Monster ecology: Australian Bunyips and thylacines interacting with people in changing environments.

Abstract

My thesis explores how two contrasting monsters are constituted, and how they interact with the people who believe in them: the cryptid Bunyip, an ancient monster with origins in Australian Aboriginal mythology; and the ghost thylacine, a more recent being with a clear connection to the zoologically recognised but extinct Thylacinus cynocephalus. I use participant-observation, semi-structured interviews, and published historical material to document firstly current understandings of the Ngarrindjeri Bunyip (Mulyawonk) and its antecedents among a group of Aboriginal people of the lower Murray River in South Australia, and secondly the being sighted and pursued by members of The Thylacine Awareness Group of Australia (TAGOA), also in South Australia. Both beings are integral to the cultural landscapes that they share with the people who believe in them, and reflect the anxieties and concern of those communities. They illustrate the mechanisms of monster change, and to our existing understanding of these processes I add two novel interpretations: monster radiation (in the evolutionary sense), and monster-human mutualism. The interactions between monsters, people, and the cultural landscapes that support both can be contextualised as 'monster ecology' - an ecology that is likely to change rapidly under the influence of global environmental crises such as climate change and biodiversity loss. I predict that the Anthropocene is likely to put some monsters at risk of extinction, but create opportunities for others to emerge. Show more