Australian Bunyips

Australian Bunyips, or Life in the City and the Bush is a 1857 Australian stage play by "Mons Richard".

It was held to celebrate the sixty-ninth anniversary of New South Wales, Our Lyceum Theatre in Sydney and was an Australian play when that was very rare.

The play only had a short run.

According to advertising the cast were "supported by the entire strength of the company, also a camp of Aboriginal Native Australians, whom the Manager has scoured in order to give duo and full effect to the Corroberies, War Dances, &c., which occur in the bush scenes of this powerful Drama."

The Sydney Morning Herald said "it is quite refreshing to find in our dramatic parterre one specimen of native growth amid the multitude of European exotics ... For a novice, the author has shown much knowledge of stage effect. The characters are not well developed."

Bell's Life said it "has been nightly repeated with very equivocal success." The Illawarra Mercury said "As most of the scenes were laid in and about Sydney, they could not fail to be appreciated by the audience."

The Empire said "The drama is colonial, and some of the streets and localities of Sydney were depicted with great effect." A writer to the same paper said "Unequivocal marks of approbation from all parts of the house attended the progress of the piece, and the curtain fell amid general and hearty applause, notwithstanding the defection of some who had been calculated upon."