Part 38 (1/2)
<hw>Bunya-Bunya</hw>, n aboriginal word [Bunyi at heads of Burnett, Mary, and Brisbane rivers, Queensland; baanya, on the Darling Downs] An Australian tree, Araucaria bidwillii, Hooker, with fruit somewhat like Bertholletia excelsa, NO Coniferae
Widgi-Widgi station on the Mary was the head-quarters for the fruit of this tree, and some thousands of blacks used to assemble there in the season to feast on it; it was at this assee in cannibalism ; every third year the trees were said to bear a very abundant crop The Bunya-Bunya mountains in Queensland derive their name from this tree
1843 L Leichhardt, Letter in `Cooksland, by J D Lang, p 82:
”The bunya-bunya tree is noble and gigantic, and its umbrella-like head overtowers all the trees of the bush”
1844 Ibid p 89:
”The kernel of the Bunya fruit has a very fine aro”
1844 `Port Phillip Patriot,' July 25:
”The Bunya-Bunya or Araucaria on the seeds of which numerous tribes of blacks are accustomed to feed”
1879 W R Guilfoyle, `First Book of Australian Botany,' p 58:
”A splendid timber tree of South Queensland, where it forms dense forests, one of the finest of the Araucaria tribe, attaining an approxiht better than enus, and flourishes luxuriantly in and around Melbourne”
1887 J Mathew, in Curr's `Australian Race,' vol iii p 161:
[A full account] ”In laying up a store of bunyas, the blacks exhibited an unusual foresight When the fruit was in season, they filled netted bags with the seeds, and buried them”
1889 Hill, quoted by J H Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p 7:
”The cones shed their seeds, which are two to two and a half inches long by three-quarters of an inch broad; they are sweet before being perfectly ripe, and after that resemble roasted chestnuts in taste They are plentiful once in three years, and when the ripening season arrives, which is generally in the e nureat distance around, and feast upon them Each tribe has its own particular set of trees, and of these each family has a certain nueneration with great exactness The bunya is re the only hereditary property which any of the aborigines are known to possess, and it is therefore protected by law The food seeines, and they eat large quantities of it after roasting it at the fire”
1889 J H Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p 377:
”The `Bunya-bunya' of the aboriginals--a name invariably adopted by the colonists”
1892 J Fraser, `Aborigines of New South Wales,' p 50:
”The Bunya-bunya tree, in the proper season, bears a fir cone of great size--six to nine inches long-and this, when roasted, yields a vegetable pulp, pleasant to eat and nutritious”
1893 `Sydney Morning Herald,' Aug 19, p 7, col 1:
”There is a beautiful bunya-bunya in a garden just beyond, its foliage fresh varnished by the rain, and toning froreen”
<hw>Bunyip</hw>, n (1) the aboriginal name of a fabulous animal See quotations For the traditions of the natives on this subject see Brough Sines of Victoria,' vol i p 435
1848 W Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p 391:
”Certain large fossil bones, found in various parts of Australia Felix, have been referred by the natives, when consulted on the subject by the colonists, to a huge animal of extraordinary appearance, called in some districts the Bunyup, in others the Kianpraty, which they assert to be still alive
It is described as of a deep rivers, and perated neck, with a body and tail rese an ox These reports have not been unattended to, and the bunyup is said to have been actually seen by ines [A skull which the natives said was that of a `piccinini Kianpraty' was found by Professor Owen to be that of a young calf The Professor] considers it all but ie ani in the country [Mr Westgarth suspects] it is only a tradition of the alligator or crocodile of the north”
1849 W S Macleay, `Tasmanian journal,' vol iii p 275: