Giants From the Dreamtime the Yowie In Myth And Reality

Royal national park Sutherland 1913

Manbeast

The following is typical of old settlers tales of the region and was given to this author by Mrs JuneMullans of Kempsey, NSW. Her father, Mr Frank Bran, was born in Royal National Park, Sutherland, in 1900 and lived with his sister Mary and their parents at their residence, [above the causeway on the eastern [ie Sydney side] of the Woronora River], on Lady Carrington Drive [now Lady Gowrie] at Audley.

Frank's father [also named Frank] was the first ranger to be appointed in charge of the park, which then, as now, was a vast region of dense coastal jungle and scrubland, itself an extension of the dense forest and scrub country of the South Coast extending down to, and beyond the Bulli/Wollongong district. Frank and his sister Mary attended nearby Saltwater School, walking to and from the school every day along a lonely bush track, always crossing the river at the causeway.

One afternoon in 1913, when Frank was 13 years old and Mary 11, they were returning from school and were crossing the causeway. As they neared the east bank of the river, they both spotted some distance ahead of them, a strange dark figure standing in scrub at the base of a cliff above the causeway.

I quote Mrs Mullans: "Mary would have been apprehensive, but Dad was not afraid of anything and walked up towards the figure for a better look. He soon realised that it was a big brownish haired, naked male creature, much taller than his 5ft 11 inch [1.8m] height and very thick set". "As Dad approached it, the creature moved forward quickly and grabbed him. Dad escaped after fighting him off, but he was badly scratched as a result of his encounter."

"One afternoon a couple of weeks later, again on their way home from school [and no doubt a bit wary as they approached the causeway], they spotted the creature again. This time he was standing above the cliff at the same spot. Frank and Mary ran home as fast as they could in another direction." "They never saw the strange manbeast again." "Eerie cries - terrible screams - have been heard about the park area in the old days. It was enough to terrify people and discourage them from camping out at night."

"The 'hairy man' that attacked Dad is a well established family story ," says Mrs Mullans. A common warning to misbehaving children of that district lingers on: "The hairy man will get you if you don't watch out." [This author still remembers much the same warning from his mother while still quite young, living on our bush-surrounded farm at Lansvale, outside Cabramatta at the beginning of the 1950's].