Haunted Waterhole (1941)

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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

QUEENSLANDNo. 10— By Beachcomber

INdealing with manifestations that are outside the

realm of usual experience, 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 iseasy 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 Wilga Waterhole,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 waterholeof the Barcoo River were heard bya party of somewhat credulous

bushmen. Ihe story arose that theywere 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

controversywas 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 fabulous 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 description 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 explanationof the happenings in the Wilga

Waterhole is acceptable. Noises

made by any creature likely to havebeen seen by persons in the pastdays of Australia do not, so far as

records go. remotely resemble theyelling 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 various times are to be

believed.

Another reason for excluding any

creature, whether 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 — nothingbut 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 dementedkookaburras could make such noises,

and while it is true that kooka

burras do occasionally, when dis

turbed, utter their cacninnations by

night, it is not possible that they,

or any other Queensland birds,

could utter such sounds, especially

when the long history of the WilgaWaterhole noises is taken into

consideration.

The Wilga Waterhole is part of

the wandering Barcoo system, situ

ated near Ruthven Station, on the

way to Isisford, in the Central

West. Even in dry weather the

Wilea Waterhole seems to be well

supplied, according to accounts.

How long ago the noises were

heard first by whites it is impossible 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 strongblack liquid remained in the quartpot. Then they smoked and talked

while the hours crept on as theywill 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.

Silencefell

upon the two men

and. wakeful, they continued 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 ?

ASOFT, distant wailing,

whence, neither man was

ever afterwards able to

say. It grew nearer, louder.

Straining ears of the astonished

men could not detect how many

cries in different keys there seemed

to be. Fiends from hell might

to be. Fiends from hell mighthave made such cries and shrieks,

but humans never! Rolling ever

nearer, at last the shrieks and

screams seemed to come from out

of the waterhole beside which theywere camped and then to arise

from the very ground beneath

their feet. The shrieks and screams



Rolling ever nearer and

nearer, the screams at

last seemed to come

from the waterhole be

side which they were

camped.

w?

v

now rang In their ears at deafen

ing pitch.

When it seemed that the two

thoroughly frightened shearers, who

stood rooted in their tracks, could

no longer listen without losing

their reason, the shrieking fell in

volume until again it was merelya weird wailing. As it diminished

the noise left the spot on which

they had camped and retreated in

the direction of the waterhole itself.

It ceased, completely, utterly, and

about them once more was the

silence of the bush. Not a ripple

marked the surface of the lagoon

whence the noise had retreated.

The shearers did not wait until

morning. They caught their

horses, rolled their swags, mounted,and rode for miles away from this

unhallowed spot.

When, in succeeding days, theytold their story in the district theyfound some who were sceptical, but

others who quietly informed them

that the Wilga Waterhole was a

notorious spot, that even the old

blackfellows avoided it, and could

not be induced to approachwithin coo-ee of it after nightfall.

The blacks had told old white

settlers that 'Big fella debbil debbil

belonga that place!'

Horses were scared of the water

Horses were scared of the water

hole, and drovers told them that

camping herds of cattle, even when

rounded-up out on the downs,

would keep the tellers going all

night as they refused to lie down.

Cattle driven to the waterhoJe from

a distant part of the country hadreached there in the afternoon

and had stampeded after the sun

sank.

At one time a slab and bark hut

stood beside the waterhole. That

must have been a very long time

ago. and, old timers' declare, it

must have been built in the daytime for none hearing the noises

in the Wilga Waterhole by nightwould have wanted to stay a

moment there, much less remain

long enough to build a slab and

bark hut! Furthermore, the Wilganoises must have had their off

moments; otherwise the events

about to be recalled could scarcely

have taken place. This is a very

old story so that It is hearsay only.

A man employed on Rutbven '

Station, so the tale runs, broughthis wife to live in the hut. She

was a strong-minded woman, pre

viously without hysterical tendencies, accustomed to loneliness, hav

inp been In the bush all her life.j

All went well for quite a while.'?-

Then one night late, the station

hand, having been delayed, rode

home to find his wife in a state

of collapse.

She could tell him nothing of

any apparition which had frightened her. She had seen nothing,but she had heard the most appall

ing shrieks arising from the water

hole and going back to the water

hole to end as suddenly as they

began.



began.

The station hand knew nothing1of the evil reputation of the WilgaWaterhole. It had been acceptedin the district and had long since

ceased to be a matter of comment.

Bushmen can be curiously reticent

about such happenings unless theyare directly asked and they hadnot, in this case, been asked!

THE

station hand soothed

his wife, believing in his

masculine way that for

some reason — due vaguely to

the fact that his wife was a

woman — her otherwise splendidnervous system had been temporarily disturbed by the loneliness.

He felt she had imagined the cries

of some nocturnal bird to be

ghostly shrieks and yells.

Not long after this episode hewas away for two nights. He ar

rived at the hut early on the mom

ing of his return to find that his

wife was In a semi-demented con

dition. Again she told between fits

of hysterical sobbing of the shriek

ing and wailing and screaming*from the waterhole. Forthwith hetook her away from the hut andafter that no one ever lived in it

again. It fell before the stress of

weather and the encroachments of

the bush into ruin, and finally dis

appeared, leaving no trace.

Naturally, he told all and sundry

at Ruthven station his reason for

taking his wife away. It was shear

ing time at Ruthven. and in the

sheds sceptics abounded. In spite

of local warnings that this was oldstuff from the Wilga Waterhole,

and that no man had ever solved

the mystery, a party of hardyshearers decided to walk over and

brave the debil-debtls, bunyips,

ghosts, or whatever they were thatset up such an unholy din.

Continued in Page 11.

WAILING at the

WATERHOLEContinued from Page 5

DERHAPS the shearers be

lieved that the noises were

made by some bush humorists

who had been having a rather

cruel lark at the expense of

the station-hand's wife. They

believed it would be good fun

to catch whoever was responsible

and duck him or them in the water

hole. They went. Over a roaring log

fire they' sat and swapped stories

and waited, their scepticism grow

ing with each hour that slipped by.

About 11 o'clock a wild bellow

brought every man to his feet, and

the party spread out to see what

manner of beast had uttered it.

There was laughter and an advance

of scepticism to hilarious derision,

when it was found that the bellow

had come from an old bull

wandering in the neighbourhood.

Billies were put on the (ire and

the panacea for all bush crises was

brewed. After drinking their tea and

brewed. After drinking their tea and

smoking and yarning for some time

longer, it was announced by one man

I

hat midnight was almost with them

and that if anything was going to

happen It would, following all

ghostly tradition, happen soon.

It was unanimously decided that

once midnight passed all would de

clare the ghost of the Wilga Water

hole to be non-existent, turn nto

their blankets and sleep.

Midnight passed. Not even the

voice of the old bull broke the bush

silence. Accordingly, yawning and

stretching, the shearers put away

their pipes, rolled themselves in

their blankets and settled down

beside the dying lire.

Hard-working men. they had done

a day's work, walked a consider

able distance, and remained awake

long past their usual retiring hour.

Every man was soon asleep.

None of them heard the first

distant vail, but in a few seconds

as the wailing increased in pitch

a

as the wailing increased in pitch

every man was out of his blankets

and on his feet. There came to their

astounded ears yelling and wailingand screaming, as if made by in

numerable persons, and of such a

volume and nature that they could

not. each man immediately knew,have been uttered by a bush

humorist, any animal or bird of

the bush.

The old account of what happenednext followed the unfortunate

shearers through every &bed &t

which they shore for years after

wards. They decamped in a body,

some not even waiting to gather

their blankets. It was said of the

party that the fastest runner got

back to his bunk at Ruthven first

and the slowest prayed for wings.

Among the many theories that

have been formulated from time to

time to account for the noises in

the Wilga Waterhole is one that

they arise in some fashion from

a subterranean channel which con

nects the Wilga to others, and that

the water rushing through this

channel under certain conditions

which apply only on particular oc

casionsaccount for the shriekingand yelling which have frightened

so many.

Like all other theories an ex

haustive search has failed to establish any ground for acceptance of

this theory, in the case of the WilgaWaterhole no one can ever find

a good, robust murder story to ac

count for this strange haunting, and

unless the primitive blacks of 80

years ago had some folk-tale beyondthe mere announcement that a

debil-debil lived in the waterhole

the haunting has not even a

beginning.Old bushmen who knew the water

hole were content to avoid it.

? NEXT SUNDAY: The

Phantom Sailor.

Documents

Haunted Waterhole (1941)