The Yowie Mystery - Living Fossils from the Dreamtime.

Copyright © 2007 by Rex Gilroy
All rights reserved
First Edition

Rex and Heather Gilroy are recognised internationally as Australia’s foremost relict hominid researchers. This book celebrates Rex Gilroy’s 50 years as the ‘father’ of Yowie research. Rex and Heather are also recognised internationally as one of the world’s foremost husband and wife research teams in the field of ‘Unexplained’ mysteries.

These daring and outspoken researchers are no friends of the Australian hard-core, narrow-minded scientific establishment, who would prefer that books of the kind produced by the Gilroys were prevented from publication.

When not carrying out field work, Rex and his wife Heather [a Registered Nurse/Midwife by profession] are at home writing books, surrounded by their huge reference library of books on all manner of scientific subjects. Besides their many and varied researches, Rex and Heather Gilroy are also involved in community service work as members of the Rotary Club of Katoomba.

Dead Horse Gap, near Thredbo. This wild region of the Snowy Mountains has been a “hairy man” locale since the first years of 19th century settlement hereabouts.

During June 1999 a stockman was riding his horse through wild scrub overlooking the road near where this photo was taken, when he spotted a number of “huge man-like footprints” in a mud patch.

Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2007

CHAPTER NINE
THE ANATOMY OF RELICT HOMINIDS
[1] THE HEAD AND LIMBS

This chapter, and the one to follow are concerned with the physiology of primates and hominids which has much bearing on the subject of this book, the Yowie. While the authors have aimed this book at the lay reader and amateur relict hominologist researcher we do not wish to confuse the reader with a lot of scientific terminology, so we will keep technical information as simple as possible except where necessary.

As we are dealing exclusively with Australia, the authors do not intend pursuing a detailed account of Asian-African primate structural features, showing only what is essential to our argument; those who wish to pursue the matter further can find plenty of scientific literature on the subject elsewhere.

These chapters are an attempt by the authors, to present anatomical evidence in support of the fossil remains described in Chapter Four. For unlike the wild-eyed “Yowie catchers” described at the beginning of this book, the authors are rational and methodical scientific researchers who prefer to build up a well-established SCIENTIFIC basis for the past and present existence of these beings.

We have, we believe, already established a Homo erectus identity for the traditional toolmaking, fire-making “hairy people”, the ‘hairy’ title of course referring to the crude native animal hide garments manufactured and worn by these people. Yet, as we have also shown, the name ‘hairy man’ under whatever variation Australia-wide, referred also to any non-Aboriginal [ie Australoid] race that had preceded them and with whom they shared this continent.

Thus, besides the average modern human height Yowie/Homo erectus, our Aboriginal people recognised ‘little hairy people’ [ie pygmies] of more than one race [even though they often lacked body hair]; a larger ‘hairy man’ of up to 2.8 to 3 metres height and the ‘Rexbeast’ of 3.6 metres height or over! There was also another giant being, of bipedal ape appearance. This later ‘hairy man’ was something else to our early tribespeople, for ‘he’ just did not quite fit into the ‘hominid’ racial slot, which is quite evident from his long haired ape-like appearance.

His features, as described in Aboriginal folklore, compare with those described by many early pioneer settlers accounts and are suggestive of Gigantopithecus blacki, the giant Dryopithecine forest ape of Pleistocene Asia-Java, officially extinct there for the past 100,000 years, but which could have reached Australia across the former land shelf to survive here in Australia into much later, more recent times.

And there is also the tantalising prospect that, if not the Asian Gigantopithecus, this race might have evolved here from our ‘unknown’ primate fauna. Whatever the origins of this mysterious giant, the identity of these ape-like enigmas will only be identified not from fossil footprints, but from actual fossil skeletal remains.

The 17 million year old primate hand fossil impression discussed in Chapter Four, displays physical features typical of a species evolved to an arboreal existence. Unfortunately there are no other, better preserved primate remains at present from Australia with which comparisons could be made,
although it does possess gibbon-like features. However, there can be no doubt that it is a primate hand.

Rex Gilroy
Australian Yowie Research Centre,
Katoomba, NSW
Monday 25th June 2007