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.

 

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 Broughton River flows through this park; the same river is associated with 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 to bring the Bunyip out of the depths of the billabong, all without success. 150 people assembled on the day of the dynamite explosion in the hope of seeing the creature. The dynamite blew up deep within the billabong and brought debris, trees, and fish to the surface, 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.

South-East Tiger's

 South-East Tigers

“They had short front legs, long hind legs, and were nearly as big as a fox, with long tails like a monkey,” described Mrs G Breda in an interview with The Advertiser on August 13, 1971. Mrs Breda also described the creatures she witnessed as moving “With a loping action.”

What were these creatures that were spotted in South Australia's South-East in the late 1960s into the 1970s?
Numerous sightings of these strange “cat-like” animals were reported, with most descriptions being similar to the “Tasmanian Tiger”, or Thylacine, the last of which was shot in 1933.

The Thylacine had been extinct on the Australian mainland for over 2000 years according to scientific studies.

  In 1966, Mr C. Barker of Mt Gambier witnessed a “great overgrown cat” in his headlights as he drove a stretch of road from Keith to Naracoorte. He described it as about the same size as a sheepdog, with “black white, or black grey vertical stripes across its back”. The animal bound across the road “like a tiger” according to Mr Barker. The report reminded some people of the earlier sightings of the Tantanoola Tiger – could this be a descendent?

The animal was sighted again in 1966 by a 9-year-old boy named Richard Weckert in Kingston SE. Whilst on a hunting trip with his Father, the boy witnessed a cat-like creature in the wild, what was unusual, and stuck out most in his mind, was the very unusual tusks protruding from near its mouth.

In 1967, a sighting of the creatures happened near Naracoorte, when an animal fitting the previous description was seen “loping” across a field.

Reports followed over the years, coming from as far as Beachport, Robe and the Coorong.

The following year the creature was seen again near Naracoorte, and “Jumped onto a fence post like a cat”. It was then spotted by children on a school bus near Lucindale.

A witness described the animal after watching it through a telescope near the Coorong as; “He was a large animal, a bit like a fox and a kangaroo, but neither ... he had a dog’s head and ran with a long, loping gait. His torso was striped in grey, the rest of his body was brown.”

The last sighting of these animals was in 1971 near Mt Gambier. Did they die out, were they hunted down...or did they go further into the scrub as humans moved into their hunting grounds?

Have you seen a cat-like creature in South Australia's South-East – we would love to hear about your experience over on our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/TheHauntsOfAdelaide

The Willamulka Brute a.k.a. "The Kadina Wherwolf"

The Willamulka Brute A.K.A. The Kadina Wherwolf

 The Yorke Peninsula in 1919 saw a loss of sheep happen in such a way, and in such a short time, that it drew similarities to the Tantanoola Tiger sheep killings 30 something years earlier.

For more than 9 months, sheep would be found slaughtered in

fields near Kadina. Farmers described the beast as being "wolf like, but immense in size". 
The beast was described in Sydney’s “The World’s News” on 19 June 1943 published article, "There Are Queer Creatures in This Australia" by V. Molesworth as the “Kadina Wehrwolf”

 Wolf like howls and shrieks would fill the night air, and in the morning, a farmer or two would find some of his sheep torn to pieces – this led to a reward of 10 pounds being offered to capture the beast, which was described in rural circles as “big enough to devour a child”.

 Farmers and hunters began to lay in wait for the beast, hoping to be the one who bagged it. The beast was heard, but never seen, until 21 days later Mr D Tully witnessed the beast.

 Mr Tully had set out to cover watering holes, drinking troughs and dams in his local area. With him a pack of stag hounds and greyhounds, he spotted the wolf, and set his dogs after it, but they flatly refused to chase the beast, being overcome with fear.

 Next he saw it whilst he was riding his horse. He chased the beast and got within 30 years of it, before its odour overcome his horse, which reared back and bolted from the wolf.

 Mr Tully was not one to give up, and set a number of rabbit traps about his farm. He found the beast, foot in trap near a fence and approached it as it snarled and gnashed in his direction. Mr Tully raised his shotgun, and blasted the beast in the mouth. Thinking he had killed the beast, he moved towards it, only to have it raise up and lunge at him again – this time he fired his barrels right down its throat – killing it.

 The “Kadina Wehrwolf” was no more. The beast weighed 30+ KG’s and measured 1.3 meters long from nose to tail. The animal stood at 68cms tall. It was remarked at how strong its chest and neck were. The head was described as being as wide and short pricked ears. The beasts coat was brindle coloured with coarse medium hair, with lines of that alternated black and tan on the rump and forelegs

 The Animal was female, and a small litter of its pups were found near a railway culvert, drowned by flood waters they couldn’t escape from. Mr Tully kept the hide of the beast, and had intentions to take it to the Adelaide Museum, whether or not this was done, has not been confirmed.

The Tantanoola Tiger

In the 1880s, South-East South Australia was overrun with speculation about what could be killing so many sheep in the area. Reports of a mysterious predator with stripes on its back began to be filed with local police. Rumour had it a large Bengal Tiger was on the loose, and soon fear spread that the wild beast may soon kill a human. By 1893, reports were so common that they started to make it into local newspapers.


The Advertiser reported in 1895,

“The tiger is reported to have been seen again at Tantanoola.

An employee of Mr Wehl who was out hunting last week reported that he had seen a strange animal, but was some distance off and did not care to make a closer acquaintance. He, however, sent his dogs forward and says they returned in great fright.

He then proceeded homeward, believing that discretion is better than valour when an unknown danger is ahead.”

In August 1895, Thomas John Donovan managed to shoot and kill a beast thought to be the predator big cat. The animal upon closer inspection, appeared not to be a Bengal Tiger but resembled something closer to Tasmania's Thylacines.
The animal was inspected by a zoologist and was determined to be a wolf. This led to a lot of speculation about why, and how, an Assyrian Wolf came to be hunting in South Australia. It is thought the wolf may have been a passenger upon a ship that wrecked off the coastline of Robe many years earlier.  The wolf, somewhat of a trophy, became legend – it was duly stuffed and put on display in the Tantanoola Hotel, alongside the gun used to shoot it.

 

 

The mysterious Tantanoola Tiger was dead, but sheep in the district were still going missing. This mystery was solved however when the culprit was found. A local man, Charlie Edmondson was caught red-handed stealing 78 sheep, and upon arrest admitted to stealing over 4000 more!
You can see the Tantanoola Tiger in the Tantanoola Hotel in South Australia's South East at 265 Railway Terrace East.