Giants From the Dreamtime the Yowie In Myth And Reality

Snowy River Below Mount Kosciusko 1990

Hairy female Creature

In October 1990, Dereck Holmes was camping on a bank of the Snowy River source below Mount Kosciusko. One morning he awoke at first light and peered from his tent. As he did so, he caught sight of a 1.6 metre-tall, hairy female creature standing nearby amid granite boulders.

As he emerged, bewildered at the sight, she bolted away, disappearing over a granite outcrop. It was hereabouts back in 1948 that a party of campers had sighted a tall hairy figure, about 2.3 metres tall, moving up a mountainside through snow at a distance of about 100 metres.

Lake Jindabyne 1990

Muscular giant male Creature

In January 1990, two young women, Susan Townsend and another girl, and their boyfriends were camped on the shore of Lake Jindabyne. Late one afternoon while the others went wood collecting in the surrounding forest, Susan was busy getting the campfire started. Detecting a powerful odour and hearing twigs snapping underfoot, she turned and screamed with fear as a hairy 2.3-metre-tall, muscular, giant male creature, almost ape-like in appearance, emerged from trees a mere 10 metres away.

He approached the girl, but hearing the others returning he bolted in big strides into the forest. The boy's hearing Susan's frantic account of what she had just seen, gave chase up mountainside scrub, thinking the intruder was some weird hermit. Loud snarls and large rocks hurled at them convinced the boys to end their pursuit. Locals to whom they later told their story said they probably saw the Doolagahls that old Aborigines claim still live up in the mountains.

Numinbah Valley 1990

Several large footprints embedded deep in Mud

Shortly after our departure for home in March 1990, a businessman/fossicker, Craig Turner, stopped by a creek in the Numinbah Valley. Leaving his car to walk along the bank amid surrounding rainforest, he found several large footprints embedded up to four centimetres deep in mud. Spaced one-and-a-half-metres apart, the footprints measured 40 cm in length by 17 cm width across the toes.

After obtaining plaster from a nearby town, he made casts of left and right feet from the best tracks and later gave us copies. The significance of these footprints has already been discussed. From a study of their casts I am impressed by Australian man-beast footprints found from widely-scattered, remote mountainous locations, often hundreds of kilometres apart and which display identical physical features.

The tracks are often found by some bushwalker who has chanced to go off the beaten track into areas never frequented by most people. A hoaxer would be wasting his time planting fake tracks in such areas where nobody is going to find them. Some of these tracks have been found in virtually inaccessible forest regions by sheer chance and, in my view, must therefore be accepted as authentic yowie footprints.

An Update

In March 1990, a Sydney based fossicker, Mr Craig Turner, was exploring a remote jungle creek in the Numinbah Valley, when he found over a dozen freshly made hominid footprints in the mud of the bank. Quickly obtaining casting plaster from a nearby town, he was able to make casts from three of the footprints.

Measuring 40cm in length by 17cm wide across the toes and 15cm wide at the heel, they were spaced up to 1.5m apart and were embedded 4cm deep in to mud. The creature who left these footprints must have stood at least 2.6m tall and weighted around 250 kg.

Howqua area east of Lake Eildon. March 1990

During March 1990 Mr Wayne O'Brian and two friends were camped in the Howqua area east of Lake Eildon. While exploring around the edge of thick scrub through long grass, the men saw blowflies buzzing around something in the grass nearby.

Upon investigation they found the carcase of a calf that had been chewed up, and about which were bones and clumps of hair. Shortly after, in a nearby gully they found a pile of excreta. At the bottom of a patch of scrub they smelt a very strong pungent odour. Nearby, in a muddy area the men discovered a number of larger-than-man sized footprints.

Newnes 1990

Tall manbeast-type Creature

In 1990 two Sydney campers, visiting the site for the first time, became unnerved when, late at night, illuminated by the moonlight, a 2.1 to 2.4m tall manbeast-type creature was seen to emerge from nearby pine trees, and walk among trees close to their camp. It left large ape-like footprints in a nearby water course which were found by the men the next morning.

Johnson's Hole 1990

Large man-ape like Footprints

The Hill End district still remains a notorious region for modern-day Yowie reports, as will be demonstrated further on. Today Johnson's Hole still retains its eerie, uneasy feeling. Weird cries have been heard at night in the surrounding area, and large, man-ape like footprints claimed found in soil near the river from time to time.

One evening, around dusk, in 1990 a young Sydney couple on a camping trip, decided to stay overnight near the hole. They knew nothing about its reputation. During the night, something walked up to their small, two-man tent, and began tearing it from the ground.

As the girl screamed, and her male companion fought his way out of the tent, he felt himself grappling with a dark hairy and putrid-smelling form that quickly broke off the attack and dashed off into the darkness

Dorrigo District 1990

Hairy man -Beast

During February 1990, the Dorrigo district was the scene of a terrifying encounter with a hairy manbeast that had the local bushwalking community more than a little concerned. Three teenage boys had been camping in the Dondingalong area when one day near their camp, they were surprised by a 2.6m tall 'animal', who sprang from out of bushes to grab one of the boys and attempt to drag him away.

As his terrified mates ran to pick up large rocks to throw at the hairy giant, the boy fought frantically with the creature, breaking free with scratches and bruising. The boys ran for their lives. Eventually they returned to their camp with accompanying adults to find it wrecked, their gear scattered about the area, and large man-like footprints in the surrounding soil.

The above incident has parallels with another attempted abduction involving a manbeast, which took place in the Kempsey district about the turn of the 19th century, and is still remembered by old residents.

Ponderosa Area 1990

Enormous Footprints

During March 1990 several enormous footprints were found in the Ponderosa area by a man while fossicking. These measured 44cm in length by 22cm width across the toes.

New England Ranges 1980's-1990's

Large man-ape Footprints

In the early 20th century these tales merged with more contemporary encounters, and during the 1980's and 1990's there were campers and property owners in remote corners of the New England ranges who claimed sightings or the discovery of large 'man-ape' footprints embedded in the bush soil..

The Moonbi Range 1990's

Hairy men & Women

The haunted hills of the Moonbi Range, particularly those enclosing the Bendemeer, Kentucky, Uralla and Walcha communities, have a long tradition of eerie events stretching far back into early pioneering days. Aborigines in these areas warned settlers about the often enormous 'hairy men' and their female counterparts that wandered the granite ranges, emerging from the forests at night to roam the hills.

T hey would, said the tribesmen, kill and eat anyone unlucky enough to meet up with them in lonely places. Even in the 1990's these 'haunted' hills continued to live up to their name.

Walcha Hills 1990

Man-ape Footprints

In the hills behind Walcha, in October 1990 three sets of larger-than-normal 'man-ape' footprints were found together in a swamp by a stockman. And on it goes. Not a year passes without someone somewhere in these ranges coming forward with a sighting report of a Yowie. The reports of the 'hairy man' gathered from across Australia are tantalizing and they show every indication of remaining so.

Throughout the wild New England ranges, 150 years of 'hairy man' encounters ensures that local interest in these hominids from the dawn of Man will never die out. Farmers and others will continue to carry firearms about with them when working in remote areas, and bushwalkers exchange yarns about these "Australian Bigfoot" creatures around the campfire on lonely nights, in the depths of these haunted eerie ranges.

Western Macdonnell Ranges 1990

Irabundi bundi Woman

An Aboriginal man of the Pertama tribe, whose territory is situated 80 miles out of Alice Springs, he is steeped deep in the lore of his people. "Pankalanka drag people out of their swags while they are camping. The female Pankalankas are called the Irabundi bundi, or 'Wild Woman'."

"The Irabundi bundi woman walks around with a fire stick in the western Macdonnell Ranges. She is beautiful and long-haired.

One night in 1990 a man was forced to stop his car for a sleep on a roadside, in the Macdonnell Ranges near Alice Springs. A sound woke him. There staring at him through his open [driver's side] window was an Irabundi bundi woman. She then vanished into the darkness, leaving him very shaken."

Wave Hill 1990

Giant man-like Footprints

North-west of Tennant Creek, at Wave Hill near the junction of Giles Creek and the Victoria River, one day in July 1990 two Aborigines fled in terror when they came upon a number of freshly made giant man-like footprints on the edge of a waterhole.

Great Sandy Desert Encounters 1990's

The dreaded Jimbras

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.

Fitzroy River Near Nookanban 1990

Tall naked male Creature

A 2.6m tall naked male creature was claimed seen by a party of campers on the Fitzroy River near Noonkanban in November 1990.