The Euroa bunyip and the Melbourne Zoo monster hunt, Wylonemby swamp

For six years or more, the swamp at Wylonemby had a reputation. It lay about fourteen miles from Euroa, a township in north-east Victoria. The swamp was about 150 yards across, and a creek flowed through it. Locals told of dogs flying out of the place, and never again being induced to enter.

February 1890. Two young reed-cutters were working in the swamp. One of them glanced across the water. At some thirty paces away he saw a large head upreared. He likened it to that of a bulldog.

For about ten minutes the head kept its position. Then it disappeared. The rushes moved as it went, and their motion gave the idea of an animal some 30ft. long. No one saw the full body. The length was a judgement made from the swaying reeds.

The local paper ran the story. A party of Euroa sportsmen went out to the swamp, and local residents joined them on horseback. They beat about for more than an hour. Then they heard a sudden rustling, and two of the party saw an enormous tail, as thick as a man's thigh, disappearing into the large trunk of a fallen tree. A shot was fired, but its effect is a matter of conjecture.

The animal was described as yellow underneath and dark brown above. One account measured it against a local hat. It was as thick as Mr. Barr's bell-topper. Efforts to drive it out of the fallen tree failed. The only result was a small black snake, which was quickly dispatched.

The story reached the city papers. The Argus in Melbourne and The Brisbane Courier both carried it. Then the Melbourne Zoological Gardens sent a representative with a big net. About 40 men searched the swamps. They found gigantic tracks. The tracks ended abruptly. Nobody saw the animal.

At the time the zoo was run by A. A. C. Le Souef, though no known source ties him to the search. No report or conclusion followed. The trail ends there.

Locals had their own answer. The papers said it was supposed to be an immense serpent, such as is found in Queensland. But pythons do not live in that part of Victoria.

Other candidates have been suggested since. A seal that wandered inland would fit a bulldog head. A large lace monitor, or goanna, has yellow and dark colouring, a thick tail and a habit of sheltering in hollow logs. A big eel is another possibility. So is the bittern, whose booming call was often blamed on the bunyip. A 2011 blog post went further and proposed an early Carboniferous tetrapod, Pederpes finneyae. There is no evidence for that.

The Euroa beast is usually filed as a bunyip. One encyclopedia entry on the creature notes that in 1890 an expedition by the Melbourne Zoo failed to capture a bunyip commonly seen in the Euroa district. Rob Morphy retold the case on Cryptopia in January 2011, quoting the old newspapers, and fan wikis followed. One version inflates the animal to 300 feet, though the newspaper text says 30.