Imagine giant wombats the size of a Rhinoceros (Diprotodon) roaming the Peninsula. Worse massive man eating kangaroos (Procptodon) sending you scuttling in terror as they roamed the countryside in packs. Or the lone marsupial lion (Thylacoleo carnifex) carrying off your newborn baby. Aboriginal mythology is rich in such stories and tells of a time when they shared Australia with these savage predators. One such legend from the Murrumbidgee River tells how, the cunning hunter Wirroowaa, with the help of the great white spirit, had defeated these giant Kangaroos that had slaughtered many of his tribe.
The existence of these huge creatures is testified to by the giant fossilized bones of these extinct mega fauna. From Lake Eyre, the Menindee lakes on the Darling River, Lake Mungo near Mildura, Cuddie springs along the Queensland border, the Narracort caves near Mount Gambia, at Keilor and Romsey near Melbourne their bones are to be found in abundance. I have no doubt that somewhere on the Mornington Peninsula hides a fossilized outcrop waiting to be discovered. These remains generally seem to be found near river beds and springs which is a similar position to the discoveries of extinct mastodons (elephants) in the United States along the Mississippi river.
But what happened to the Australian Megafauna? Again we return to Aboriginal mythology but also cleverly combine it with the latest scientific revelations and find ourselves coming to startling conclusions.
