"River Terror" - The Lowood Bunyip

LOWOOD, Saturday.
     Claims from Gundagai (N.S.W.) that the local lagoon boasts a bunyip have revived in Lowood a 50-year-old tale of a bunyip that scared the whole population and turned out crack marksmen for miles round.
     The bunyip was first seen in the Brisbane River after calves had been disappearing mysteriously in the district. Someone suggested they were pulled into the river by a bunyip, and the sight of a queer animal in the water seemed to confirm the story.
     One night a party of possum shooters, including Mr. C. H. D. Lindemann, fired on a "weird creature" crossing the river in the moonlight.
     The whole district was soon agog with excitement. A reward of £200 was offered for the capture of the bunyip, alive or dead.

Riddled with bullets

     A scout on the river gave the alarm one night, the drill hall was raided for rifles and ammunition, and a party in charge of an officer of the Moreton Regiment headed for the river.
     They fired a volley at the bunyip, and one man rowed out and hit it with an oar.
     At last someone discovered a wire that was pulling the creature across the river.
     The "body," riddled with bullets, was dragged ashore. The bunyip was a box covered with wallaby hide, with swansdown ears and a boot sole nose.
     It had been made by the local bootmaker, Mr. F. Smythe. and Mr. Lindemann, and was worked by pulleys and wire.

A report from Lowood suggests that the local "bunyip" may have put in a reappearance up that way. Fishing in the Brisbane River, Mrs. Russell Wake put her rod down after casting and 5min. later returned to find 100yds of nylon run out and broken off at the reel. Local veterans claim that they have not heard previously of a fresh water fish doing anything like that so quickly.

LOWOOD had a "Bunyip" in December 1939. News had been circulated that some strange creature in the Brisbane River was taking Mr John Roulston's calves. A watch was kept but nothing definite could be established.
     This "strange creature" was "seen" at Wivenhoe, Lowood and Fernvale, yet no one could explain what it was really like.
     One night, Mr C.H.D. Lindemann, among other opossum shooters, when walking along the river bank near Lowood caught sight of what appeared to be a bunyip crossing the river. Shots were fired at it but missed the creature.
     The whole district was soon agog with the excitement of the hunt and a reward of 200 pounds was offered for finding the creature.
     An organised hunt was arranged and rifles and ammunition were made available at the Drill Hall. In charge of the hunt was an officer of the K Company Moreton Regiment.
     With so much firing of guns, one of the bullets "cut the wire" which had been pulling the strange animal across the river.
     The whole thing had been a hoax and it was later found that Mr C.H.D. Lindemann was the perpetrator.
     The "bunyip" was a box covered with wallaby hide with swansdown ears and leather sewn on for its nose. It had been made by Messrs Lindemann and F. Smythe who was a bootmaker.
     The two men had fastened the "bunyip" to a wire across the river and it was worked by a device and pulleys by Mr Jack Lindemann on the Lowood side.
     Later the body of the "strange creature" was taken to Lowood where it was viewed by hundreds of people. All southern newspapers gave it widespread publicity.