In his book on Australia’s Folklore of Fear, Robert Holden explores pre-colonial ideas of Australia as a Great Southern Land – an imaginary landmass conjured up to counterbalance the continents in the northern hemisphere, as far removed as possible from Britain, the center of the Christian world (Holden, 2001). Holden speaks of Australia as an imaginary world, occupied by unimaginable creatures and monsters.
Holden is commenting in part on the mythical creatures that originated in both British and Aboriginal Australian folklore and were shared by the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal inhabitants of Sydney during the early years of colonisation. Stories of the yahoo, a creature that resembled a slender man, with long white straight hair, extraordinarily long arms and great talons (Unknown 1842), captured the imaginations of the new British settlers, and soon a fear of the yahoo became a common ground between Aboriginal people and British settlers. This fear of a gruesome and vicious creature gained its potency from the folkloric tales that were used to substantiate its existence. These tales were suitably vague, their lack of detail attributed to the fierce nature of these creatures and the assumption that no one had survived an encounter (Holden, Thomas et al. 2001).
The yahoo “became one of the very few Aboriginal legends to be embraced by the Europeans” (Holden, Thomas et al. 2001, p16), providing a catalyst for conversation between individuals from these two culturally disparate societies and forming some personal links between these communities. Could creature myths like the yahoo once again form the foundation of a united national identity, bring together our culturally disparate population under a single Australian mythology?
After Captain James Cook’s expedition to Australia in 1770, tales of dense, alien vegetation and fantastic native creatures spread quickly in England. This seemed to be evidence that Australia was an imaginary world, occupied by unimaginable creatures and these exotic tales captured the imaginations of the British people. The exotic nature of this new land was so extreme to the average Britain that the line between newly documented flora and fauna, and fantasy seemed arbitrary. Long before the First Fleet of convicts left England bound for Botany Bay, a new mythical Australian creature arose from the frenzy of stories of the new continent, this creature was known as the hairy wild man from botany bay (Figure above) (Holden, Thomas et al. 2001).
Described as a savage giant of 9 feet tall, with a broad face, deathly eyes and covered in long, but sparse wiry hair, the hairy wild man from botany bay surely occupied the thoughts of some of the new British arrivals as they surveyed the bush of Botany Bay, or tried to sleep on their first night in the new colony. Fears of this creature were thought to be legitimate when British settlers learned of a creature called the yahoo or yowie from local Aboriginal people, their descriptions matching the widely circulated depictions of the hairy wild man from botany bay.
The Hairy Wild Man From Botany Bay Bed takes its formal influence from a series of Australian native animals that exhibit some of the physical characteristics of the hairy wild man from botany bay – This hybrid creature is designed with the soft mid section of a wombat, the hairy ears of a koala, the leathery skin of a goanna and the long splintery hair of the tussock lymantriidae caterpillar.
Stories of the bunyip and hairy wild man from botany bay ‘became … the very few Aboriginal legends to be embraced by the Europeans’ (Holden, 2001), uniting two culturally disparate societies and forming a much-needed link between individuals from both communities.
Prior to understanding this, I was putting Robert Holden’s theories to the test without knowing it. I was staying in Alice Springs on and off for a period when I was introduced to a Western Arrernte man by the name of Baden Williams. He took me to his hometown of Hermannsberg and on the way we got talking about Western Arrernte creatures.
Pankalangu is one of three groups of creatures who frequent Western Arrernte country, and according to Baden, when you speak about one group you must speak about all three. The two other groups are arrkutja-irrintja and nyipi barnti.
Arrkutja-irrintja is a female creature with a sweet smell, who adorns herself with flowers. She is known to abduct young men and take them to a parallel dimension for several days, or even weeks.
Nyipi barnti is a strong and muscular being who works as an assassin, killing any unwelcome people or creatures that travel on his land. He has a pungent smell – like sweat, dust and ochre and is known for abducting young women.
According to Western Arrernte story telling, pankalangu is a territorial being that lives in the scrub and is completely camouflaged in the desert and bush. Pankalangu can only move with the rain, and is made visible when the rain that falls on him is caught by the light, defining his form in a glistening silhouette.
As pankalangu is a Central Australian creature, my interpretation is formally influenced by some of the unique characteristics of other creatures from this region. Both the perente and the Central Australian locust became major influences as these animals possess an ochry, camouflaged exterior that masks an iridescent, hidden element – the perente hides is lilac tongue and the locust hides its beautiful translucent blue wings.
The Pankalangu Wardrobe, Pankalangu Armchair and Pankalangu Side Table are designed interpretations of pankalangu – these animals are adorned with scales which camouflage as they move, but when the light catches these copper scales their form is defined by a glistening silhouette.