It’s the mid-1800s in southern Australia, and the soon-to-be first lieutenant governor of Victoria, Charles La Trobe, has given up the search. A ferocious beast was said to be haunting the region’s waterways, attacking and devouring its prey. La Trobe, while a long-time believer that such a creature—called a bunyip —existed, no longer had time to hunt for it.
No one ever came forward with credible evidence that the bunyip was alive, and into urban legend it went. That is, until fairly recently.
Fast-forward to 2016, when evidence of not one but four bunyips was discovered in a shallow sandstone cave in the Mt. Difficult Range in northwestern Victoria!
An Australian Aboriginal drawing of a Bunyip. From Richard Shepherd and F. Grosse, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Ancient Creatures and Creation Myths
The Mt. Difficult Range sits in Grampians National Park, which is part of the Gariwerd Aboriginal cultural landscape. Gariwerd, as it’s traditionally called, is a place of majestic waterfalls, vibrant wildflowers, epic mountain hikes and abundant wildlife, from kangaroos to emus. It’s also home to southern Australia’s largest number of important and ancient Aboriginal rock art paintings and shelters … including the bunyips.
In 2016, park ranger Jake Goodes was marking part of the trail that would later become part of the Grampians Peak Trail when he stumbled upon the discovery of the red-ochre bunyip drawings. The find brought the total of rock art sites in the Grampians to around 140—or around 90% of all known rock art sites in Victora.
So was the bunyip real? The story told in the cave Goodes discovered would point to yes. The art found there established a connection between the sandstone cave Goodes entered and another famous work of rock art in the Black Range near Stawell: Bunjil Shelter. The etchings filled out the rest of the ancestral story of the creator spirit, Bunjil.
The Story of Bunjil and the Bunyips
Bunjil, the creator spirit (or Dreaming Being) of the Aboriginal people, was known for producing much of the natural landscape in southeastern Australia, providing various tribes with their parts of the countryside. He is also said to have provided the customs and ties that organized the Aboriginal society.
Bunjil lived atop a cliff in the Mt. Difficult Range with his wife, two children and mother-in-law. He jumped down from the cliff while safely carrying his wife and kids, but when his mother-in-law was next to jump, Bunjil failed to catch her. She fell to the ground and broke into pieces. Still alive, she made her way to a waterhole, where the bunyip set upon her.
Bunjil Shelter, Australia, Michael Barnett, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
To save her own life, Bunjil’s mother-in-law offered him up to the beast instead. She lured him into the waterhole, where the bunyip devoured him.
The story goes on to say that bird-people attempted to gather up fragments of their creator spirit, using little rainbows as nets, then a larger rainbow when one didn’t suffice. Can you picture it? It’s a double rainbow.
The What and (Possible) Why of Aboriginal Rock Art
The rock art that continues to be discovered in Australia includes Aboriginal people’s stencils, prints and drawings in rock shelters and engravings in limestone caves. Within the rock shelters, we typically see small stick figures and simple forms like animal tracks or stripes and bars. Limestone caves often house handprints and hand stencils.
The clusters of shallow rock shelters in Gariwerd and northern Victoria protected Aboriginal people from harsh weather … and gave them inspiration for drawing on the walls. Although it’s not known exactly why the Aboriginal people produced rock art, it’s possible that it was ritualistic, used to illustrate ceremonies such as initiation rites or funerals; represented their ties to the land; or recorded significant events, such as a successful hunt.
The Aboriginal artists used iron-rich ochre clay to create red, purple and yellow pigments, as well as kaolin clay for white pigment. After grinding the ochre and adding water, they painted the shelter’s rock wall with a finger or a bark or feather brush. Hand stencils involved spraying paint from one’s mouth over a hand held against the wall.
Engravings have been found mainly in limestone caves, where finger impressions could be left behind in the soft clay of the walls. As a “signature” of sorts, Aboriginal artists would run their fingers along the wall to leave three or four parallel grooves.
Why Is Aboriginal Rock Art So Important?
Rock art provides us with a glimpse into the Aboriginal artists’ aesthetics, psychology and spirituality and provides a valuable link for Aboriginal people today to their culture, tales and sacred places. The bunyip lore story and the art that memorialized it can once more be embraced by the traditional owners of Gariwerd, the present-day Grampians.
Jamie Lowe, of Djab Warrang descent, was living and working in Gariwerd when the bunyip discovery was made at Mt. Difficult and considers it to be one of the most cathartic moments of his life. “It’s knowing that your ancestors have been there, basically, forever,” he says. “Any time there’s a significant rediscovery or a discovery of artefacts or sites such as rock art, it helps us put one more piece of that puzzle together.”
> Read: Discover Kakadu National Park: A Living Cultural Landscape
Can I Visit Gariwerd?
We’re so glad you asked! Nat Hab’s special—for January and February 2025 only!—Australia South Adventure from Kangaroo Island to Tasmania includes the Grampians Ranges, where travelers can dive into Gariwerd cultural history and survey ancient Aboriginal rock art. As you experience this special tie to the ancient past, you’ll likely encounter the region’s wildlife, including emus, kangaroos, wallabies and laughing kookaburras. Spend the night in a renovated, century-old homestead on a working farm.
We’ll travel through the small country towns of Penshurst and Dunkeld as we make our way toward the sandstone peaks of the Grampians—a site so archetypical you’ll almost feel you’ve been there before. Yet, the further we go into the secluded Victoria Valley, overshadowed by the Victoria and Serra ranges, and on into Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park, you’ll realize it’s like nothing you’ve ever encountered.
Covering more than 400,000 acres, the region was declared a national park in 1984 and is a National Heritage Area for its extraordinary flora and fauna, not to mention the long Aboriginal history—human habitation dates back 20,000 years here. As you explore the ancient Aboriginal rock art painting and the shelters unique to southern Australia, you’ll understand why so many Australian writers, poets, painters and photographers have been inspired by the area’s striking landscapes.
Ready to go? Find out all the details of our once-in-a-lifetime 2025 Australia South: Tasmania, Kangaroo Island & Beyond adventure.
