[A full account.] "In laying up a store of bunyas, the blacks exhibited an unusual foresight. When the fruit was in season, they filled netted bags with the seeds, and buried them."
1889. Hill, quoted by J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 7:
"The cones shed their seeds, which are two to two and a half inches long by three-quarters of an inch broad; they are sweet before being perfectly ripe, and after that resemble roasted chestnuts in taste. They are plentiful once in three years, and when the ripening season arrives, which is generally in the month of January, the aborigina&ls assemble in large numbers from a great distance around, and feast upon them. Each tribe has its own particular set of trees, and of these each family has a certain number allotted, which are handed down from generation to generation with great exactness. The bunya is remarkable as being the only hereditary property which any of the aborigines are known to possess, and it is therefore protected by law. The food seems to have a fattening effect on the aborigines, and they eat large quantities of it after roasting it at the fire."
1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 377:
"The `Bunya-bunya' of the aboriginals—a name invariably adopted by the colonists."
1892. J. Fraser, `Aborigines of New South Wales,' p. 50:
"The Bunya-bunya tree, in the proper season, bears a fir cone of great size—six to nine inches long-and this, when roasted, yields a vegetable pulp, pleasant to eat and nutritious."
1893. `Sydney Morning Herald,' Aug. 19, p. 7, col. 1:
"There is a beautiful bunya-bunya in a garden just beyond, its foliage fresh varnished by the rain, and toning from a rich darkness to the very spring tint of tender green."
<hw>Bunyip</hw>, <i>n</i>. (1) the aboriginal name of a fabulous animal. See quotations. For the traditions of the natives on this subject see Brough Smyth, `Aborigines of Victoria,' vol. i. p. 435.