7/29/2019 Haunted Waterhole (1941) http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/haunted-waterhole-1941 1/3 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) (Qld. : 1926 - 1954), Sunday 9 March 1941, page 5, 11 National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article98255007 WAILING at the WATERHOLE GHOSTS OF QUEENSLAND No. 10— By Beachcomber IN dealing with manifestations that are outside the realm of usual ex pe rie nc e, and , therefore, which strain the power of explanation by ordinary physical means, the attitude of the sceptic and the scoffer is the one customarily adopted. It is easy to say that we do not believe this or that took place, and that if it did (by a long stretch of acceptance), then what took place could have been explained in some per fectly natural fashion, could it be found. Such an airy attitude will Dot dismiss the W il ga W at er ho le , and tile terrifying screams that came out of it for so many years, that the first white man who heard them, cannot even be remembered. Many years ago, when the extra ordinary screams and cries that oc curred at night in this waterhole of the Barcoo River were heard by a party of somewhat credulous bushmen. Ihe story arose that they were made by a bunyip. As was inevitable, a long contro versy arose as to whether there was ever such a creature as so freely sprinkles aboriginal lore, and is known to the blacks variously as the bunyip, the kyanprati, and the tunatpan. Perhaps behind the controversy was one member of the party, a very old man whose memory took him back to two alleged appearances of bunyips. These are two of the very few cases in which an actual description was given of this fabul ous beast. Zoologists admit the possibility that until recent times a creature of the nature of a marsupial otter may have survived from the remote Australian age. As both the Ner randera and the Dalby accounts would be near enough to a descrip tion ol such a beast, it is possible that the bushmen in each case did see one of the last of Australia's now extinct marsupial otters. No such comfortable explanation of the happenings in the Wilga Waterhole is acceptable. Noises made by any creature likely to have been seen by persons in the past days of Australia do not, so far as records go. remotely resemble the yelling and screaming fhat arises to curdle the blood of the unwary who have camped beside this water hole in the Barcoo— if the accounts of many at v ar io us t im es are to be believed. Another reason for excluding any c re at ure , w he th er fabulous or other wise, as having been responsible for the noise in the Wilga Waterhole, Is that of the many persons who have heard them, none claims to have seen either person or creature in or about the waterhole. The story is consistent always nothing story is consistent always nothing but a series of terrifying and fiend ish yells and screams arising sud denly, and dying away mysteriously. so that not even a whisper is left to signify that tUcy had ever shat tered the ouiet bush night. Not even a flock of demented kookaburras could make such noises, and while it is true that kooka burras do occasionally, when dis turbed, utter their c ac ni nn at io ns by night, it is not possible that they, or any other Queensland birds, could utter such s oun ds , e sp eci al ly when the long history of the W ilga Waterhole noises is taken into consideration. The W il ga W at er ho le is part of t he w an de ri ng Barcoo system, situ ated near Ru thv en Sta tion , on the way to I si sf or d, in the Central West. Even in dry weather the Wilea Waterhole seems to be well supplied, according to a cc ou nt s. How long ago the noises were heard first by whites it is impos sible to say about 80 years at least. It is on record that 50 years ago a couple oJ shearers on their way to Wellshot sheds, to the north in the Longreach district, camped by this waterhole one fine summer even ing. Their horses hobbled and grazing at leisure, the two men made tea over their camp fire, ate their damper and salt beef, washed it down until none of the strong black liquid remained in the quart pot. Then they smoked and talked while the hours crept on as they will when mates yarn of sheds in which they have shorn, and ringers they have known from the great Jack Howe onward. The fire bedded down to coals and lost much of Its cheery glow. The darkened bush crept nearer about them and overhead was the light of a myriad of stars, but no moon. Silence fell upon the two men and. wakeful, t he y c on ti nu ed to sit. About them the bush was stilled. Not an insect seemed to move. The eentle breeze died and the branches of the coolibahs about the waterhole ceased to rustle. Silence everywhere and then A SOFT, distant wailing, whence, neither man was ever afterwards able to say. It grew nearer, louder. Straining ears of t he a st on is he d men could not detect how many cries in d if fe re nt keys there seemed to be. Fiends from hell might to be. Fiends from hell might have made such cries and shrieks, but humans never! Rolling ever nearer, at last the shrieks and screams seemed to come from out of t he wa te rh ole beside which they were camped and then to arise from the very ground beneath their feet. The shrieks and screams
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