I read “The Life and Adventures of William Buckley” yesterday.
It’s really something. Even embellished by an overzealous writer/editor, it’s really something.
It tells of William Buckley, a British soldier who fought Napoleon in Holland, got caught with some stolen fabric and was sentences to transportation in Australia.
He was part of the Sullivan Bay settlement which only lasted a few years before failing and everyone heading to Hobart. He ran away before the trip to Hobart then managed to live among the native Aboriginals for 32 years.
Eventually people came back and a sturdy Melbourne settlement was started (e.g. John Batman and Port Phillip Association). He came wondering out of the bush and eventually started speaking English and people were shocked.
It’s a great story and a quick read.
One fun thing in the book is talk of the Bunyip, a mythological creature in the region of southern Victoria.
The bunyip is a creature from the aboriginal mythology of southeastern Australia, said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes.
Here are some quotes from his book:
“In this lake, as well as in most of the others inland, and in the deep water rivers, is a very extraordinary amphibious animal, which the natives call Bunyip, of which I could never see any part, 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, and sometimes larger; the creatures only appear when the weather is very calm, and the water smooth. I could never learn from any of the natives that they had seen either the head or tail, so that I could not form a correct idea of their size; or what they were like.”
This part: “appeared to be covered with feathers of a dusky grey colour”.
Makes me think he saw an emu from behind running away from him.
Then:
“They have also a superstitious notion, that the great abundance of eels in some of the lagoons where these animals resort, are ordered for the Bunyip’s provision; and they therefore seldom remain long in such neighbourhoods, after having seen the creature.”
And, next:
“They told me a story of a woman having been killed by one of them, stating that it happened in this way. A particular family one day was surprised at the great quantity of eels they caught; for as fast as the husband could carry them back to their hut, the woman pulled them out of the lagoon. This, they said, was a cunning manoeuvre of a Bunyip, to lull her into security—so that in her husband’s absence he might seize her for food. However this was, after the husband had stayed away some time, he returned, but his wife was gone, and she was never seen after. So great is the dread the natives have of these creatures, that on discovering one, they throw themselves flat on their faces, muttering some gibberish, or flee away from the borders of the lake or river, as if pursued by a wild beast.”
I’m sceptical. From the stories in the book, women were running away to other tribes all the time. So no bunyip is needed to explain her disappearance.
He must have seen it other times, as he said he tried to spear it:
“When alone, I several times attempted to spear a Bunyip; but, had the natives seen me do so, it would have caused great displeasure. And again, if I had succeeded in killing, or even wounding one, my own life would probably have paid the forfeit—they considering the animal, as I have already said, something supernatural.”
The book was written in the 1950s, 15 years after Buckley re-entered society. There had already been Bunyip talk in the Geelong area for some time (perhaps 12 years), and this Bunyip talk was probably added to the book by the writer (John Morgan) to get more book sales. It worked.
Great book. Amazing insights into life among the aboriginals in the early 1800s before they and their way of life were decimated by settlers.