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Terra
Australis and the great Southern Ocean were long believed to be
the home of much that was bizarre and frightening.
Even before the First
Fleet landed in 1788, Europeans expected to see fabulous creatures
down-under.
They had been conditioned
by centuries of superstition and travellers tales to believe in
the existence of sea serpents, hairy giants, mermaids and other
strange creatures. The Southern Hemisphere, in fact, was believed
to be the realm where the natural order of things was reversed.
Before
the end of the eighteenth century, the actual creatures of Botany
Bay which were being exhibited live in England and Europe proved
every bit as fanciful as any fiction. When a platypus was sent to
England its novely led scientists to regard it as a monstrous
imposture. It was considered to be comparable to the mermaids
which were cunnigly fashioned by Chinese fakers by attaching the
tail of a large fish to a mummified monkey's body.
A
bunyip was perhaps no more extraordinary than a Wild Man from Botany
Bay.
By far the most astounding
monster was the Large WILD MAN, or monstrous GIANT
brought from Botany Bay described in an English handbill c.1790.
It is most likely that the highly newsworthy voyage of the First
Fleet prompted an English showman to exhibit an African gorilla
under an inventive title.
Exactly when the
European settlers first heard of the bunyip from the Aboriginal
people is uncertain. The story of the bunyip remains one of the
very few Aboriginal legends which has been embraced by white Australians.
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