William Buckley was an escaped convict who lived with Victorian Aboriginal people from 1803 to 1835. His experiences, which included bunyip sightings, were published in 1852:
I could never see any part [of the bunyip] except the back, which appeared to be covered with feathers of a dusky-grey colour. It seemed to be about the size of a full-grown calf ? When alone, I several times attempted to spear a Bun-yip; but had the natives seen me do so it would have caused great displeasure. And again, had I succeeded in killing, or even wounding one, my own life would probably have paid the forfeit; they considering the animal ? something supernatural.
John Morgan, The Life and Adventures of William Buckley, 1852
It was the explorer Hamilton Hume who gave credence to these stories. In April 1818, he found large bones from some unidentified creature near Lake Bathurst in New South Wales. Three years later the Philosophical Society of Australasia offered to pay Hume?s expenses if he would retrieve these bones for the Society to examine. His failure to return from this expedition has kept those bones a mystery to the present day. Perhaps they were prehistoric remains?