Ape-Men in Australia by Rex Gilroy Copyright (c) 2001 Rex Gilroy. This article is composed of extracts from my 2001 Yowie book: “Giants From the Dreamtime” -The Yowie in Myth and Reality. Copyright (c) 2001 Rex Gilroy, Uru Publications.

[Released in March, 2001, click here for Ordering Details]

The Australian Yowie Story

Yowies in Australia
Man-Apes of Eastern Australia

Excerpts From Chapter 16 Mysterious Australia 1995 - Rex Gilroy Parts 1-13

Click at End of each Article for Parts 2-16

Part 14-16 Is The Updated Version From the 2001 Yowie Book
" Giants From The Dreamtime - The Yowie in Myth & Reality."

Part 15

In October 1990, Dereck Holmes, while camped on the bank of the source of the Snowy River below Mt Kosciusko, awoke at first light to peer from his tent. As he did so, he caught sight of a 1.6m tall hairy female creature standing nearby amid granite boulders. As he emerged, bewildered at the sight, she bolted away disappearing over a granite outcrop. The Blue Mountains, west of Sydney is a land of many mysteries, yet there is one above all others that has since early European settlement times been the subject of endless speculation - the Yowie, or ‘hairy man’.

True, back then as in modern times, there were many sceptics, yet there were too many sightings made by bushwalkers and isolated property owners; far too many footprints of the creatures found in remote valleys; and far too many Aboriginal traditions of these hairy giants, for the existence of the Yowie to be dismissed out of hand. The book contains a large chapter on the Blue Mountains, with reports dating from the first settlement period of the region in the 1820's to the present day. Recently there have been more reports of eerie happenings in Jamieson Valley, below Katoomba, particularly around the ‘Ruined Castle’ rock formation, where I experienced my own, first sighting of the “hairy man”, back in 1970.

I had been climbing Mt solitary on August 7th that year and was returning along the ‘saddle’ between Mt Solitary and the ‘Castle” that afternoon when I decided to look for fossils on the steep western slope of the ‘Castle’ overlooking Cedar Valley. There is thick scrub here, and as I picked up slate rocks containing fossil plants, I heard sounds of breaking foliage and twigs snapping underfoot further down the slope. Chancing to look down among the foliage I saw, 15m away, a naked, darkish, hairy skinned male creature approximately 2m in height, moving across the slope from north to south oblivious to my presence.

The hominid looked rather primitive, with big eyebrows and hairy arms and long dark hair trailing down from its head. He appeared to be scavenging, as if looking for fern roots or other bush food. I watched in silence as he disappeared into the dense scrub, heading southward down the slope in the direction of Cedar Creek I glanced at my watch. The time was 3.30pm. The mystery hominid had been in view for barely 4-5 minutes. I climbed up the slope in haste to reach the track, as I knew I had to hurry to get out of the valley before sundown. Nine years later, I was to lead the now famous “Radio 2KA Yowie Expedition”, assisted by soldiers of the Penrith-based 176th Air Supply Squadron, equipped with radios and other technical equipment.

A full account of our adventures is presented in the book. However, in the course of our searches [divided into three separate groups], three sets of large hominid footprints were discovered. However, it was discovered that the 2KA personnel accompanying the search had not brought along the casting plaster they were supposed to, so I had to leave camp the next morning around 4am, for my Katoomba home, pick up a bag and return. It was, as it turned out, not enough even for one large footprint and when I made a cast of the best specimen [the tracks were in hard mud and there had not been rain for three weeks] I had to mix soil with the plaster. The cast was eventually transported safely out of the valley and remains in my possession.

The footprint measures 42cm long by 23.5cm across the toes. It is 12.5cm wide at mid-foot and 12cm wide across the heel. The impression is 3.5cm deep at the heel, 5cm deep at mid-foot and 7.5cm deep at the toes. The hominid who made this track stood up to 2.75m tall. My wife Heather and I have, for most of our 28 years of marriage, spent weeks at a time on field investigations all over Australia, and one of the major areas of Yowie activity that continues to attract us is the northern NSW coastal mountain ranges, extending into southeast Qld.

Click here for Part 16 of Man-Apes of Eastern Australia

Excerpts From Giants From The Dreamtime - The Yowie in Myth & Reality 2001 - Rex Gilroy Parts 14-16