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For 200 years scientific experts, bushmen
and downright cranks have offered explanations of the bunyip.
Some bunyip explanations seem more
bizarre than any actual belief in the bunyip itself!
One popular theory claims that the
bunyip is merely a seal which has ventured far from its coastal
habitat via the inland river system. In 1850, for example, the Director
of the Geological Survey of Victoria reported a large group of seals
swimming up the flooded Murrumbidgee River, 1200 kilometres from
the sea.
The dreadful cries attributed to the
bunyip have likewise found an explanation. This unsettling sound
has been traced to the Brown Bittern, a bird whose booming call
has earned it the nickname of the Murray Bull.
Another explanation comes from those
who suggest that the bunyip legends derive from Aboriginal tribal
memories of the giant mammals which used to roam the Australian
continent.
But do we really want all of the earths
mysteries explained? Isnt there something to be gained by keeping
the bunyip alive as a mysterious, lurking presence in the dark waters
of the billabong?
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