1889

Our Crystal Brook correspondent writing on January 30, says :—
"Some excitement was caused in our quiet little town about ten days ago, when Messrs. W. A. Allen and J. Parminter drove into the township, and announced that they had seen the bunyip in the Warra Warra waterhole. At first this was regarded as a joke, but the earnest manner, and the business-like preparations of the above-named gentlemen to capture this much-coveted prize, soon convinced the most sceptical that bunyip or no Bunyip, something of unusual appearance and size had been seen at the Warra. For the past twelve years the Warra waterhole has been looked upon with a certain amount of awe, owing in a great measure to a number of persons being drowned and to a supposed strong undercurrent which report says it has, also to the great depth of the hole which it is stated cannot be bottomed with the usual lead and rope. I understand years ago the Government offered a substantial reward for the capture of the bunyip, and many residents spent days and weeks watching, but all to no purpose. The fresh appearance of this animal therefore has well-nigh demented the persons who state they have seen this strange and mysterious creature. The most extraordinary part of the affair is that although seen during the last ten days by no less than six different persons, none of them can give an intelligent description of what the bunyip is like. Some assert that it is the size of a calf, others that it is about the size of a small dog, but Messrs. Allen and Parminter say that from the bank where they first saw the bunyip swimming in the hole they should say it was about four feet long and fifteen inches across the back. As to whether it has a head or tail no one seems to know, although one man declares he saw it on the bank of the river and rush into the water. A trap has, however, been set, and the result will be watched with great interest during the next few days."

The Government of South Australia have offered a reward of £50 for the capture of a bunyip aive or dead. The Port Pirie Gazette of August 4 states that a peculiar-looking animal—black and covered with hair—has been seen in the Warra Warra Waterhole, near the township of Crystal Brook. The waterhole is said to be bottomless, as on one occasion a line was let down 200ft. without meeting with any obstruction, and the water is said to rise and fall as if influenced by the sea, and tastes salt and bitter.

Since the paragraph appeared in the papers about the Bunyip in the Warra Warra waterhole, the place has been inspected by several visitors. The waterhole is situated in a bend of the Rocky River, about a mile and a half from its junction with the Broughton River, and three miles from the Township of Crystal Brook. 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.

A good deal of curiosity has been excited in the neighborhood of Koolunga recency on account of the supposed existence of a mysterious animal, which for want of information on the subject has been called a "bunyip," in the River Broughton, and we have been favored with various accounts respecting this lusus naturae, and the attempts which have been made to capture it. On Wednesday, February 21, a large party was organised to endeavor to kill the animal by the explosion of dynamite in the river, and no less than 150 persons assembled at the spot to see the operation carried out. A number of charges of dynamite were exploded, which had no other effect than to dirty the water and raise to the surface a quantity of debris. The "bunyip" remains as much a mystery as ever, though there are not wanting respectable persons who are confident there is a strange animal in the river, and that it may yet be captured.

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Immediately after passing the River Broughton, we pass the Warawara Waterhole, a deep and permanent pool which a few years ago was reputed to be the abode of the last bunyip in the colony. Settlers in the neighbourhood have assured me that they have more than once at nighttime seen some animal on the bank, which as soon as disturbed plunged into the water, but that they could never get near enough to distinguish its exact form, but that it had some- what the appearance of a seal. The animal, whatever it may have been, has not been seen for some years.
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