Faerie in Australia

Contents

Introduction
Tolkien and faerie
Australian faerie?
Australian fairies
Localisation
Faerie in Aboriginal society - 'hairy men' and Dreaming spirits
Australian fairy tales
The censoring of Picnic at Hanging Rock
Brief encounters
References & Select Bibliography

1. Introduction

Faerie is an English term referring to mythical or real creatures and sentient beings that may have supernatural powers and usually occupy a dimension not aligned with the human dimension but, at times, overlapping. They, or rather it (faerie), largely exist in the fantasy genre between fiction and reality, presented therein under the umbrella term folklore. The actual reality of faerie is not generally accepted, or widely discussed, whilst the definition of faerie is an evolving one as research in the area continues apace, recently moving beyond amateur fandom into academia (Young & Houlbrook 2022, Smith 2022). As a result, in its current form faerie is no longer simply about the Tony human Tinker Bell-type fairy of an English garden who featured in nineteenth and early twentieth century children's literature, and Disney film, and whose legacy dominates within the Western public imagination (Grimm 1812, Blyton 1924, Disney 1953). Faerie has expanded to include a wide variety of sentient beings and creatures, large and small, including formless apparitions and illuminations.

This article discusses the broad topic of faerie as it applies to Australia, extending beyond the perception common in the public imagination, with an emphasis therein on English fairies, and into that of other creatures and spirits, including those belonging to Indigenous (Aboriginal or First Nations) society and aspects of their rich and ancient cultural heritage. As the discussion is about faerie, it is primarily concerned with the non-Indigenous perspective.

Faerie is indigenous to locality, just as life on Earth is. For example, the leprechaun is unique to Ireland, as the panda is to China, or koala to Australia. The Australian suite of faerie appears in large part unique, as it does in other parts of the world, on continents and across countries, though also with some overlapping entities, themes and experiences. For example, the faerie realm of Great Britain, with its small winged humans, little green men, gnomes, goblins, pixies, leprechauns, banshees and treeish Ents is different to that experienced in the Americas and across Asian countries such as Japan. It is interesting to consider why this should be so, and how individual experience of the faerie realm may be contingent, in large part, on cultural context, dominant belief systems, and geography. Along this line, the Yeti of the Himalayas is perhaps a variant of the Bigfoot of North America and the Yowie of Australia, with each being presenting as a large, hairy, human-like creature.

It is telling that faerie are often encountered, but never caught. They can appear and disappear in a flash; engage for what seems like a mere moment but is actually much longer, or vice versa, due to time dilation; draw one, however briefly, into their dimension, with associated spacial distortion; be caring and compassionate, playful, or terrifying; seem real or corporeal; big or small; human or something else. They remain objects of myth, legend, and a fanciful reality which is never truly believed by those without direct experience.

Why is this so? Why can faerie be seen, but never easily captured on film or photographed to verify a sighting? With the millions of smartphones at hand, why is it seemingly impossible to prove the existence of faerie? Is it that they don't actually exist, but are merely hallucinations? Why do faerie instantly appear and then just as quickly disappear? And how can something be real, but not, at the same time? Who are these beings, creatures, corporeal entities? Or, more importantly, what are they? Are we dealing here with the afterlife, reincarnation, or, more likely, engagement with creatures from other dimensions, like the multiverse of modern film and quantum mechanics? Is the encounter with faerie perhaps some sort of quantum mania?

Since the early 1980s the present author had been interested in Australian folklore and Aboriginal Dreaming stories. Both subjects referred to the world of faerie, though this was only realised in hindsight, as the term faerie was, and is, rarely if ever used. The author published a few related articles, books and blogs between 1990 and 2015, the majority of which are referenced in the links at the top of this article. He returned to the topic of faerie in June 2023 upon discovery of the YouTube channel The modern fairy sightings podcast (Hickey-Hall 2023). This was one of many fairy and faerie-related sites which had appeared on social media since the mid' 2010s, ranging from discussions of traditional fairy folkloric aspects, through to sightings and encounter reports. The Modern Fairy Sightings channel, which took material from an earlier collection of podcasts and blogs, primarily consisted at the time of COVID-19 era lockdown and later interviews with individuals who have first-hand experience of the diverse world of faerie, and not simply of fairies. At the outset, the owner - Jo Hickey-Hall - presented an account of her own faerie encounter during 2007. For a brief period on that single occasion she saw, or was allowed to see, a little man dressed in green, with green skin and an ageless, immortal face. Both observed one another, then in a flash the creature was gone. This is typical of faerie sightings - serendipitous, brief and profound.

Jo Hickey-Hall's real fairy encounter, The Modern Faerie Sightings Podcast, YouTube, 29 June 2023, duration: 33.19 minutes.

2. Tolkien and faerie

The description provided by Hickey-Hall reminded this author of J.R.R. Tolkien's immortal, enigmatic, mystical and smallish semi-human Tom Bombadil from The Lord of the Rings, and to a lesser extent his water spirit wife Goldberry (Tolkien 1954-55, Davis & Organ 2022). They both resided in Middle-earth on the edge of the Old Forest and within the Barrow Downs, home of the spectral Barrow-wights (Organ 2022). Tolkien's characters, and the little green man, were apparently able to exist in the human dimension and at least one other. In a similar vein, there was a Modern Fairy Sightings interview with a Scottish man who observed, in association with a similarly ancient forest remnant, a sentient tree-like figure with 'sticky hair' running towards and then away from him.

Mysterious illuminations: Tree Ent Groot being in England, YouTube, 23 June 2023, duration: 47.29 minutes.

Image drawn by the recorder of the account.

Therein it was as though one of Tolkien's Ents - such as Treebeard - had come to life, or the Scot was seeing a smaller, more mobile version of Tolkien's Old Willow Man from the Old Forest and through which Frodo Baggins and his colleagues had travelled en route to Bree in their quest to destroy the One ring of power.

Both of these actual faerie encounter reports gave rise to the enchanting thought that, perhaps, what Tolkien presented in his greater fictional Middle-earth and wider legendarium was grounded in factual belief, if not reality. We know that Tolkien had a lifelong engagement with trees, believing in their sentient nature. His Elves were also initially presented as 'faerie' creatures. Additionally, we know that Tolkien's aim in writing The Lord of the Rings and related works was to create a new mythology for his homeland, based on what had survived, what he had learned from his research, and what he had experienced directly. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that his greater legendarium should closely reflect, in part, the faerie realm of the British Isles and Europe. This brief lesson in 'modern fairy sightings' also leads one back to Tolkien's famous 1939 lecture On Fairy-Stories, including as it did numerous references to faerie and his use of the term within his writing. With this came the realisation that that great author's fictional 'secondary world' could reach beyond the pages of a book into our own everyday experience.

From gnomes and a little green man, through to sentient lights, Tolkienean Ent-like creatures and formless presences, the stories being told through podcast and zoom and archived on social media sites such as YouTube were realistic, presenting as genuine, and convincing to many. The channel also revealed an expanding array of published material, art, and academic research being carried out in the field of faerie, including the compilation of a worldwide census of modern encounters (Johnson 2015, Young 2018). All of this would hopefully, and eventually, dispel the widespread disbelief in faerie prevalent within the United Kingdom and the Western world in general. Whilst ghosts and UFOs are no longer considered beyond the realm of plausibility, the same cannot be said in regard to faerie.

3. Australian faerie?

Do faerie exist in Australia? The answer must, of course, be yes, as the concept is universal, as are the stories and reports of encounters. But where is the proof? And how does one explain the lack of any obvious local tradition since the arrival on European settlers in 1788?

It should be noted that the present author is an Australian whose family migrated from the Berkeley region of Gloucestershire, England, in 1825, to the faraway penal colony then known as Botany Bay. He does not feel any special attachment to the British Isles, apart from a family history interest dating back to the 1400s and the fact that so much of his knowledge and interest lay within the Western civilisation cultural paradigm. Being a former satellite of the British Empire, much of modern Australia's non-Indigenous cultural heritage is derivative of that fact, and was especially prominent up until the 1970s. When the author recently raised the subject of faerie with his own family, young and old, it was only after some explanation of what the word meant that he was greeted with a similar rejection of the concept to that in its homeland, and only a slight openness towards consideration and possible future acceptance.

The obvious reason for this rejection of faerie is the fact that it is not widely studied or discussed in Australia. There is an active Australian Fairy Tale Society but that is different, as its focus is on literary fairy tales, not faerie, and within an international context. There is no significant local, non-Indigenous tradition of encounters with faerie, though of course they have always occurred, and are usually written about or discussed without reference to that very British and colonial-era concept. There are numerous shops in Australia, both traditional and online, where you can buy statues of fairies and fairy clothes; there are artists who specialize in fairy-related subjects, and less so faerie; there are also books, toys, movies, television shows and games which can transport one into the fairy realm, both ancient and modern. But they are mostly foreign and not indigenous, or Indigenous, and focus on the traditional portrayal of fairies as young, small females with wings.

The popularity of recent Japanese anime cinema presentations such as My Friend Totoro and Spirited Away (Studio Ghibli 1988 & 2001) has expanded local knowledge of faerie beyond the standard British fare, though the term largely remains unknown to the general public. The release of apparently real photographs of fairies in England during Wold War I, and their subsequent revelation as childish pranks, has continue to put paid to any widespread belief in the existence of faerie creatures, and fairies in particular, beyond the world of fiction.

A 1917 photograph of Frances 'Alice' Griffiths (1907-1986) taken by her cousin Elsie 'Iris' Wright (1901-1988), the first in the Cottingley Fairies series, purportedly showing real fairies.

For example, during 1974 the ABC, Australia's national television and radio broadcaster, presented a story on fairies which began with an account by a Western Australian man of his actual encounter with faerie creatures - referred to by him as angels, angelic forces, or nature spirits - but ended with an interview with an elderly woman from England who believed that the Griffith and Wright photographs were real and not fake.

"Genuine photographs fool fairy enthusiasts, ABC TV, Perth, 1974, duration: 5.42 minutes.

Such presentations did little to support the truth of real faerie encounters in Australia and suppress a general skepticism. Despite this, there have long been stories published in Australia of encounters with strange, mostly indigenous / Indigenous mythical creatures, including beastly Yowies and Bunyips, both often frequenting waterways, along with black panthers roaming the bush of eastern Australia, ancient spirits in northern Australian, or little hairy men jumping out of trees to attack passers-by. But that is about the extent of any populist belief, and it is often a very small coterie therein promoting such occurrences (Tressider 2021).

This general lack of interest in faerie in Australia is also despite the fact that the first non-Indigenous peoples to settle there were British, arriving with the First Fleet in January 1788. They brought with them British culture and tradition spanning the millenia, and were the primary driver of the nation's evolving cultural identity through to the onset of diverse European and Asian immigration following World War II. They did not, however, bring their countryside with them, nor the faerie who were an essential part of that.

Familiarity with English literature, storytelling and the development of what is known as folklore was the norm in Australia from the earliest days of the colony. This is evident by the publication of so-called Australian fairy tales, often termed myths and legends, especially during the early twentieth century (c.f. Outhwaite 1923, Gaze 1924, Cook 1925, Peck 1925). Many of these works could just as easily have been written by British authors who had never set foot in the country, though some sought to localise the stories. Along the way Aboriginal storytelling and cultural elements were appropriated into this corpus of material, with scant reference to, or respect for, their Indigenous origins (Smith 2022, Organ 2023). Outside of the area of children's literature, they usually failed to capture the public's imagination and generate an interest in the wider faerie realm.

In recent times the actions of the past had been set aside and the richness and variety of the Aboriginal equivalent to faerie, where it exists (e.g., the Doolagarl), has been revealed. Aboriginal / Indigenous / First Nations cultural appropriation of faerie-type stories and events has largely been halted and they are now presented with their specific, and unique, cultural context.

Faerie is not an Australian thing, a general belief, or an item of regular café culture discussion. Should the word faerie be mentioned it was for many year taken, especially in metropolitan areas, to refer to a member of the gay community; though more generally, and politely, understood to refer to the small fairy creatures of Peter Pan and the Australian Pixie O'Harris (Barrie 1902, Harris 1925). British author Enid Blyton comes to mind for those older Australians to whom her books on fairies were a staple during the 1950s and 1960s, alongside those English garden creatures and their Australian native animal friends seen in the work of early twentieth century Australian artist and author Ida Rentoul Outhwaite (Organ 2012). The Art of the Australian Fairy website references Outhwaite and a number of other local artists, including Harold Gaze and his book Goblin's Glen (Gaze 1924).

The Art of Australian Fairies - Beautiful Fairy Books, YouTube, 23 February 2019, duration: 12.24 minutes.

It is telling that some of the most English of all fairy artworks ever produced come from Australian artists such as Outhwaite. This singular garden fairy fantasy tradition is much stronger in Australia than the much broader faerie and any true belief therein.

Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, Bridget the Fairy Beauty.

4. Australian fairies

The author knows of very few Australian encounters with traditional fairies, i.e., small female human like creatures with wings. In recent times one took place in a rainforest in New South Wales where a group was seen; another was at the town of Margaret River in Western Australia. Both were presented on the YouTube Scary Fairy Godmother video channel, drawn from the aforementioned faerie census and submissions to the channel, which include both factual and fictional retellings. The first is described in the video below:

Five True Strange Encounters, Scary Fairy Godmother, YouTube, 17 March 2017, duration: 22.26 minutes.

Therein, the fairy was 30 cm tall, from feet to wing tips, and clothed in flowers and plants, or materials that looked like those shapes. The female fairy had a fearful look on her face, and simply faded away after a few seconds, though it felt like 10-15 minutes to the observer. It was apparently escaping from a scary old lady, who was also seen.

Undoubtedly there are records of additional encounters with fairies in Australia. Twenty seven are noted in the 2014-17 fairy census (Young 2018). A brief summary is presented below:

Fairy Census, Australia 2014 - 2017

No / Location / Date / Type

451 ACT 2010s Gnome, dressed in brown, in garden
452 Darwin 2000s Small fairy
453 Victoria 2010s Bright light in garden
454 NSW 1990s Log house in creek
455 NSW 2000s Fairies in a rainforest near a tree
456 NSW 2000s Fairies seen from a train
457 NSW 2010s Fairies at waterfall
458 Qld 1980s Hovering light female figure
459 Qld 1970s Small goblin
460 Qld 1990s Little man running
461 Qld 2010s Two orange and white lights floating
462 Qld 1980s Bright blue light near an old tree
463 Qld 1990s Small lights near a tree
464 Qld 2010s Little people in a house, unseen
465 SA 2000s Water folk dancing under a sprinkler
466 NSW 1990s Tooth fairy
467 NSW 2000s Lights flying around a person
468 NSW 2010s Fairies in the bush
469 Tas 2010s Photo of bright white light
470 Tas 1990s Small fairy, male, dark
471 Victoria 1970s Fairies in trees
472 Victoria 1970s Elf or pixie in wardrobe
473 Aus 1990s Possible encounter with fairies
474 Aus 1970s Pink butterfly pixie
475 Aus 2000s Fairies at mountain pool
476 Aus 1990s Attempted kidnapping by gnomes

A quick analysis of the 27 faerie encounters reveals 9, or a third, being with fairies. However, it is telling that these are not well known and were only recently identified by the present author through non-local, non-Australian sources. The emphasis on recording and promoting local encounters with the faerie realm, and writing related works of fiction, has obviously focused on areas separate from traditional British fairies.

5. Localisation

Around the turn of the century attempts were first made to localise the Australian stories, with increasing reference to gum trees, koalas, kookaburras, and the Australian outback, referred to therein as the Never-Never (Rentoul, Paterson & Rentoul 1907, Quinn & Rentoul 1910). The dense, dark woods of England and Europe, so often the realm of faerie, were not a common feature of this generally dry continent.

This localisation of Australian fairy stories continued through to the 1930s, with books by Ola Cohn and others expanding upon the concept (Cohn 1932, Peck 1933, Rayment 1933).

Ola Cohn, The Fairies' Tree, 1932.

Of note was May Gibbs (1877-1969) and her fictional world of gumnut babies from the early 1900s. It is the nearest one gets to a popular Australian faerie equivalent (Gibbs 1914 & 1915).

May Gibbs, Christmas Bell Babies, cover illustration for Flannel Flowers and other Bush Babies, 1917.

It is recently been suggested that this world has strong elements indicative of an Aboriginal origin, which is understandable (Illert, Murphy & Organ 2021). Gibb's villainous Banksia Men, for example, are similar to the Wallanthagang Indigenous hairy men described in detail below. The Banksia Man was the "big bad" of her gumnut babies world, with depictions by her based upon aged banksia cones. Their relationship to the Wallanthagang was not announced by Gibbs, but the similarities are there.

May Gibbs, Banksia man abducting Little Ragged Blossum, from Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, 1918.

All of the above is not to say that faerie does not exist in Australia, or is not relevant, for, as the current author believes, the concept is universal. It is manifest within all cultures, across all continents and under an almost endless variety of names, definitions, groupings and forms. It is, unfortunately, often best known or revealed in Western society through stories for children, thereby diminishing its cultural significance, relevance to all ages, and belief in its pure existence.

The definition of faerie provided at the beginning of this article applies to the Australian Aboriginal culture just as much as it does to the British, and perhaps even more so. Why? Because, as the aforementioned Modern Fairy Sightings YouTube channel has pointed out on a number of occasions, there is a strong connection between faerie and nature, place, or, as the Australian Aborigines refer to it - Country. This specific use of the word is not as in the Western reference to a political entity, but rather to a geographical place, or region, of special significance to, and connection with, an individual or group / tribe. This runs deep in an Australian Aboriginal civilisation which has occupied the continent for a period of at least 130,000 years, according to modern archaeological and related scientific studies. It is supported by a strong oral tradition - they did not develop a written language beyond pictorial iconography - and a complex cultural heritage of lore, storytelling, ceremony, spiritual belief and relationship with the environment around them. They therefore have a long-standing equivalent of engagement with the faerie realm. For example, stories exist of creatures such as the monstrous Yowie, the Yaroma, the Bunyip, and the hairy men who live in trees and are known in one locality as Wallanthagang. Since the earliest days of British settlement, reports have appeared in local newspapers of Indigenous and European encounters with such creatures of the faerie realm.

The Little Hairy Man, Yowies at Georges River in the late 1700s, Where's My Yowie, YouTube, duration: 8.56 minutes. Reading of a story published in the Sydney Mail of 13 December 1905.

The Bauple Mountain Yowie, Where's My Yowie, 20 March 2017, YouTube, duration: 3.20 minutes.

The Yowie [Quinkin], Australia's Bigfoot, Anna Bridgeland - Folklore, Mythology & Fairy Tales, 12 August 2021, YouTube, duration: 25.16 minutes.

Furthermore, the Aboriginal belief in the afterlife and reincarnation allows for the presence of a multiplicity of spirit beings, including the Mimis or Mimih spirits. This is distinct from the spiritual, religious equivalent figures such the Wandjina of northern Australia, or those of Biame, being the God equivalent.

With the arrival of the British in 1788, there came widespread cultural genocide, social disruption, dispossession of land and access to Country, banning of traditional custom and cultural practice, including use of Indigenous languages, and a loss of the storytelling tradition in many areas, especially those heavily populated around the coast and associated with rich farming lands. The resultant dislocation from Country also gave rise to a corresponding break in engagement with the so-called faerie realm equivalent. To make matters worse, for almost two centuries the non-Indigenous population showed little interest in the rich cultural heritage of First Nations peoples. Fortunately, a few individuals along the way recorded elements of the oral traditions and memory, and published them in newspapers, popular and scientific journals and later compilations. Such accounts were usually anglicized and stripped of much of their cultural context, such as the identity of the source, the precise location, the subtleties of the original language, related performance and presentation elements, and not to forget the rejection of stories or events that were deemed nonsensical, irreligious, immoral or pagan. Censorship, editing and simplification for a young audience were common, as authors appropriated the material of Aboriginal Dreaming and engagement with faerie.

Australian bush fairies and native animals, print, circa 1930.

The story of faerie in Australia is therefore one of two distinct civilisations - the West and the Indigenous - living side by side but never truly meeting, or sharing wisdom and knowledge, though all the while often unknowingly reciprocating lived experiences and encounters with the faerie realm.

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6. Faerie in Aboriginal Society - 'hairy men' and Dreaming spirits

As members of one of the most ancient societies on planet earth, if not the oldest, Australian Aborigines have a rich oral history tradition of storytelling which covers all aspects of their everyday life and culture. Storytelling was part of the education program for all their people, from childhood through to old age. The stories tell of nature, geography, ritual, custom, practicalities in regards to survival, relationships, history and events, including engagement with faerie. A prominent element of what one could call Indigenous faerie was encounters with 'hairy men' small and large. These have been recorded in Australian history since the late eighteenth century.

An Australian hairy man of the woods, Yowie siting at Moonee Beach in 1878, Where's My Yowie, 30 July 2021, YouTube, duration: 4.46 minutes. A reading of an article published in the Freeman's Journal, Sydney, 27 March 1878.

One of the earliest published accounts, which also describes a capture, took place near Canberra in 1896 (Joyner 1977, Travers 2016). A contemporary newspaper report recorded the following details of the strange creature, which was deemed at the time a 'hairy man':

An Awkward Encounter.

Says the Braidwood Dispatch: Mr. Arthur Marrin, cordial manufacturer, met with a rather awkward reception as he was going in to Captain's Flat on Friday last with a load of cordials. Shortly after getting upon the turn off road from the Cooma road, within two or three miles of the Flat township, he noticed his dog running up out of the bush at full tear and clear off down the road in a terrible scare. He got down to see what had frightened him, when a formidable animal with which he was entirely unacquainted jumped up the lower bank on to the road. It frightened him quite as much as it did the dog, as it was standing up on its two hind legs with its two fore feet stretched out like the two arms of a man. The road being a cutting on a hill side, was narrow, and the animal was making for him, either to follow the dog or spring upon himself. Being unarmed, having only the whip in his hand, which would have made very little impression upon such an antagonist, he dropped the whip and picked up a stone which lay close to him, which he threw at the beast, striking it on the temple, bringing it to the ground. He then ran up to it and finished it with the butt end of the whip. After he killed it he left it on the road, and on his return to Braidwood put its body in the cart and brought it home with him. We paid a visit to Mr. Marrin's factory on Saturday and inspected it. It was four feet long, 11 inches across the forehead, with a face very much like a polar bear. It weighed over 7 stone. Its fore arms were very strong, with great paws that would be capable of giving a terrible grip. It was a tan colour like a 'possum with strong hair on its skin. When Mr. Martin encountered it it stood between 6 or 7 feet high. Some people think it is identical with a beast which has frightened several teamsters travelling through Parker's Gap on the Cooma road at various times, so much so that they have left their horses and run away. Such an animal has been reported as visiting selectors' places at Molonglo and Foxlowe, and there have been reports of the presence of similar ones in the Budawang and Sassafras ranges. It has gone by the name of the hairy man. Other persons maintain it is merely a wombat and perfectly harmless. Met under such circumstances as those under which Mr. Marrin met it, most persons, however, would be inclined to give it a wide berth if possible, but as Mr. Marrin could not get away from it he had to face it. The beast was a female.

The Wallanthagang, or the hairy man, whether small or large, is also known by the spellings Wulthegang, Wadugudaw, Wudubugan or Gumbeengang, and Doolagarl / Dulugaw. They are described in the following stories from the Shoalhaven and South Coast districts of New South Wales, and the Georges River to the north (Eades 1976, Organ 1990 & 1993):

Wulthegang

On three occasions between 1899-1902 the Illawarra politician and local historian Archibald Campbell was given snippets of information about the mysterious creature called ‘Wulthegang’ who inhabited the Cambewarra Mountain in the Shoalhaven. His informant was Buthring, a Shoalhaven Aboriginal man from Coolangatta, who was very reluctant to reveal details of this mysterious being. The first account was recorded on 18 October 1899, in reply to Campbell’s question regarding the native name of Cambewarra Mountain:

Cambewarra - The native name for this, Buthring said, was not the above, but "Gumbeengang". And here he volunteered in intense earnestness, to launch forth in superstitious legend. He said the mountain was so named on account of a "little hairy man" who lived in a cave situated near the top of the range. The "little man" had lived there from time immemorial, lived there still, and would do for all time. He did not eat bread or any such things, as ordinary blackfellows and white fellows did, but ate bush possums, which existed in the locality for his use. He (Buthring) had never seen the little man, or his cave, but his father had, and all the old blackfellows, passed away, knew everything about him. The cave was carved all over by the little man, who passed his time doing such carving which was the original pattern that used to be worked on the inside of the best made possum rugs manufactured by the blacks in years gone by - that was to say, within the early days of settlement by Europeans in the district. He said all old residents would remember the patterns that the blacks used to trace on the inside of the possum rugs, many years ago, which patterns he gave with authoritative earnestness as having been designed by the "little man” and obtained from him. And he was quite emphatic about the said cave and little man being on the mountain top still.

On 14 February 1900, Archibald Campbell was given further information about Wulthegang from Buthring:

The Little Man of the Cambewarra Mountain (he told me about before) he says is about the height of a table, and his colour "quarter-caste” - blacker than a white man, & whiter than a half-caste.

The final version of the Wallanthagang story was given to Campbell on 18 May 1902, again by Buthring:

"Wulthegang" is the name of a small mysterious Aborigine residing in a cave on the highest point of Cambewarra Mountain range - the sandstone capped summit southwestward of Mr Graham’s residence, on the Berry - Kangaroo Valley Road. Wulthegang is only about two feet high, but is so abnormally strong that he could throw any number of men about as he pleased and kill them at will, as he always did when such came in his way. He has several small "Jins" [females] - about his own height, and they have piccaninnies [children], but neither Jins nor the latter are ever seen - nor Wulthegang himself. He always disappears into his cave when approached. But if he did not do so all would be killed by him that came in his way. He has been in the cave from time immemorial, and will remain there for all future time. In olden times the Aborigines say there were another lot of small wild Blacks about forty or fifty miles up the Shoalhaven River country above Nowra. They were called "Jangbeegang". They were about the same stature as Wulthegang and his Jins. Unlike him and his family they were mere wild Blacks - not mysterious beings Buthring gives the same name "Jangbeegang" to the Cambewarra Mountain over which the Nowra - Kangaroo Valley [road] passes. The Aboriginal name for the high sandstone cap of the mountain in which Wulthegang resided was "Boorrul". He carved pictures on the face of the rocks, quite expertly, and his carvings were there to be seen by any person visiting the place. These particulars are additional to what Buthring related to me some time ago, on this mysterious subject. He becomes excited when speaking about it, and it would seem to me that he has a dread of giving the name of the "little man". He wanted to know if I had an intention to "catch him", & warned me that he could kill him (Buthring) & myself & many more.

The story of the Wallanthagang is similar to many of the little men British faerie stories, regarding a human-like creature of small stature, of green-skinned, perhaps immortal, living in another dimension that is sometimes seen by humans, and also of a mysterious, secretive and sometimes menacing nature. The family aspect is also similar, though rarely spoken of. It is interesting that there was an overlap in the "small" element between the faerie like Wallanthagang and an actual tribe that at one point lived in the vicinity.

Another version of the hairy man story was recorded by M. Feld during 1900 and pertains to the Aborigines of the Burragorang Valley, located to the north-west of the Shoalhaven:

They believed that Guba lived among the mountains. He is supposed to be a wild, hairy man, with feet turned backwards, and to have a tail about thirty feet long, by which he would hang to the highest tree, in readiness to seize any of the Aborigines as they passed. They had another superstition about a spirit they called Dthuwan-gong, who lived among the rocks, and had enormous wings, with which he extinguished their camp fires, killed them and then eat their livers. These two were supposed to be Yuam-bir’s (the real devil’s) scouts. The tradition about Yuam-bir is that they killed him two hundred years ago, that is many generations ago, at Tambaroora (which they call Dthambur-war-ing). They fought him there for two days, and smashed him into the ground with nulla nullas, so there is now no devil or hell (place of punishment after death) for their dead. Their only dread is the devil’s scouts, as above mentioned. Their god, whom they called Bull-an, lived across the sea, in the Aborigines’ heaven. After death their spirits cross the sea, and on arrival at the other side they find a bridge, which they cross, and then dive down through a tunnel, at the end of which is a fiery mountain. They pass over this and then meet their friends in heaven, where they are all happy together. They believe there is one heaven for the white man and another for the black man.

A related story was published by Thirroul school teacher C.W. Peck under the heading Aboriginal Legends, No XI, in the Sydney Mail, 14 March 1928. It is of relevance to the Georges River area, located to the north-west of the Illawarra. The Wullundigong referred to in this story are similar to the Wallanthagang.

Stone Throwers

Two young Aborigines - brothers - were journeying up the George's River in order to inspect a piece of country in which the Persoonia grew plentifully. Its berries, called by us "geebungs," were green and unpalatable a few weeks before, and these two men thought that by this time they must be ripe; so without telling anyone else of their intention they set off. Sometimes they heard people not far away and they hid, and even when a wallaby or a bandicoot made a noise by scampering through the undergrowth they stopped and remained still until all noise had ceased. But when a large stone fell just in front of them they were completely nonplussed, and they peered up amongst the branches of the great eucalypti and looked carefully along the top of the high bank and amongst the boulders and the undergrowth of myrtles and ferns. They saw no sign of anything that could have caused the stone to fall, so they went on. They had not gone far when they were again startled by the crashing down of another big stone. This one they examined, and their keen eyes detected hair on it that they knew came from no animal they had ever seen. They had no sooner touched this hair than there appeared before them a "wullundigong." He was a little man completely covered with hair, and immensely strong. He barred their way, and the two men were so afraid that they fainted. When they came to their senses again the "wullundigong" had gone. They new then that they should not continue their journey to the place of the Persoonias; but, thinking that the "wullundigong" had gone for good, and that no one would again disturb them, they did go on. They reached the place, and found that the berries were quite ripe; but when they went to shake the tree in order to make those quite fit to eat drop to the ground they were horrified to find that the "wullundigong" sat in the branches. He looked very fierce, and grinned at them and made a horrid barking noise. In this fright they each seized a stone and hurled it at the hairy animal. The stones both found their mark, and with a cracked skull the "wullundigong" dropped to the ground. The men were overjoyed and seized him by the arms, intending to drag him from under the trees to a clear place so that they might better examine him, and perhaps get his kidney fat, for they believed that if they ate this fat they would be possessed of the strength of the animal. But the moment they touched it its spirit entered into each of them, and they became stone-throwers. Their arms grew long and of great strength, and hair grew all over them and over their bodies. They became human "wullundigongs." They ate all they wanted of the Persoonia berries, and then went back to their people. But they felt that they could not mix with them as they did before; so they climbed up amongst the boulders, and could not forbear the inclination to hurl stones down amongst the tribe. They were seen and with cries of "Wullundigong! Wullundigong!" the people ran away. They followed, and being human they could sometimes shed their "wullundigong" persons and become men. In this form they married, and their children were natural stone-throwers. They have never died. As "wullundigongs" they go away and live for periods in rocky places, and as men they join a tribe and are received in silence, and they choose wives; but if they can be caught just before the change takes place or while it is in progress they are killed. And Jhola's son was accused of being a "wullundigong." The little chap was certainly very hairy, and Jhola knew that the old doctor was watching him, hoping to find him in the state of transition. The child had shown no inclination whatever of any stone-throwing disposition. His father was just a stranger who had come limping into the tribe one day, and because he limped he was kindly treated. He was not known to be a "wullundigong." No one had ever seen him turn hairy or throw stones. Jhola, too, was watchful, and the day came when the boy became very angry because a dog persisted in rubbing up against him, and he seized a stone. The doctor saw him, and he raised his spear. But Jhola could certainly throw a stone, and before the spear was hurled the doctor lay with a skull just as cracked as had been that of the old "wullundigong." No one blamed Jhola. She succeeded in persuading the people that her son was no hairy stone-thrower, and the new doctor never at any time tried to make out that he was.

In 1958 the European ethnologist Roland Robinson published a story entitled The Doolagarl, the Hairy Man, given him by Percy Mumbulla, Aboriginal elder then resident at the Wallaga Lake Mission, on the far South Coast near Mount Dromedary, or Mumbulla Mountain. Loretta Parsley nee Parson's Doolagarl Dreaming website contains a page specifically dealing with the Doolagarl story. She describes it as follows, though rather than small it is said to be over five metres tall:

Doolagarl

The Doolagarl is a hairy being who roams up and down the coast, mostly to the east of the Great Dividing Range. The climate here suits his needs because there is plenty of cool air and food is in abundance. The area provides a variety of shelters that allow the Doolagarl to roam unseen at times, in different areas. The Doolagarl is very hairy, he has elongated arms and legs and displays a look of red piercing eyes. It’s his eyes that captivate you and you become his victim forever! The Doolagarl is over five (5) metres tall and swaggers through the Australian bush with ease and confidence. Of a night he camps in various caves along the escarpments of mountains where there is plenty of water. When he leaves his cave, he leaves behind the remaining bones of his presence. He carries with him a horrible smell of leftovers and is attracted to groups, particularly in winter when meat is cooking. Meat is the staple diet of the Doolagarl. The Doolagarl is feared by children, and people who break the law of our cultural groups and the Elders would always tell the children not to wander too far from the camp or “the Doolagarl get ya”! The Doolagarl has been sighted by many people at different times since European contact in the dense forests of the Great Dividing Range, when food is scare the Doolagarl tends to roam closer and closer to rural and built up areas.

The small hairy men stories of south eastern Australia are reflected in the larger, hairy men stories present throughout the continent and which are usually associated with the Yowie, a Bigfoot-type creature. Beyond that, there are a variety of faerie creatures in Aboriginal culture heritage and story telling.

The Yowie of our nation, JWV Productions, 10 April 2023, YouTube, duration: 37.38 minutes.

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7. Australian fairy tales

The first hint of a local faerie-related literature occurred during the 1890s, with works such as Mary Fitzgerald’s King Bungaree's Pyalla (1891), K. Langloh Parker's Australian Legendary Tales: Folklore of the Noonaburrahs as told to the Piccaninnies (1896), the appearance in numerous local and overseas ethnological journals of R.H. Mathews' and Andrew Mackenzie's research into Aboriginal folklore, and books titled Australian Fairy Tales by, for example, Frank Atha Westbury (1897) and Jessie Mary Whitfield (1898).

In 1915 the illustrated book Here is Faery was published in Melbourne. It consisted of poetry and prose about fairies in the Australian bush. The poems and two stories - The Woman of the Tribes and Come, Live with Me - were by Furnley Maurice, with the rest by R.L. Newmarch. A decade later, amidst a seeming rush to publication of faerie-related books, Hume Cook's Australian Fairy Tales appeared in 1925, illustrated by Christian Yandell.

Christian Yandell, Fairy appearing to a girl beneath some trees (detail), drawing, circa 1912. Collection: Art Gallery of South Australia.

Aboriginal society was largely missing from these latter works, as the British model, and market, was followed with great enthusiasm. Efforts to promote faerie locally met with a muted response, due to the fact that mystical woods and ancient forests with enchanted trees and mythical creatures were not often encountered by those residing in coastal regions where the beach beckoned and the new suburbs of fibro and tin were the norm. 'Ancient' was a word that did not resonate with the new settlers, and the Indigenous population and culture was hidden, ignored or censored. Faerie, such as it existed, kept to itself in this most ancient of continents.

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8. The censoring of Picnic at Hanging Rock

I write sitting on the floor, surrounded by sheets of paper in a sort of fairy ring. It’s bliss. (Joan Lindsay 1962)

The above quote refers to the writing of one of the most famous pieces of Australian literary fiction, namely Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay (1896-1984). Eventually published in 1967, it is the account of a group of school girls and teacher in regional Victoria who mysteriously disappear whilst on an excursion to a local landmark - the ominous and mysterious Hanging Rock. One summary of the book as published states:

A party of schoolgirls goes on a picnic on St Valentine's Day, 1900. Four of them [Edith, Miranda, Marion and Irma] leave the group to explore the Hanging Rock. One of the schoolmistresses [Miss Greta McCraw] also wanders off. When they do not return in time, a search is organised. The youngest girl [Edith] emerges from the hillside in hysterics, but can recall almost nothing. Of the other three girls and the mistress there is no trace. A week later, one of the girls [Irma] is found on the rock with a few cuts and bruises on her hands and face, but her bare feet unmarked and no memory of where she has been (Taylor, Lindsay & Rousseau 1987).

Though written in a frenzy over a number of days, following a series of dreams and sleepless nights, Lindsay stated in the book that it was based on an actual event which occurred during 1913. The book was subsequently made into an internationally successful feature film in 1975. The supposed 'factual' nature of the event became part of Australian folklore. So what has this got to do with faerie?

In 1980, a book was published presenting five possible solutions to the mystery (Rousseau 1980). However, in 1987 it was revealed that the original ending explaining the disappearance was deleted by the publishers. Why? Because it delved into the faerie realm and they felt this would impact upon the sale of the book, thereby reinforcing and revealing the local antipathy towards faerie. Following Lindsay's death in 1985, the unpublished chapter 18 was published in 1987 and revealed what happened after the disappearance, basically stating that the girls had stepped into a different dimension, encountering a Pied Piper-type faerie figure who drew them deeper into its realm (Masson 2016). Picnic at Hanging Rock has subsequently been referred to as an ambiguous, dark, fairy tale (Gibson 2019).

In researching faerie and listening to retellings of recent encounters, the present author has noted that there are a number where individuals speak of being enticed into following, or joining with, individual or groups of faerie. Obviously those who tell the stories turned down the offer. Many say they felt fearful at the time, whilst others expressed regret at their decision. But what of those who say yes? Is Picnic at Hanging Rock the story of one such fateful encounter with the faerie realm, where some of the schoolgirls said yes, and others no? Can crossover into the faerie dimension actually take place, with no return? It is obvious from the accounts referred to above that brief entry into the faerie realm is common, or at least a temporary overlapping with our own realm can occur. However, the author is not aware of any accounts where a lengthy crossover occurs and an individual later decides to return to their original reality, reappearing after many years, often with no memory of where they have been. The thought is intriguing, and is perhaps a natural corollary of the recent research into the actual reality of the faerie realm.

Joan Lindsay had indicated a possible crossover into the faerie realm within chapter 3 of the book as published, referring to drifts of rosy smoke seen by some of the girls as they looked down to the plain below Hanging Rock, and the beating of far-off drums heard by one of the girls, suggesting a possible faerie event was taking place, thereby enticing them to join. Chapter 18 expanded upon all of this, revealing events following upon the initial disappearance: Edith sees a strange red cloud in the distance and, scared, runs back down to the original party of teachers and students. She passes Miss McCraw heading up. The other four girls travel on. ... Peering down between the ringing boulders, they could just make out tiny figures coming and going, through drifts of rosy smoke.... Irma was aware, for a little while, of a rather curious sound coming up from the plain, like the beating of far-off drums. They reach a strange monolith - a portal of sorts - whereby they fall asleep, then awake to see a strange woman - actually Miss McCraw - with a gaunt, raddled face trimmed with bushy black eyebrows - a clown-like figure dressed in a torn calico camisole and long calico drawers frilled below the knees of two stick-like legs. She asks the girls for their names, as she had apparently lost hers [NB: This is a common event in faerie encounters, wherein the creature obtains the name of the person and thereby obtains some power over them]. The woman's face then turns beautiful and radiant, after which the bony body transforms into a crab in order to enter a hole in the ground which had magically appeared before them. The girls follow her into a hole, a cave. All except Irma, who is found on the mountain top a week after disappearing. Here the story ends.

This obvious encounter with faerie, though fictional, was never discussed as such following publication. The reason for its deletion by the publishers in 1967 reflects upon their conservatism and failure to appreciate the fantasy elements of the story and Lindsay's own debt to faerie. The monolith was a precursor to that seen six years later in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. It brings to mind the monolith encountered by the hobbits in the Barrow-downs chapter of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, which upon encountering they fall asleep by. Therein it is a marker to a barrow containing a ghostly, evil Barrow-wight. Lindsay's crab-woman is the Barrow-wight equivalent here. Her inherent psychic ability, and perhaps connection with the faerie realm, was revealed around 1929. According to one account: Her husband was driving her to Creswick to dine with his mother when Joan observed a strange sight: half a dozen nuns were running frantically across a field and climbing a fence. Her husband saw nothing. Puzzled, she asked her mother-in-law if there was a convent in the area. There had been, she was told, but it had burned down years earlier (Taylor et al. 1987). Whether Lindsay had other sightings, or engagement with the faerie realm, is not known. Chapter 18, however, reveals that her Hanging Rock dreams in 1962 were very much focused upon such an encounter.

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9. Brief encounters

The story of faerie in Australia is somewhat muted compared to its ever vibrant British cousin. With the vast majority of the population likely never to see a hairy man, or have a phantom black panther brush by them in the Australian bush, the fate of faerie looks bleak. This author, however, remains confident that the continent, like the rest of the world, will continue to play a role in the ongoing story of faerie, small though it may be. Why is that? For a number of reasons, both personal and general.

Firstly, back in 2017 a friend had an encounter with a spirit panther in the bush not more than a couple of miles from where he lives. This friend would regularly run in the escarpment bush which borders the west of the northern Illawarra region. The ocean lies to the east, with a thin coastal plain in between. One morning, whilst coming down the mountain, this friend saw, and felt, a black panther-like creature brush past him. It was so real that he had no qualms in telling family and friends of the experience. This was not an isolated event either, as a number of people had reported similar experiences in the escarpment bush during recent years and around that specific time. Public reports tended to the treat the animal as real, though this author feels it is part of the faerie realm and a spirit being.

Big cats in Australia, Illawarra WIN News, 22 May 2017, YouTube, duration: 1.51 minutes.

The author is also aware of encounters with a Doolagarl small hairy man creature at Gulaga near Merrimbula Mountain on the far south coast. As noted above, the Doolagarl, as both legend and real faerie, is strong in that part of Australia, and an important part of the local Aboriginal community's Dreaming.

Finally, the writer can recall a personal encounter with the realm beyond his own daily reality, though not necessarily faery. It took place back in the 2000s, during the early afternoon, on a cloudy day in late summer. He was sitting alone, on a grassy verge by the edge of his local beach. This was something he had done regularly since a young boy, back in the 1960s. That particular day, however, he was meditatively staring out across the sand towards the endless, deep blue ocean, cut off in a singular horizontal line by the sky, dark blue and grey. All of a sudden, directly in front of him, perhaps twenty feet away, a colourless, transparent, solid beam of fluid-like energy came down from above, hit the sand, halted momentarily, then headed off at a ninety degree angle in a northerly direction. Who or what was it? It felt to him like a human energy or essence. Faerie? Perhaps; perhaps not.... All he knew was that it was real.

Monsters of Australian folklore, Mythology Unleashed, 26 May 2022, YouTube, duration: 19.18 minutes.

It is envisaged that, with time, Australian equivalents to the Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast will appear. One already exists in regards to Yowie, namely the Australian Yowie Research group's Yowiehunters Witness Reports YouTube channel, which first began posting in February 2014. To date (July 2023), some 196 reports have been documented and posted. Australia, like the rest of the world, will slowly catch on to this renewed interest, and unprecedented research, into the elusive faerie realm.

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10. References & Select Bibliography

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-----, The Lord of the Rings, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1954-5.

-----, Tolkien on fairy-stories, edited by Verlyn Flieger & Douglas Anderson, Harper Collins, London, 2008.

Tressider, Adam, The lingering legend of the Australian panther, Upstart [blog], 10 June 2021.

Travers, Penny, 'Hairy man' encountered by Arthur Marrin 123 years ago still unidentified, ABC Radio Canberra, 5 August 2016.

Trezise, Percy & Doug Roughsey, The Flying Fox Warriors, Collins, Sydney, 1985, 29p.

Walker, Kath, Stradbroke Dreamtime, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1972, 120p.

Westbury, Frank Atha, Australian Fairy Tales, London, 1897, 357p. Illustrated by A.J. Johnson.

Whitfield, Jessie Mary, The spirit of the bush fire and other Australian fairy tales, Sydney, 1898, 313p. Illustrated by G.W. Lambert.

Wilmot, Frank and Newmarch, Ray, Here is Faery, George Robertson, Melbourne, 1915, 112p. Illustrated by Percy Leason.

Young, Simon (editor), The Fairy Census, 2014-2017 [ebook], 8 January 2018, 408p.

----- and Houlbrook, Ceri, Magical Folk - The History of Fairies, Gibson Square, 2022, 288p.

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Last updated: 9 September 2023

Michael Organ, Australia

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