MAY 3.', South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail, (8 May 1880), p. 29., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article94752008.
[2] 'Latest News.', Evening Journal, (5 August 1876), p. 2., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197692722.
[3] 'CRYSTAL BROOK, AUGUST 16.', The South Australian Advertiser, (21 August 1876), p. 7., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article73066402.
[4] 'LOCAL TELEGRAMS.', South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail, (12 January 1878), p. 8., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90867715.
[5] 'The Bunyip Again.', Evening Journal, (31 January 1889), p. 2., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199857712.
[6] Ibid.
[7] 'TOWNS, PEOPLE, AND THINGS WE OUGHT TO KNOW', Chronicle, (10 November 1932), p. 42., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90634245.
Tuesday, 27 April 2021
The Koolunga Bunyip
The Koolunga Bunyip
Koolunga is a small town in the mid-north. To Koolunga’s
east sits White Cliffs reserve, it was here that in 1883 a Bunyip was allegedly
witnessed.[1]
Local Ngadjuri people believed that
a Bunyah Bunyah dwelled in the billabong at White Cliffs. The Boughton River
flows through this park, the same river attached to the Bunyip sightings at a billabong
called Warra Warra, near Crystal Brook.[2]
It was claimed that several
witnesses saw the Bunyip in the billabong in 1883. A hunting party was formed,
and rather than trying to trap the Bunyip, or shoot it, it was decided that
dynamite would be used to blast the Bunyip out of its dark, watery home.[3]
Rifles, pistols
dynamite and soap were used to try and bring the Bunyip out of the depths of
the billabong, all without success. 150 people assembled on the day of the
dynamite explosion in hope of seeing the creature. The dynamite blew up deep within
the billabong and brought to the surface debris, trees, and fish, but no
Bunyip![4]
You can visit the White Cliffs Campsite for yourself.
More details
here: https://www.australiancampsites.com.au/white-cliffs-reserve
Researched and written by Allen Tiller ©2020
[1] 'KOOLUNGA LETTER.', Port Adelaide News, (16 February 1883), p. 8. ,http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article195870033.
[2] 'MERRITON, FEBRUARY 27.', The South Australian Advertiser, (8 March 1883), p. 7., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33757799.
[3] 'KOOLUNGA, January 22.', South Australian Register, (25 January 1883), p. 7., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43467030.
[4] 'FIFTY YEARS AGO', Northern Argus, (13 March 1936), p. 5., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article97771239.
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