Giants From the Dreamtime the Yowie In Myth And Reality

Kakadu National Park, Arnhem Land 1976

Scuffle with hairy Creature

A few years before, in 1976, Brian had been camping one night on the creek when a man-sized hairy figure stepped out from nearby bushes and grabbed him."We fought all over the ground as I tried to get out of his powerful grip. When I did, I grabbed a piece of wood next to the fire and struck the creature over the head.

Screaming, the creature retreated into the scrub, leaving behind a strong, rotting smell and a greasy feeling all over me," he said. Elders believe he had fought off a young male Pankalanka.

Wild dog Mountains 1976

Hairy ape-like Creature

During 1976, a camping group of two dozen men and women established camp in the Wild Dog Mountains south-west of Narrow Neck behind "Packsaddlers". Nothing happened during the night, but in the early hours of the morning something strange visited the camp.

One of the girls awoke to see "a 2.7-metre-tall, hairy ape-like male creature" examining the camp cooking equipment and other goods. She screamed and the commotion aroused the group. The monster threw down what it was holding and dashed off into the scrub.

Tumbarumba Times 1976

Koscisusko-abominable snowman seen Again

Modern interest in these hairy manbeasts was reawakened in July 1975, when a skier near Mt Kosciusko spotted a tall, hairy ape-like beast walking across a snow-covered hillside. Thereafter it was the press which came up with the name "Abominable Snowman" and "Kosciusko Snowman" for the creatures, attempting to link them with their more notorious Himalayan 'cousin'.

For example, the "Tumbarumba Times" of September 15th, 1976 wrote:

'Kosciusko "Abominable Snowman" Seen Again.

Reports in recent weeks of mysterious large ape-like footprints found in the snow and sightings of a huge man-like hairy beast in the Kosciusko district have intensified interest in a theory that a relative of the Himalayan "Abominable Snowman" inhabits the Snowy Mountains.

The "Kosciusko Snowman" has been the subject of a nation-wide search by a well known naturalist who maintains the creature's existence.

The Naturalist is Mr Rex Gilroy, Director of the Mt York Natural History Museum, Mt. Victoria NSW.

Mr Gilroy said this week on Sunday, August 15th, a man had discovered an extensive set of large man-like tracks in the snow near Kiandra, which he followed for half a mile until they entered a forest. He said there had been a number of reports of large footprints having been found in recent months. One set was found crossing the backyard of a farm near Cooma.

Mr Gilroy said early Aborigines had a name for the beast - the "Yowie" [for "Great Hairy Man"], a large 7-8 ft tall hairy man-like creature what walked on two legs with a stooped gait.

Mr Gilroy, who has studied reports of the creatures over a wide area of Australia, many dating back to early last century, believes the Yowie to be a relative of the Himalayan 'Abominable Snowman' and North American 'Bigfoot', creatures which evolved from a pre-ice age man-like ape fauna which spread out over a land-shelf which formerly linked Australia and America to mainland Asia many thousands of years ago.

Similar beasts are known to inhabit the jungles of Malaysia and New Guinea, Mr Gilroy said. Mr Gilroy said that reports of large footprints in the snow in the Mt. Kosciusko district had been as frequent as sightings of the "Kosciusko Snowman" themselves.

In July 1975 a skier spotted a large 7-8 ft tall hairy man-like beast moving up a snow covered hillside near Mt Kosciusko and a month later what may have been the same creature was sighted again by a group of skiers in the same area following a snowfall.

The press reports of large ape-like footprints found in the snow and sightings of "Abominable Snowmen" around Mt Kosciusko, and elsewhere in the snowfields were greeted by scientific scepticism.

To quote the "Canberra Times" of 4th September, 1976:

'Nonsense' tales of hairy beast.

"Reports of sightings and prints of a "huge, man-like hairy beast' during recent weeks in the Kiandra, Tidbinbilla, Cooma and Kosciusko district were nonsense," the chief of the CSIRO division of wildlife research, Dr. H.J.Frith, said yesterday. "There is no such animal", he said. "Some responsible person would have seen it by now. The whole thing is far-fetched."

The Director of the Mt York Natural History Museum, at Mt Victoria, NSW Mr Rex Gilroy, said in a statement issued recently that he had been searching for the creature, known as the Yowie, for several years. There had been sightings dating back to1795 at scattered areas of inland eastern Australia.

Sightings had been reported near Cooma and Kiandra this winter. He described the Yowie as being about two metres tall, covered in long hair, stooped and walking on two legs with a loping gait. Mr Gilroy has established "The Australian Yowie Research Centre" at his museum. Mr Gilroy said the Yowie had existed in eastern Aboriginal folklore for thousands of years but, as an anthropologist pointed out yesterday, so had the mythical bunyip.

Batlow Area 1976

Three Large Footprints

During 1976 Mr Tony Martineer was apple-picking on the property of a Mr Speers about 10 km out of Batlow.

One day around sunset he was walking through a state pine forest when, in a partly dried patch of mud he found three large footprints. They were spaced man-size and about 23cm in length.

They displayed splayed-out toes and a narrow heel which went deeper into the ground [about 4 cm] than the rest of the foot. The arch was narrow and showed a big toe almost as deep as the heel. Hearing a crashing sound in nearby bush Tony left the area in haste.

Was the maker of these giant-size footprints still lurking nearby?

Grose Valley-Springwood Creek 1976

Black haired man-Ape

During the bad Blue Mountains bushfires of 1976, a National Parks and Wildlife Service ranger and pilot in an Iroquois Helicopter were circling over the Grose Valley, observing the course of a fire in the valley below, when, while passing over a rocky outcrop, the ranger spotted below, a black-haired, 'man-ape' like creature climbing over rocks fleeing from the blaze.

As the bushfire was their priority they could not turn back for another look. The sighting occurred near Springwood Creek.

Wild Dog Mountains 1976

Hairy ape-like male Creature

During 1976 a camping group of two dozen men and women established a camp in the Wild dog Mountains south-west of Narrow Neck. Nothing happened during the night, but in the early hours of the morning one of the girls awoke to see "a 2.3 m tall, hairy ape-like male creature" examining the camp cooking equipment and other goods.

She screamed and the commotion aroused the group; the monster threw down what it was holding and dashed off into the scrub.

Orange District -Mt Conobolas 1976

Large Footprints

In July 1976 a number of large, 15 inch [38cm] length footprints displaying ape-like features, were found in forest soil west of Orange by a farmer.

Tall hairy naked man-like Beast

About this time another farmer informed Orange ABC Radio reporter, Leo White, of Radio Station 2CR that he had seen a tall, hairy naked man-like beast while exploring bushland near Mt Canobolas. He told Leo that the nearest thing he had ever seen to this creature were the ancient 'hairy man' rock paintings of Arnhem Land Aborigines, many years before.

Barrington Range 1976

Large reddish-long haired manlike Beast

High up in the Barrington Range in 1976, six men on a rabbit shooting excursion got the shock of their lives. While shooting in thick scrub on a hillside they decided to stop for a rest, and prepared a campfire to "boil the billy". Leaving their 'kill' of several rabbits on an old tree stump, they walked down to nearby creek to get water.

While here they heard a sound coming from above them near their fire, and turned to see a large, reddish, long-haired man-like beast a good 10ft [3 m] tall, standing on the edge of scrub near their fireplace. The manbeast picked up the rabbits from the stump, turned and walked off with them into the scrub. The men stood, too petrified to d o much else than watch the man-monster disappear, before grabbing their rifles and gear and leave the spot as quickly as possible.

Two types of giant creatures appear to have been described here; the Morrell 'man-ape', an apparent vegetarian, bears Gigantopithecine features; while the rabbit-stealing hominid appears more human-like, and very likely one of the giant tool-making people once claimed by local Aborigines to inhabit the region.

Nowendoc Ranges-Inland Taree 1976

Big greyish-haired Animal

One night in 1976, Mr Errol and a mate were spotlight shooting for kangaroos on a property situated on the foothills of the Nowendoc Ranges, 35 miles inland from Taree. They had driven their vehicle across a paddock and were moving their spotlight about the area, when suddenly the beam caught a big, greyish-haired 'animal' lying on the ground some 200 yards away.

Then the creature rose up upon two legs to a height of about 3.3 m and ambled away into the darkness. The men were too stunned to shoot. Old Aboriginal legends of the Taree district say the 'hairy men' lived side by side with the Aborigines. They were even known to move in and occupy abandoned humpies after the Aboriginal occupants had moved out.

They were so tall [said Aborigines to early 19th century European settlers] they had to bend over to enter the settler's doorways!

Woodenbong 1976

Two ape-like Creatures

The following stories were reported in the Lismore Northern Star newspaper that month, after an earlier article in that journal concerning a search I planned to conduct in the Woodenbong district.

The first of these concerned the experience of Mrs Thelma Crewe of Richmond St, Woodenbong, who late one November night in 1976, saw two ape-like creatures about 1.2m tall, and covered in tan coloured hair, standing in her front yard just off the street.

"The hair on their arms was about 15.3cm longer than on the rest of their bodies, and their heads seemed to be sunk into their shoulders," she told Gary Buchanan, a Lismore Northern Star reporter. She watched the strange hominids through her kitchen window for five minutes before they walked away down the dimly-lit street into thick scrub.

They had obviously wandered around her backyard, inquisitively surveying the house prior to Mrs Crewe seeing them, as evidenced by the indistinct tell-tale footprints found there later. Following publication of Mrs Crewe's experience, another Woodenbong lady, who requested her name to be withheld, contacted the Northern Star with her own hairy-raising tale.

Yowie crushing Dog

Mrs X, as she wished to be known, lived in Lindsay St., which is only 270 metres from Richmond St. According to Mrs X, she was lying in bed about 2.30am on the morning of Wednesday 10th August but not asleep, when she heard her dog, an Australian terrier, start to yelp.

The following is her story in her own words:

"The yelping was mixed in with high pitched screaming sound which could not have been made by the dog. At first I thought a dog might have been killing my Siamese cat." "I jumped out of bed and race out onto the back verandah where I switched on the light. As the light was fitted with a strong 200 watt bulb it threw a good glow into the backyard."

"I went down the steps and ran into the backyard when I suddenly saw the creature directly in front of me. I was within 6 feet [1.8m] of the jolly thing and I think I stopped breathing for a moment because of the fright." "It was sitting on its haunches and had my dog crushed up against its chest. The dog was almost completely covered by the creature's arms which were wrapped around the dog, one above the other. It looked as though the creature was trying to crush the life out of her."

"The creature looked straight up at me for a few moments, then dropped the dog, which I thought was dead at this stage, because she fell to the ground and did not move." "The creature then held its arms away from its body and slowly stood up. It then backed away from me towards the grape trellis, but it never took its eyes off me. It backed away to the left side of the post and wrapped its right arm around the trellis post.

The creature stayed there for a few moments making these strange, deep grunting noises. The noises were very loud."

"It then ran off to the right, down the side of the house between the garage, and disappeared towards the front street [Lindsay St]" "As it ran the creature's arms hung by its sides. They were swinging, but not touching the ground." "The facial features of the creature could only be described as ape-like."

"Its head was very small compared to the rest of its body, and the hair was close cropped and fell down over its forehead. The rest of the face didn't seem to have much hair over it." "When the Yowie held out its arms after dropping the dog I noticed that it had long gingery coloured hair hanging from the bottoms of its arms." "The hair seemed to be very well groomed, and flowing like a girl's would. The hair over all its body seemed to be pretty closely cropped except on the arms and over its shoulders The hair was dark brown with a greyish tinge."

"The creature had a wide chest and seemed to have very strong legs, while the arms were long, slender and hairy." "One of the things I particularly noticed about the Yowie was the horrible stench. The only thing I could compare it with would be a ferret. The dog still stank of the stench the next morning so I had to wash her in Dettol."

"I examined the dog after the creature had disappeared and found that it was bleeding from scratch wounds to the chest and back of the neck. I though the next day the dog was going to die. She could hardly walk, and if you moved her too much she would yelp. I also noticed that she was badly bruised on the chest. Also, her hair was very greasy to touch before she was washed."

"Later, my daughter found three distinct footprints along the side of the house where the creature disappeared. These measured about 22cm long by 11cm wide. The five toe impressions were clearly defined and did not appear to have been made by a human foot. All the toe impressions appeared to be the same size and laid out in a half circle, rather than falling away from the big to the small toe."

"The overall impression also seemed to be stubby in comparison with the wide front pad of the foot." In the course of investigating Mrs X's experience, Lismore Star reporter Gary Buchanan and staff photographer Darcy McFadden later examined an area of grass behind a tin shed adjacent to the grape trellis.

Mrs X said the grass had been undisturbed prior to the incident, but the men found the grass trampled down. They also found three long strands of hair caught in a splinter of wood on an old post behind the shed. The three strands were about 17cm in length and a gingery brown in colour.

Gary Buchanan sent the hair samples to Professor B Rigsby, Professor of Anthropology at Queensland University, Brisbane. The Professor's reply was typical ...... "I suggest you go looking for a guy in an ape suit. There is no reliable recurrable evidence for Yowies, abominable snowmen, yetis, Bigfoot or wild men of the woods or whatever they are called.

I believe you simply won't find a human primate of this sort in Australia." Professor Rigsby did however promise to have the hair samples analysed.

However, it appears the University tests failed to classify the hairs, and like so many other 'embarrassing' specimens not recognised in the scientific text books, the hairs were simply "swept under the carpet" of scientific dogmatism in the hope that the whole matter would soon be forgotten!

Footnote: Mrs X's dog recovered from its injuries.

Sandy Hollow Area-Muswellbrook 1976

Large Figure

Westward from the Mt Royal Range lies Muswellbrook, where eerie happenings are frequent in the mountains of the eastern fringe of the town, such as the following: A Mr Warren King and another man were driving in a Land-rover, checking out trails in the Sandy Hollow area while on a shooting trip. The time was early summer in 1976.

Following a particular trail for a few hours they came to a dead end in a valley with a steep sloping rise at one end. They decided to camp here and set up their tent. Around midnight they were woken by the sounds of crunching bracken underfoot, coming from the steep slope. The noise stopped at the edge of the scrub for a short while, then proceeded towards the tent. The men could make out the shape of a large figure about 3m tall.

They had a torch next to them but were afraid to use it. They had set their tent 10 metres from the Land-rover. The men remained in their tent scared of the beast that now walked around outside, even more so as they realised they had left their rifles in the vehicle. After walking around the tent the mysterious creature then walked away to retreat back up the slope down which it had come.

After about five minutes the men dashed for their vehicle, threw their gear into it and drove off. An interesting sideline to this story is that it was at the above location that the remains of an old campfire was found by the men.

Two years previously a Pasture Protection Board officer, who was checking the country hereabouts, and had camped there overnight, came back to Sandy Hollow Hotel, looking very scared. He never said a thing to the locals at the hotel but telephoned his boss, to inform him that he was quitting his job after an undisclosed, terrifying experience up in the hills. This was a man who had worked in the bush for twenty years.

Glen Eagles District 1976

Female Yowie

A banana farmer, Ken 'Stoney' Thomas, in the Glen Eagles district further north in 1976, claimed he had a visitation from a female Yowie. The female hominid emerged around sundown from out of forest on the edge of his farm as he was finishing work in a paddock.

"She was about 1.8m tall, slender built, a little hairy, and long breasts that might have drooped about 8 or 9 inches [20 to 23cm]. Her forehead was sloping away from very protruding eyebrows and her face somewhere between an ape and a human in appearance," said Ken.

Ken retreated to his farmhouse, unsure if the weird female was liable to attack him. As he and his family remained in the house, the strange 'womanbeast' wandered around the house and other buildings before returning back into the forest.

Next morning when he searched for signs of the previous night's visitor, he found a number of bags covering his bananas had been ripped from the trees and their contents eaten, or scattered along a track, where he found strange footprints leading up into the wilderness of Owongorella National Park, a region of steep escarpments and rainforests.

Aborigines of the region believe a sizeable population consisting of small family groups of hairy 'Widgee' beings still roam over a wide area between the Mt Tambourine, Lamington, MacPherson and Tweed ranges, southward into the forests of Lismore and Casino inland from the NSW far north coast. It is also the domain of the Wolumbin giants.