Platypus in the Harden-Murrumburrah region

1. Introduction

During August-September 2023 the Australian Conservation Foundation launched The platy-project, with the aim of identifying past and present local sightings of platypus across Australia. The following article comprises an historical record of known examples centering on the Harden-Murrumburrah district of south-western New South Wales, though extending south to Jugiong and Yass, east to Binalong and Burrowa, north to Young, and west to Wombat and Wallengang. It includes general news items pertaining to the protection of the animal, mentions of Indigenous names and stories, specific reports on sightings and captures, alongside information gleaned during 2023 by the author from locals via a Facebook survey, in answer to the question: Has anyone ever seen a platypus in the Harden Murrumburrah area? The listing of items below is arranged chronologically. From the latter it appears that for many years from the 1870s through to the early 1900s platypus skins were a commodity, with newspaper advertisements providing information regarding price per skin and location of buyers. Shootings of the animal, especially by youths, have been noted through to the 1950s. The status of the platypus in the region in 2023 is largely unknown, therefore the need for the ACF initiative and a comprehensive survey at the local level.

The Young - Harden - Jugiong (Murrumbidgee River) - Yass - Crookwell region.

The preliminary Facebook survey revealed that platypus were, or are, found in the following aquatic environments:

The Murrumbidgee River at Jugiong
At the railway weir on Cunningham Plains Creek (also known as Murrumboola Creek) east of Harden, near Cunningar and the former veterinary hospital.
Murrumboola Creek / Currawong Creek, where it intersects the main Burley Griffin Way road and bridge at Murrumburrah, next to Harden
Burrowa River, on the north side of town.
River at Bookham.

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2. Facebook and local responses 2023

Q: Has anyone ever seen a platypus in the Harden Murrumburrah area?

* 1960s, Facebook, Jan Hearn: I saw one in a creek near our property as a child. I can't recall the date, but our property was "Bundilla". It's on the Futter Park road from Harden. Prior to 1966.

* 1970s, Facebook, David Summerfield: I used to regularly see them at Jugiong. Mostly where Border Sand and Gravel were and further along that road, where the river passes both sides of the road. Also lots of native water rats. This was up to the mid 1970s while fishing for trout. I have not been back to Jugiong fishing for 20 years. I seem to remember that when the European Carp got into the river system around 1972 the Platypuses disappeared.

* 1970s, Facebook, Maca McEwen [in response to David Summerfield]: Yep, I saw them when we camped down there with the scouts. We sat and watched them for ages. It was a long time ago.

* 1970s, Facebook, Barbara Clark: Yes. Every time our dad took us fishing in the Jugiong River we would see them. It was an awesome place and we'd have an awesome time.

* 1980s, Facebook, Lee Burns / Debbie Brown: I saw them in Murrumboola Creek, out at the weir. Out near the Vets there was two that lived there. Hopefully they are still there.

* 1980s, Facebook, Ian Kinlyside: Yes. They are out at the old railway weir just below the wall. Many years ago the Bicentennial Committee had funds to make the weir a tourist attraction and develop it for small boating outings, but the local vet in that area stopped the development due to the platypus living below the wall, even though the development would have improved their living environment. There is also a tree stump stopping the valve closing completely. I know all this because I was president of the Bicentennial Committee.

* 1980, Facebook, Robyn Carroll: Yes. I saw them back in the early 1980s in Murrimboolah Creek. In two spots. Once I saw one whilst standing on the car bridge at Murrumburrah on the Burley Griffin Way. It came out from under a tree along the bank and quickly swam back under it. Another time on the road that leads to the tip in the culvert that runs under the road. There used to be plenty of water there as a kid, though not so much now. It would have been around 1980. I pretty much played in the creek every other day and only saw them these two times.

* 1993-2001, Facebook, Debbie Brown: Yes. They were along the river near Jugiong pumping station from 1993 through to 2001. I went down there almost every weekend. I was also told by a local they had seen them in Murrumboola Creek.

* 2009, Facebook, Tom Gledhill: I saw them in multiple spots around Jugiong & Bookham. Also in Cunningham Creek. I caught one in a net while fishing at Bookham, around 2009. I used to see them regularly there. Same at Jugiong. I only saw them a few times in Cunningham Creek in the early 2000s.

* 2021, Binalong resident: I saw platypus in the river at Burrowa, on the north side of town during 2021.

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3. Historical Chronology

* pre 1788 - prior to the arrival of Europeans in Australia the local Indigenous population had lived with platypus for millenia. The term for the animal in south-eastern Australia was ...... Aboriginal Dreamtime stories including the platypus are numerous.

* 11 October 1875, Burrangong Argus: A Bunyip for Young.— It would appear that Young, although not situated on a big river, can lay claim to its own particular bunyip. Mr. Patrick Fitzgibbons, who owns and lives near a large dam, a short distance out the town, relates that he and other members of the family have frequently seen at night, close to the dam bank and out of the water, an animal as large as a calf which upon the slightest alarm makes its way into deep water and disappears. Mrs. Fitzgibbons also says that she has occasionally seen in the daytime, not distinctly enough for description, a large animal, which she believes to be the same, under the water at one particular spot in the dam. It seems certain that some animal much larger than a water rat, platypus, or any species of amphibia which frequents the waters in this part of the colony, has its abode in the dam, but what animal it is is at present a mystery. Mr. Fitzgibbons talks of letting the water off when the summer comes, and solving the riddle, but until that is done we cannot be very wrong in claiming this mysterious creature as a bunyip.

* 9 April 1881, Weekly Times: A platypus was found inside an eight foot black snake killed at Burrowa.

* 6 September 1884, Australian Town & Country Journal: Platypus skins - primest sell well at 1s 6d to 2s, inferior from 1s.

* 8 January 1886, Yass Courier: The Platypus.— A great diversity of opinion exists in the minds of scientists as to whether or not the platypus is hatched from an egg; but if what has now been brought under our notice is correct, the subject will be set at rest. It appears that a few days ago, about 30 eggs of a peculiar appearance were found buried in the sand on the bank of the Murrumbidgee River near Mr. Hall's residence at Yeumburrah, which it is asserted are the eggs of the platypus. Master Faunee brought two of the eggs to this office, and we have forwarded them on to the secretary of the Linnean Society, at the same time asking for some information on the subject.

* 21 April 1895, Sunday Times, Sydney: Queer Capture of a Platypus. The Gundagai Times says : — Fishing, like snake yarns, are generally received cum grano salis, but the following is certainty an absolutely true, if somewhat unique, incident connected with the former pleasurable occupation. A couple of travelling photographers, who have made this a halting place for a few weeks, took advantage, as is usual with visitors, of the splendid shooting and fishing for which Jugiong has long been famous. On examining some night lines one morning last week they rather triumphantly began to haul in what they fondly imagined to be a magnificent codfish. But judge of their astonishment, when, instead of the finny monarch of Australian rivers, they found attached to the line, with the hook nearly swallowed - a platypus! The oldest fisherman about here never heard of a similar experience.

* 24 May 1902, The Catholic Press, Sydney: Bundarbo, Jugiong. Dear Playmate,— About a month ago I wrote my first letter to the playground promising then that I would write again and tell my playmates a little about the part of the country in which I live. Jugiong is a small, but very old, town, situated on the banks of the Murrumbidgee, and our rounded by hills. In the spring of the year these hills are covered with green grass, which gives our little town a very pleasant appearance, but we are sadly in want of rain now, and the outlook for the winter and spring in a very dismal one. My home is about eight miles from Jugiong town, and our house is quite near to the river. On summer afternoons we go swimming, and it is beautiful to splash about, in the cool water in the shade of the oaks, which are all along the banks of the river. I often go out shooting platypus in the season, but lately we have been getting kangaroos instead; it is splendid sport, as some of my playmates are, I suppose, fully aware. We go to school at home; it is much easier than having to walk a distance, like some children have to, and I often feel very thankful. Now that the competition is finished I am looking forward to the next, which, I hope, will be an easy subject, so as to give the younger playmates a chance of gaining a prize. I must congratulate those who were successful in the past competition, and I am sure, dear playmate, you were puzzled to choose to whom you should award the prize. I must finish my letter or it will be too long for your columns. With kind remembrances to all the children in the playground, - I remain your fond playmate, Tom Lloyd. (Aged 13 years.)

* 12 September 1903, Murrumburrah Signal and County of Harden Advocate: Native Animals. Mr. F. E. Winchcombe, M.L.A., has been instrumental in having a bill introduced into Parliament for the purpose of fixing a close season for kangaroos, oppossums, and other native animals. The bill was taken up by Sir John See, who was strongly in sympathy with its objects, and it was carried through its second reading, and through committee, on Tuesday night last. It is therefore in a fair way to become law this session. The animals included in the schedule of the bill are the grey kangaroo, red kangaroo, wallaroo, oppossum, native bear, wombat, platypus, swamp wallaby, and echidna. No mention is made of scrub wallabies, it being considered that wallabies generally, with the exception of the swamp variety, are still numerous enough to constitute a pest. No protection, therefore, is to to be afforded to wallabies, except swamp wallabies. These latter are a dark-coloured animal, sometimes called black, or black-tailed wallabies, whose skin is much valued by furriers. The bill enacts that the scheduled animals shall be absolutely protected till 31st January, 1905, and after that date there is to be a close season every year covering six months — from 1st August to 31st January. Penalties are provided for breaches of the Act, and all fines imposed are to be divided equally between the person giving information and the Zoological Society. Power is reserved to the Colonial Secretary to at any time add any other native animal to the schedule, as he may be advised by his officers; or to suspend the Act as applying to any particular district, should any of the protected animals multiply so as to become a nuisance.

* 27 October 1905, Murrumburrah Signal and County of Harden Advocate: It is satisfactory to learn that steps have been taken to protect that remarkable animal, the platypus. A notification is published in the Gazette, in pursuance of the provisions of the Native Animals Act, the Platypus, (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is absolutely protected for a period of seven years.

* 11 November 1912, Murrumburrah Signal and County of Harden Advocate: The Native Bear and Platypus nave been declared absolutely protected under the "Native Animals Protection Act," until December 31st, 1924, throughout the whole State.

* 30 July 1913, Sydney Mail: The Platypus in N.S.W. During my five years sojourn and service in the beautiful and beloved Yass-Gundagai district I studied the platypus closely, both in life and in death. The extraordinary animal was admirably abundant in parts of the Murrumbidgee close to jocund Jugiong. I heard a splendid out-o-doors nature study lesson given by a brainy bush teacher to his pupils one Saturday morning. The teacher showed how the sunken eyes, want of external ear, short limbs, and digging claws benefit the platypus in his burrowing operations; he also illustrated the use of the hard, horny, crushing plates in the gums to an animal which often ate fresh- water shellfish. By the way, the young platypus has true teeth, but these are soon worn down and shed. I am aware that many bushmen deny this. The use of the broad, flattened tail, the cheek pouches, the shovel shaped hill, were all made perfectly clear. One most interesting fact that I learned for the first time is that the young platypus, like the young chick, has an egg breaker on its snout, with which it breaks the shell of the egg. Amongst the Murrumbidgee men there are two fiercely-fought-for faiths as to the best time to get the platypus skins; of course, the animal, which is now being rapidly exterminated, is protected. Some say that the best time to get the platypus skins is in February or March; the others assert that skins taken during these months lose their brilliance and sheen, and that the best time is in June and July, when all fur bearing animals' coats are longest and loveliest. I have skins that were got in February and March years ago, and their sheen is as bright and beautiful as when they were first made up. Skins that were obtained in June and July of the same year are just as lovely, but certainly not in any way superior. By the way, it is not enough to make the killing of protected animals illegal. The exportation or exposure for sale of the coverings of any protected bird or beast should be ' promptly (and properly punished by confiscation and a heavy fine. — 'Jimmie Pannikin.'

* 30 November 1933, Sydney Morning Herald: Mr. and Mrs. Harry Burrell, who recently sold their station property at Manilla, New South Wales, and took up residence at their town house in Kensington, have found the call of the country too strong to be resisted, and have bought a new country home at Manilla, five miles from their former property. The name of the new home has been changed from Mount View to Yarrenbool, which is the native name for platypus, Mr. Burrell, who is the famous authority on the platypus, and who presented to tile nation his collection of these unique animals, which is now housed at the Institute of Anatomy, Canberra, intends to continue his research work at Yarrenbool. The property has a four-mile river frontage, and is a favourite breeding-ground for the platypus, and it was here that he collected most of the specimens now housed in the Institute of Anatomy.

* 13 October 1954, The Land - The Aboriginal word for platypus is listed as Tung, derived from Tungbung, meaning the creek with platypus in it.

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4. References

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Last updated: 31 August 2023

Michael Organ, Australia

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Platypus in the Harden-Murrumburrah region

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