Ghost stories in Australia have their roots in the colonial era, with tales of displacement and dispossession that externalize the guilt and anxiety of the trespassers. These stories serve as a reminder of the country’s unsettled past, revealing a relationship to the land that was previously unseen through the colonizers’ eyes. By keeping alive aspects of the past, these ghost narratives convey the eerie landscape of ‘buried country’, which reveals prior violent experiences.
The Bunyip, a Creature from Indigenous Mythology
One of the most famous Australian ghost stories is the tale of the Bunyip, a creature from Indigenous mythology that has been absorbed into settler culture as a way of scaring children and keeping them away from the bush. The Bunyip is tied to settlers and waterholes, possibly relating to the massacre of Aboriginal people at waterholes. This Indigenous ghost story reflects the fear of what the settlers brought and did, contrasting with the benign spirits that Indigenous people originally interacted with.