Giants From the Dreamtime the Yowie In Myth And Reality

Barcoo Creek, Etadunna 1989

Tall hairy man Giant

In 1989, a four-metre-tall hairy man 'giant' welding a huge lump of wood for a club was claimed seen on the lower Barcoo Creek near Etadunna, east of Lake Eyre. Two carloads of four-wheel-drive enthusiasts were travelling about 100 metres apart on the road between Maree and Birdsville. At a point where the road crosses over a creek, the vehicles disturbed the monster as it stood on the creek-bank close to the roadside.

Both groups saw the creature which strode off along the bank and out of sight into the scrub. The shocked bush-trekkers held a roadside discussion, compared physical descriptions, agreed it was a male, and the men in the party decided to try to track it with their rifles at the ready; but by the time they returned to the crossing and set off on foot, the man monster had escaped.

Kanagra Creek 1989

Horrifying screams and Howls

For example, about January 1989, two young women and their male companions were camped near Kanangra Creek. While searching the valley floor below the Walls, they came upon a number of larger-than-man-sized footprints in sand. Laughing the tracks off as the work of some joker, they later returned to their camp to find it ransacked, and the same large tracks visible in surrounding soil. With night coming on they remained at thee site, still thinking the tracks and the vandalised camp to have been the work of a joker.

However, they were all soon made to feel uneasy. Something seemed to be moving about in the dense scrub close to their camp. Then the unseen intruder began emitting a series of horrifying screams and howls. The terrified group stayed up all night, large tree branches at the ready to protect themselves.

Numinbah Valley 1989

Several large Footprints

Early in 1990 Heather and I searched an area in the Numinbah Valley below Binna Burra where, during November 1989, three campers-Terry and Max Feitz and Barry Bossley-found several large footprints, measuring 45 cm long by 18 cm wide, embedded 2 cm deep in mud on a creek bank. I receive many phone calls from people all over Australia who have something to report, and at all hours.

Beechmont 1989

Squatting hairy man-Beast

Similarly, at Beechmont, two other campers, Ken White and Jerry Moore, claim they saw a two-and-a-half-metre tall, hairy man-beast squatting to drink at a creek-edge in dense scrub.

Atherton Tableland 1969-1989

Three strange hominid Creatures

The Atherton Tableland, rising high above Cairns, is the scene of frequent 'hairy man' reports. During December 1969, several timber-cutters claimed they saw a two-metre-tall, hairy male "man ape" watching them among trees as they worked near the town of Atherton.

Earlier that same year, another logging group operating in the Kuranda district reported seeing three strange hominid creatures-an apparent male and female each of two metre's in height, and a juvenile of about 1.3 metres-foraging in a gully below them.

Family Group

December 1989:Twenty years later, in April 1989, another family group of these hairy 'manimals shocked a group of loggers by wandering from out of the forest and onto the edge of their camp in broad daylight. Terrified, the men grabbed for wooden stakes and, shouting at the creatures, managed to drive them back into the jungle. The loggers described the humanoid creatures as a 2.3-metre tall male, a 1.3-m juvenile male, and a 2 metre-tall female.

And so the stories of Australia's Bigfoot creatures continue to show not the slightest indication of ever diminishing. And, I believe, these mysterious, seemingly fearsome yet totally fascinating hairy primates will continue to survive, hidden in the remote and still largely inaccessable recesses of our vast mountain ranges.

It never ceases to amaze me just how much interest my lifelong research has created. Perhaps the main reason why millions of people worldwide find the yowie/yeti/bigfoot mystery so fascinating is that in modern times it is one of the last great unsolved mysteries-in the tradition of the Loch Ness Monster, the giant monitor lizards of Australia and the 'neodinosaurs' of the Congo.

Back Of Newnes January 1989

Whitish man-like Form

During January 1989, Len Mawson and Don Mulak of Sydney NSW were on a camping trip in the Wollongambie Wilderness searching for Gallan Canyon in the back of Newnes, when they decided to camp for the night at Bungleboori Reserve, situated next to a pine forest.

They set up their sleeping bags in their 'Combi Van' and soon had a roaring campfire going, and cooked their tea. It was about 9pm. After tea they sat talking for about an hour. About 10pm, in the light of a quarter moon, Len happened to notice, about 200 m away, standing in the middle of the reserve, the definite silhouette of a whitish man-like form over 2 m in height, the head giving the appearance of being pushed into the shoulders, with legs apart and arms out from the body.

By this time Don had retired to the van. Len tried to attract his attention to the mystery figure, but he refused to get out and look. As Len moved to the van, the 'visitor' turned and walked away behind a nearby concrete water tank, where Len lost sight of it. From here he believes it must have walked straight into the adjoining pine forest. The next morning Len and his mate made a search of the area, but could find no trace of the mystery creature's presence the night before, so continued on their way.

Newnes September 1989

Yowie Footprints

In September 1989, further freshly made Yowie footprints were found in the wilderness near Newnes, measuring twice the size of any normal foot.

Tall man-ape type Creature

That same month, also in the Newnes area, near a pine forest, a group of campers were preparing a fire, ready to cook the evening meal, when they sighted a 2.6m, tall 'man-ape' type creature observing them from a nearby stand of timber. The party had members take turns keeping watch all night in case the strange beast should return. This same location, unbeknownst to them had had several other visitations by these elusive hominids, stretching back at least six years.

Kitchener 1989

3m Tall Male Tjangara

Noted explorer, the late Michael Terry, told me once that the Western Australian blacks always differentiated between the Jimbra and Tjangara. "Aren't they both the same creature?" I asked one old Elder while over there in the 1930's. "No, no came the emphatic reply.

"Jimbra more like an animal, doesn't make fire, eats roots and berries. Also eats animals and people raw. Tjangara giant people, make tools and fire but keep clear of them too, because they eat plenty black fellas long time ago!"

Tjangara is well known throughout the length and breadth of the Nullarbor region deep into Western Australia. As recent as 1989 a 3m tall male was claimed seen carrying a big stone knife out from Kitchener on the Nullarbor fringe, by a mineral surveyor.