Giants From the Dreamtime the Yowie In Myth And Reality

Yowie Research Organisation 1972

Huge ape-like Tracks

It was for the purpose of gathering possible physical proof of these manbeasts that in 1972 I established the Yowie research organisation which became "The Australian Yowie Research Centre" in 1976 PO Box 202, Katoomba. NSW 2780. Here all manner of sightings and other evidence from throughout Australia and the Pacific region is gathered for scientific assessment.

Letters arrive weekly containing sightings claims, or the discovery of Yowie tracks, by people living in widely-scattered and isolated regions of Australia. Or the phone will ring and I hear the voice of some farmer, prospector, camper or other, telling me they have just had "The encounter of a lifetime".

These reports, no matter how slender the chances of finding evidence might be, must be followed up; so my wife Heather and I are soon off into the wilderness on yet another field investigation. Our persistence has taken us deep into the Victoria/NSW Alps, the rugged wilderness of the NSW south coast, Blue Mountains, north coastal NSW and far north Qld jungles. We have carried out a number of searches in New Zealand in search of evidence of the 'Moehau monster'.

The search for Australia's 'Bigfoot' is not for the foolhardy or reward-hunting go-getter. The Australian bush soon swallows up the inexperienced; and the search for relict hominids is a twenty-four-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week, fifty-two-weeks-a-year investigation, and an expensive one guaranteed to discourage all but the most dedicated researcher.

And those who venture into the wilds with guns and hunting dogs under that often mistaken assumption, that "someone" will offer a big reward for a dead Yowie, are wasting their time, and breaking the law. The would-be investigator of the Yowie, or any other rare or 'unknown' species, as already said, needs to be silent in the Australian bush.

All native animal life quickly vanishes at the sounds of approaching large groups of people. It is now many years since that day in 1957, that I had my first meeting with the 'hairy man' in the Liverpool Boys High School Library with the Aboriginal myths and legends book. Since those early days of my search, I have never given up my enthusiasm nor my faith in the existence of these Australian survivors from the dawn of Man, and I hope that this book will serve as an encouragement to others who share my enthusiasm and dedication.

The available evidence, namely the Mudgee Homo erectus skull and recently manufactured stone tools revealed in this book, is enough to indicate that there really is 'something' lurking 'out there' in the vast, mysterious Australian bush in need of a proper scientific investigation.

From the mass of past and present-day sightings reports and fresh footprint discoveries, it should be obvious to university anthropologists that the Yowie mystery should be given more attention than it has had in the past. I would like to believe that some more open-minded scientist will read this book, and from the mass of circumstantial evidence I have presented, realise that there is a major anthropological mystery which has gone ignored for too long, by a scientific establishment which has hitherto made no attempt to investigate it.

Their attitude seems to be that, just because the Yowie is not included in the scientific text books, it can't possibly exist, ant that is final. Or, to put it another way; it is not supposed to exist so it mustn't.

Great Sandy Desert 1972

Several large Tracks

Further south of the Kimberley Plateau lies the vastness of the Great Sandy Desert, one of the fabled homes of the dreaded Jimbras, those monstrous 3-4m tall, powerfully built gorilla-like beings so feared by the Aborigines. The Gigantopithecus-like beings continue to remind us of their presence. Travellers in remote areas have claimed from time to time during the 1990's, to have found the huge footprints of these creatures.

Much earlier, during the 1970's there was a spate of claimed Jimbra footprint discoveries, such as that of Mrs Joan McKendrick, who while prospecting with here husband Tom near Lake Tobin, in the south-east corner of the Great Sandy Desert, one day in 1972, stumbled upon several, 45cm long footprints in soft soil.

"I nearly fainted when I came across these large tracks in the soil. I never thought such monsters ever existed outside Aboriginal myths," she said later to this author. To the north of here lies Jimberingga. This community bears a name which is actually another variant of 'Jimbra' and it too is an area of Jimbra sightings in recent years.

Oolea Range 1972

Enormous tall hairy male creature-stone club in Hand

Steve Moncreif, a fossicker, was exploring a dry creek-bed in the Oolea Range near Yarle Lakes on thee fringe of the Great Victoria Desert, one day in August 1972. Two years before, there had been a rash of reported encounters and discoveries of up to 50-cm-length footprints of the so called "Abominable Spinifex Man", better known as "Tjangara", but Steve was oblivious to these as he searched for gemstones in the dry earth.

Detecting a bad smell, he looked about him to see, standing upon the bank six metres away, an enormous 3.3-metre-tall hairy male creature, a large stone club in its right hand. Steve froze to the spot for a moment, man and sub-man-giant staring at one another; then, grabbing his small geologist's pick for protection, he rose and slowly backed away as the man-monster stood watching him.

"My Land-Rover was parked 100 yards away on a track. I figured if I could get there quickly enough I would be alright," he told a reporter later. However, the monster, uttering a snarling sound, proceeded to jump down onto the creek-bed and dash towards Steve who by now was bounding away as fast as his legs could carry him.

But the monster was closing in fast. I was out of breath. I turned, aimed and hurled the pick at the creature's face. The monster 'manimal' screamed in pain, clutching its face with both hands. I quickly staggered the last yards to my vehicle. I drove out of that place in a panic and I have never been back, "Said Steve.

Cudgegong River 1972

Human palate Impression

In February 1972, while fossicking on the Cudgegong River bank outside the central western NSW town of Mudgee, I spotted an oddly-shaped fossil impression on a small ironstone lump, cemented in a deposit of conglomerate. Digging it out I found the impression to be that of a human palate with dental arch, measuring 6 cm, the teeth marks clearly visible beneath the 1 cm high palate.

Western Midlands Highway 1972

Hairy man-like Beast

About 5am one April morning in 1972, Jack Andrews and Robert Turnbull, were driving along the Western Midlands Highway, when suddenly they were startled by a 2.6 m tall, hairy, manlike beast running across the road. Narrowly missing the creature, the men saw it disappear into roadside scrub.

"The creature was illuminated by the car headlights so we got a reasonably good look at it.""I am 6 ft in[1.83m] height, the creature we saw was considerably taller, at least 2.6 m tall, very thick set, probably around 200 kg in weight and it ran in big strides." "We scarcely had time to pull up without hitting the monster. It disappeared quickly into the undergrowth, before we could get out of the car for another look; that's if either of us dared", said Mr Andrews.

Lucknow 1972

Hairy man-ape Creature

At Lucknow, earlier in 1972 a man walking his two dogs in scrub and carrying a rifle with which to shoot rabbits, found he could not make his dogs walk past a large boulder. It was at this moment that he heard something moving behind the rock. As he was about to see what was disturbing his dogs, a large hairy man-ape creature walked into full view.

The man was too terrified even to raise his rifle to fire at the beast. However, as the dogs ran off in terror, the manbeast simply turned around and began bounding off into the surrounding scrub, leaving the terrified hunter wondering perhaps whether he was imagining what he had just seem.

Orange 1972

Man-like, ape-like Beast

Reports continued from Orange. One November night in 1972, at around 11 pm, Mr Robert Lloyd and another friend were driving a truck towards Orange. They were just a few kilometres from the town when suddenly, from out of the roadside scrub some distance ahead of their vehicle, and illuminated by the truck headlights, a strange hairy, man-like, ape-like beast came into view walking quickly across the road some distance ahead of their truck.

"The man-like monster appeared to walk rapidly across the road, disappearing into thick scrub on the other side. We were too dumbfounded, if not too scared to stop the truck and try to get a closer look with a torch at the monster, which was at least 2.3m in height. We just kept on driving," said Robert.

Aboriginal people of the Orange-Mudgee regions possess a great store of local 'hairy man' traditions. They believe that the Yowies would have to be the smartest creatures next to Man - they can think, they are intelligent - they would have to be, to have avoided capture for so long. The Yowies are capable, say the Aborigines, of making friends with a man, provided he is willing to leave food out for them. If he does, they will stick around, otherwise they will move on.

Aborigines have pointed out that the 'hairy men' have been known to use branches to sweep away their footprints and are scared of dogs when being pursued. They will defend themselves with large rocks or wooden clubs if cornered, and are very dangerous in this situation to ordinary humans.

Watsons Creek 1972

Attacking Yowie

At Watsons Creek, north -west of Bendemeer, in April 1972, a visiting Qld gold prospector, Frank Moore of Brisbane, came across huge footprints in creek sand on the water's edge. They appeared to be just minutes old. As he bent over them, in the water he was a reflection; a tall dark shape. Turning to see who or what was behind, he was suddenly struck a blow that sent him reeling into the creek.

Dazed, he felt himself being lifted up - powerful hands gripped his waist - then he was hurled several feet into rocks and shrubbery. He came to, bloodied and dazed. Staggering to his nearby station wagon he drove the short distance into town, where he related his experience to some startled locals while they tended his wounds.

But although they could not explain his bettered condition, few believed he had been attacked by some giant man-ape monster; at least until after some of them returned with Frank to the scene of his attack and saw the footprints.

Backyard Encounter

Then in August that same year a tall hairy male creature wandered into the backyard of a Watsons Creek area farm at sunset taking the family by surprise. At the moment the monster appeared from out of a nearby forest, the farmer, Wal Jones, was doing some wood work in the yard with his young son and daughter beside him; his wife Vera, was in the backyard septic tank 'loo'.

As Wal told me some years later, the family's two cattle dogs were first to raise the alarm with their furious barking. The children looked across the yard and screamed. Wal looked up from his work to see it too; a 2.6m tall, dark haired, very muscular, half-man, half-ape like beast, standing barely15m away, snarling at the barking dogs, who kept well away from the creature.

Wal yelled at Vera who dashed out of the 'loo', pushing his family inside the back door of the house, he grabbed his 12 gauge pump action shotgun. Then, charging back out the door, he saw the dark shape of the manbeast retreating into the bush. Firing off a couple of rounds at the shadowy figure, Wal ran to the far end of the yard hoping to get a better target, bu the manbeast had vanished. He never returned.

Albert River 1972-Interviewed 1980

Strange bipedal Animal

During 1980 I interviewed Mrs Jane Little of Brisbane, about her encounter with a Yowie in 1972.

She told me the following:

"I was horse riding with my sister on the Albert River near Winderoo, just off the Beaudesert Road. As we rode past a sugar cane field we surprised a strange bipedal animal sitting on the edge of the field." "When it saw us approaching it stood up on two legs to a height of about 4ft [about 1.4m]. It was covered in long brownish hair, but none on the face, which looked something between a monkey and man in features."

"As we rode by it stood looking at us, then bolted into the cane field [it had already startled our mounts]; but not before I noticed its arms, which were longer than a human's and its fingers, which were hairless and yellowish in colour." "It is an interesting fact that no birds or other animals ever seem to inhabit this area. Horses even spook and refuse to stay there very long. This whole area of the Albert River is covered in little islands of swamp and scrub. It is an eerie region."

"The man who owns the cane field where we saw the little creature has said that his father used to speak of a monkey-like 'hairy man' who inhabited the area many years before." Aboriginal people believe that Junjdy inhabit the Carnarvon Range north of Roma.

They say that little footprints have been found in the Murgon scrub, and also around Injune to the south of the Carnarvon Range within recent years. There is even a rumour that, during the mid-1970's, the skeleton of a pygmy-type native was found in this region. About the height of a normal six year old child, the jaws contained the teeth of a 60 year old.

Albert River 1972-Interviewed 1980

Enormous apelike Creature

During 1972, two experienced bushmen/explorers, Neil Lynham and Garry Brown were camped on the western side of Mt Finlayson, south of Cooktown. One morning while exploring on the mountain the men came upon a large pile of excrement, human-like in appearance, but far too large for any normal human's. The find puzzled the men, and they shortly after consulted a local Aboriginal bushman as to what kind of wild animal might have left such a 'pile'.

After inspecting the smelly mass, he declared that it belonged to one of the hairy Imjim man-like beings that his people believe, still roam the wild country beyond Cooktown He then hurried away, refusing to remain any longer on that mountain.

Neil and Garry however, were not that superstitious and continued camping on the mountain.

What happened next Neil later told me in an interview. He now takes up the story:

"One night we were sitting by our campfire talking, when we heard the sounds of snapping foliage, as some animal [we assumed] moved through the bushes not far from us. It was a dark night and we couldn't see a thing at first. Then this large, shadowy figure became just visible among the trees about 30 years from us."

"A Cassowary, we agreed, but then the figure moved closed and we could see in the dim glow of the fire, that it appeared to be human, or so we thought." "By now Garry had found his torch in his gear beside him and shone it at the figure. To say we were shocked at what we now saw is an understatement!" "Standing before us was an enormous, male apeish-looking creature about 9ft tall [about 2.7m].

Ape-like facial features with a flattish nose, and eyes set deep inside big, protruding eyebrows, whose head sloped back into a pointed skull dome [ie sagittal crest] with long brownish hair trailing over its head onto big, powerful, muscular shoulders almost 4ft [about 1.2m] across."

"His arms, from what we can recall, were very muscular, with big palms and long, thick fingers reaching down almost to knee level. The body was very hairy like his powerful thick legs, and his genitals were very large. His feet were enormous."

"The monster then just turned around and strolled away." "We spent a nervous night at that campfire, keeping some large stones and strong lumps of wood handy as weapons in case the monster should return, but he never did. At first light we left the mountain, hiking to our Landrover which was parked on a bush track a few kilometres away." "We pondered afterwards, how easily the monster could have harmed, even killed us, yet he had left us alone."

"We returned later with a couple of interested local bushmen to search for footprints of the creature, but these were not visible anywhere, owing to the stony ground and leafmould thereabouts." eil and Garry are now firm believers in the existence of the hairy man-like giants of the far north Qld bush!

Coromandel New Zealand 1972

Moehau

Back in 1972 there had been a real revival of interest in the Moehau and Coromandel residents found themselves the targets of city newspaper, television and radio journalists seeking every possible 'hairy man' encounter, real or imagined, that they could lay their hands on.

There was Mrs Ngahui Patrick, who warned the journalists that naturally there had to be more than one of these creatures inhabiting that wilderness; and Mrs Lorna Burns, who claimed she had seen one of these hominids just outside the town on a road, as it vanished into the dense bush.

And there was Eric Noble [60 years old at the time], who although he had not seen a Moehau, had seen a sketch of one of the creature's footprints, drawn by a man who had bound some in the Coromandels. Some locals had claimed to have heard the "blood-curdling screams of the Moehau".

Aside from the tongue-in-cheek media reporting, there had been caves discovered up in the hills, filled with bones of both animal and human origin, some obviously dating back to pre-European times and earlier, while others appeared more recent. Crude non-Maori stone tools were also found in these apparent 'Moehau lairs'.

Coromandel Range New Zealand 1972

Tall figure in Bushes

During the winter of 1972 Mr Trevor Silcox and another man were wild pig shooting in the Coromandel Range. As they explored along 'Razorback Ridge' on the top of the range, they happened to look across at another ridge 150 yards away, running parallel to them. Here they spotted a tall figure in bushes whom they at first thought was another hunter.

Trevor takes up the story:

"We decided to walk over the gully to have a yarn, but as we did so the figure moved away." "The 'man' had been standing next to a large tree at the time. When we reached the spot we found the figure's head had been level with a branch over 2m from the ground!" "The figure had appeared dark in colour at a distance. In fact, we thought 'he' had been wearing a 'Swandi' [ie a long type of hunter's coat covered in mohair]"

"However, we found footprints at the spot. These measured 35cm with the toes dug into the ground and the heel not as deep. The prints were 17-18cm wide at the toes. Four prints were found, leafmould obscuring the rest." "Most of that area is sandstone and dense scrub, so the mystery hominid was easily able to elude us. We detected a very strong musky smell about the area. The time of the sightings was late afternoon, about 4.30pm-5pm, just before dark began to fall. We returned to our camp feeling a little uneasy."

On another occasion some months after the above experience, Trevor was out hunting in the Urewera Ranges near Waikaremoana south of Gisborne.

"I had with me a Parker Hale 270 Winchester rifle for deer. During late afternoon again, just before sunset, I was contemplating the scenery across the river flat through bush, when I spotted a creature on the other side of the river 200 yards away.""I thought it was a deer at first due to the fact it was not standing upright, mouthing water.

I had a telescopic sight and decided to try and shoot it. I fired and missed it." "It then stood up, then I saw that it was a hairy bipedal animal, very tall. The creature turned and walked off quickly into scrub and disappeared. It had been standing in the water at the time. I realised later that the creatures seen on both occasions were the mysterious 'Coromandel Man'."

Such stories are typical of the many reports I receive from people across the Tasman Sea, who have had encounters with the 'Coromandel Man', better known as the 'Moehau Monster' of old Maori tradition; a race of primitive submen that they believe, have always inhabited the remote wilds of New Zealand.