The strangest of the Australasian dragons is undoubtedly the bunyip; this swamp-dwelling dragon is perhaps one of the oldest alongside its serpentine kin, the Rainbow Serpent.
During the early settlement of Victoria (a state of Australia), tales of a terrible man-eating water monster were heard from natives far removed from one another (Buchler & Maddock, 1978). The consistencies in the many different tales were startling, and soon the bunyip had aroused the interest of the European settlers, who described the beast as a huge monster-dragon creature, with bull-like horns, a flat, pushed-in face with large cheeks, the body of an oversized cow tapering into a whale back half (Shuker, 2004).
This does not easily fit with the Aboriginal description of the swamp-dragon, who described the creatures as huge snakes with large eyes and long ears, while at other times they were depicted as dingo like animals (turudun) or as birds, particularly the emu (gourke) (Buchler & Maddock, 1978). Bunyips often assume forms of their own choosing, including enlarged variants of already existing Australian animals, to chimerical creatures, such as winged, flying fish (Reed, 1974). It is no surprise, then, that bunyips are renowned for their mismatched appearance; their body coverings encompass scales, fur and feathers (Buchler & Maddock, 1978).
While bunyips are known for their aggression, a few appear to have a rather placid temperament. One bunyip sighted in New South Wales (state above Victoria) during 1868 was pardoned of any viciousness by the witness who said, "it is all nonsense about it being a savage sort of brute" (Barnard, 2001, p. 16). Despite this, not all bunyips appear friendly. The creatures are known for eating humans, and often meat out severe punishments for wrongdoings.
Bunyips are endowed with many strange, esoteric powers; the boundaries of which remain unknown to humankind. These swamp-dwelling dragons use their well-developed power of metamorphosis to inflict damage on others, including the land, which they are known to flood in bouts of anger. This tells us a great deal about the bunyip?s attitude, and the inability they have of seeing that, in their own personal grief, they cause the undoing of others, including innocents.
One such tale tells of an Aboriginal boy who unwittingly captured a baby bunyip; after his feather?s entreaties to return the small creature which he obeyed, the boy and his family were turned into the first black swans, and their land was flooded (Shuker, 2004).
Bunyips also have the ability to turn people into stone, entrapping them for years in separation from their families (Reed, 1974). Their own viciousness has ensued a lasting place in Australian mythology; not only are they credited with altering the landscape, they have been involved in the creation of the three sisters (who as Aboriginal girls were known as Meenhi, Wimlah and Gunnedoo); having trapped them, their father was forced to turn them into stone (Ratcliff, 2004).
Preferring the cool secrecy of water, bunyips lair in waterholes and swamps, which they share an affinity with, using the water to flood or cause drought (Shuker, 2004). They can also be found in damp holes and caves where they lair harmlessly, until disturbed (Ratcliff, 2004).