In New South Wales, Australia, approximately 12 miles from Queensland, there is a body of water known as Boobera Lagoon. This freshwater lake stretches over 4 miles long, is regarded as a culturally significant site (due to ceremonies once held by the Bigambul and Kamilaroi people), and is said to be the home of a water dragon.

The Kurrea is described as (somewhat) resembling an extremely large crocodile. It has giant webbed feet, large crocodilian jaws filled with many teeth, and is covered in thick, non-overlapping scales much like that of other crocodilians. But, it also has a few features that set it apart from common, everyday Australian reptiles. The Kurrea is also said to be extremely long (well over 20ft) and very snake-like with a skin color like that looks like a blend of green and orange. Its neck has large frills that it can fan out (like Chlamydosaurus kingie) and it possess an extremely long, extremely flexible tail that it is able to wrap around prey and squeeze the life out of them while bringing their crushed body up towards its mouth.

So, in order to avoid the wrath of the Kurrea, all you have to do is avoid Boobera Lagoon, right? Wrong. Aboriginal stories within the area claim that the Kurrea is not trapped exclusively within Boobera Lagoon. The dragon is able to move between other lakes within the area by digging a tunnel at the bottom of the lakebed and swimming through. Once it reaches its desired location, it crawls through the bottom of the new lakebed and makes quick work of grabbing and devouring any unfortunate animals and humans who happen to be swimming within the lake or standing within grabbing distance on shore. There is no way to free yourself from the grip of the Kurrea once it has you wrapped in its tail. The only thing you can do is hope death comes fast, as it is better to die by the tail than to be mashed by the teeth.

Many anthropologists feel that the Kurrea is another name for the main snake character (which has over 15 names) in the Rainbow-Serpent legend. Aboriginal groups all across Australia shared a common myth involving a gigantic, unusually powerful snake that was closely associated with rainbows, rain, rivers, and waterholes. Legend states that the Rainbow-Serpent descended from the Milky Way and was responsible for helping shape the landscape of the outback, naming locations, granting healing powers to those who it deemed worthy, and cursing those it deemed unworthy with sickness and death.

Some researchers believe that the origin of the legendary Kurrea began after an extremely large crocodile (quite possibly the biggest seen by aboriginals at the time) moved into Boobera Lagoon and began to feed. From there the stories spread and the crocodile turned into a dragon, and a story turned into a legend.

-The Pine Barrens Institute

*Image Credit: Google