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There is apparently a [http://www.dreamtime.auz.net/default.asp?PageID=68 dreamtime myth] that the Koala can be eaten but "his skin may not be removed or his bones broken until after he is cooked"; if the taboo is broken drought will come. But I can't find a primary source for this...
There is apparently a [http://www.dreamtime.auz.net/default.asp?PageID=68 dreamtime myth] that the Koala can be eaten but "his skin may not be removed or his bones broken until after he is cooked"; if the taboo is broken drought will come. Another version of the story states that "the blacks might eat the flesh of the bear, because it was good, but they might not skin it as they skinned common animals. (p. 267)" [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0015-587X%28196424%2975%3A4%3C260%3ATBATWA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-C J.S. Ryan, The Bear and the Water: a study in mythological eytomology, Folklore 75 (1964), p. 260-8]
Cassell's Dictionary of Slang includes "Gundaroo bullock n. [late 19C] (Aus.) cooked koala meat" (Gundar is a town in SE New South Wales). There is a [http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-gundaroo-bullock/ poem] of the this name by AB Banjo Paterson (1864-1941) that is probably the source. "An old man bear for breakfast is a treat in Gundaroo."
Cassell's Dictionary of Slang includes "Gundaroo bullock n. [late 19C] (Aus.) cooked koala meat" (Gundar is a town in SE New South Wales). There is a [http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-gundaroo-bullock/ poem] of the this name by AB Banjo Paterson (1864-1941) that is probably the source. "An old man bear for breakfast is a treat in Gundaroo."
In 1840, the Polish explorer Count Paul Strzelecki survived a [http://www.latrobe.vic.gov.au/webfiles/media/link/december05/link%20dec%2005%20-%20page%2009.pdf diasterous trek] through the mountrain range named after him . "Starvation was only kept at bay by anindigenous member of the group hunting
In 1840, the Polish explorer Count Paul Strzelecki survived a [http://www.latrobe.vic.gov.au/webfiles/media/link/december05/link%20dec%2005%20-%20page%2009.pdf diasterous trek] through the mountrain range named after him . "Starvation was only kept at bay by anindigenous member of the group hunting koalas, which the men cooked and ate." Haven't found their report on what it tasted like.
koalas, which the men cooked and ate." Haven't found their report on what it tasted like.
From 'The Koala: Natural History, Conservation, and Management' by Kathrine Ann Handasyde.
''H.M. Wheelwright, the 'old bushman' was part of the great influx of Europeans that arrived in Victoria during the gold rush years of the early 1850s. He had trained as a lawyer but apparently could not make a living out of either law or gold in the colonies, and ended up suppling the Melbourne market with game animals that he sho on the nearby Mornington Peinsula. He observed that koala flesh was edible -- 'not unlike that of the northern bear in taste' -- and that it was 'considered a delicacy by the blacks.' He also noted that koalas were 'extremely difficult to shoot on account of their thick hide.'
''