Giants From the Dreamtime the Yowie In Myth And Reality

Mini Ha Ha Falls 1974

Ominous footprints-and dead Pony

In May 1974, a pony was found dead in thick bushland near the falls, its neck had been broken, the head almost torn off, and portions of its back had been removed and eaten. Nearby were the ominous footprints of what must have been an enormous ape-like creature.

News of the gruesome find revived memories of a similar occurence some months before on a Mount Victoria farm where a sheep had been killed in much the same manner. Nearby, large ape-like footprints had been found.

Katoomba 1974

Mineralised Cranium

In November 1974, while bushwalking at Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, I chanced to find, protruding from hard-packed sandstone/ironstone soil, a strangely shaped lump of rock. Curiously dislodging it, I found it to be the heavily mineralised cranium of a primitive human.

The skull bones had been turned to ironstone, while the interior was filled with mudstone. The cranium had been crushed inwards on its right side. The fossil was missing the eyebrow ridges and displayed a slightly receding forehead. I later restored the crushed right side section [on paper] to its original shape, to reveal Brachiocephalic features.

The cranium measures 15 cm long by 10 cm wide in its distorted shape. With the right side reconstructed the full width would have been about 14 cm. Its depth is 8 cm.The fossil's situation was the site of an ancient swampland. Prior to surface exposure, the cranium had been subjected to considerable pressure from deep overlying deposits, which over a vast period of time had transformed the skull bones to ironstone.

Dr Harold Webber, who later examined the fossil, believed it had to be about the same age as the Tarana skulls. The Katoomba cranium is not anatomically primitive enough to be placed with Homo erectus; rather it stands somewhere between Homo erectus and the later early Homo sapiens.

If, as now seems certain, the first Homo sapiens evolved in Australia, their forefather, Homo erectus, would have to have entered the continent from Java at a considerably earlier period. From highly technical DNA research findings published in 1987, leading American geneticist, Dr Allan C Wilson [University of Hawaii], suggests genetic traits among the Australian Aborigines point to the earlier presence of Homo erectus on this continent.

He is joined by Oxford University, UK scientist Dr. Jeremy Cherfas, who suggests Homo erectus may have entered Australia by 400,000 years ago, to evolve into the earliest modern humans, who eventually spread out into the rest of the world.

To date , all that has been lacking to complete the anthropological gap in Australian human prehistory knowledge, to the satisfaction of scientists, has been the discovery of actual Homo erectus fossil remains. I believe I now have that evidence.

Barrington Range Area 1974-Interview

A so called Gorilla

A resident of the town, Mr Wayne Caban, had just reported an encounter with a Yowie he had experienced in the Barrington Range area, and we wished to interview him. Mr Caban had recently been attempting to secure photographic evidence of the Yowie on the Barrington Range without success.

Wayne's encounter with the Yowie took place while he was employed with a mining company, engaged in carrying out an exploration programme on the Gummi River, at the headwaters of the Manning River near Tomala in the Barrington Range area.

Wayne remained with the company from October 1973 to February 1974, during which time he learnt of many strange things in the area from among mining acquaintances. He said "When I began my employment I was asked by Barney Matthews, a contractor who hailed from Armidale, if I knew anything about a so-called 'gorilla' which was said to roam around the Tops area and had been seen from time to time by timber cutters".

One night in mid-January 1974 Wayne was to have an experience which was to bring back to memory the question which Barney Matthews had asked him. Wayne was left alone in the camp at the time as caretaker while the rest of the workforce went on their six-day leave period. The time was about 10pm on the third night of his lone vigil. Wayne lay on his bunk watching TV in the caravan which he and Barney had occupied together.

The night outside was pitch dark and pouring rain to boot. All seemed well until Wayne suddenly felt a mighty thump against the top side of the caravan, followed within seconds by the van being lifted as though something or someone was trying to push it over.

Wayne yelled loudly and the van was immediately dropped. The only light in the van was coming from the TV screen. Wayne jumped off his bunk and leapt the length of the van to grab and light a gas lantern, which was thankfully stowed in a cupboard at the time.

As he lit the lamp he heard a commotion outside and knew that something had tipped over a table left outside the van, and which was laden with cooking utensils. Then he heard guy ropes snapping on an annexe of the van behind, immediately followed by the same sound in the general direction of a six-man tent pitched a few yards from his caravan.

Wayne told us, "I knew it had not been a bull or steer for there was no noise involved, such as there would have been had a bovine been the culprit. It was dark and wet outside and I had no intention of going out to check on anything." Wayne grabbed and loaded the .270 rifle that he always kept in the van, and sat there waiting for whatever it was to hit the van again; for by now Wayne held fears that it was indeed the 'gorilla'.

But the 'thing', whatever it was, left the camp without further sound. Wayne said, "When daylight came I checked for damage. I found the table had been hurled some distance from its original position, with pots, pans and dishes scattered all around the camp. Some of the guy ropes on the annexe of the van behind were broken, as were a couple of the tent ropes."

Reluctant to think it was anything but a bovine he began to look for hoof prints but failed to find any. What he did find were enormous footprints in the mud about the camp grounds. When the crew returned to the camp Wayne told them fo his experience and showed them the footprints. They all agreed that the creature had indeed been the mysterious 'gorilla'.

Wayne had first heard about the Yowie from a young Aboriginal boy while working in the Armidale district some years previously.

The description of the Yowie by the Aborigine was:

"Man-like and covered from head to foot in long hair, and anything from 7 to 10 ft tall." He also informed Wayne that Yowies were said to frequent the Walcha Gorge. This was also supported by the boy's father, an old dingo shooter.

One story concerned an old Aboriginal man who had wandered into the gorge whilst drunk, and who was later found by a search party, which included the boy's father - propped up in a sitting position against a fallen tree. His head had been torn from his shoulders.

Wayne Caban began to spend a lot of time on the Barrington Range east of Scone, searching in the hope of finding evidence of the Yowie, and in the course of his searches came across a set of large, ape-like footprints in the mud of a mountain track high up in the forest country of the range.

Driving up the range Heather and I searched the area where the footprints had been found, but saw nothing. However, we experienced here the distinct feeling that we were being watched from a distance by 'something', a feeling we would experience again later, in the course of our search on the Carrai Plateau west of Kempsey.

Woodenbong 1974

Theres a monster in my Backyard

During 1974 a young woman, Wendy Burns, was one night baby-sitting her sister's young children at her home, situated on the outskirts of Woodenbong. On this particular night she had just put the children to bed when she heard the family dogs barking outside in the backyard.

She went to the back door to quieten the animals, only to be stopped in her tracks, dumbfounded at first - by the sight of an 8ft [2.4m] tall, dark hairy man-like creature, standing only a few yards away down the end of the yard [the dogs meanwhile had run off], visible in the glow from the back door light.

Slamming the door, she grabbed for the phone. "There's a monster in my back yard!" she screamed to the police but by the time two officers arrived the hairy hominid had retreated back into the bush.

Local Aborigines to whom she later spoke of her experience informed her that a tribe, the Wabeul [now extinct] called these creatures the 'Nimbin', described by them as a giant hairy race that lived in caves and rock overhangs on the Night Cap Range.

Papua New Guinea 1974-Reported 1981

Ape-like Calls

It is an unsettling fact to text book anthropologists, that members of the ape family, possibly relatives of Gigantopithecus were, and still are, known to primitive tribes of the New Guinea interior who, unless they had lived contemporaneously with such creatures, could not possibly have invented their description.

In 1981 Qld zoologists, Mr Garry Opit, provided me with a report concerning the calls of what he termed "unknown apes", heard in the course of an ornithological expedition in Papua New Guinea.

"On the 15th January, 1974 I and two other scientists began a three month long zoological collecting expedition for the Bishop Museum, Honolulu Hawaii, and the Wau Ecology Institute, PNG, exploring the Adelbert Mountains in the Morobe district behind Madang.

After much intensive observation, collections and study of the forest and its life forms, we reached Mt Mengam and set up camp at an elevation of 1,500m [6,000ft]." "From the 29th February until 22nd March 1974, we thoroughly studied this highest area of the Adelbert Mountains and had identified the calls of all the life forms that abounded there.

We knew all the mammals, birds and amphibians, reptiles and much of the insect life." "On four different occasions during this period my fellow ornithologists and I heard remarkable mammalian, ape-like calls that were repeated several times and carried long distances through the forest. The calls appeared to originate from distances of between half a male to a mile away and always during daylight."

"Later on a three day camping trip between the 25th and 27th October 1974 on Mt Missin, Wau with the same ornithologists and in an area where we had spent months studying the birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and insects we again heard these same calls at an elevation of 6,000ft [1500m] during daytime."

"We were able to identify the calls of all the birds, mammals and amphibians but once again were at a loss to identify this creature. Once again the calls sounded like mammalian, ape-like calls, and forced me to come to the decision that an unknown, and fairly large primate must inhabit these forests."

"The only bird whose voice we had not heard was the Mountain Owlet-Nightjar [Aegotheles albertisii], one of which we occasionally observed at the entrance of it's hole 80ft up in a rainforest tree. However, the strength and far-carrying qualities seemed far above the abilities of this small bird."

Actually explorers in the 1890's reported finding on a number of occasions, large ape-like, man-like footprints in this same region, and also up in the mountain tundras at about 10,000ft. Expeditions were despatched to search for the monsters, but these failed to turn up any further evidence of the mystery giants.

Madang Papua New Guinea 1974

Half-human, half-apelike female Creature

About 1974 several natives fishing offshore in a dugout canoe near Madang, on the north coast of PNG, captured a half-human, half-apelike female creature with black body hair. She was about 1.5m in height with normal breasts [ie non-pendulous], and normal length arms.

She had been wading for molluscs at the time of her capture. The men realised she was not a normal human female [ an 'Ogre' they thought] and fearing that bad luck would befall them if they kept her, released the strange hominid.

Ogres of one size or another are often confused with the other "hairy men/women" of the forests and are likewise regarded with fear. I have already mentioned the capture of a female 'Ogre' above by a native fishing party at Madang in 1974. It is obvious that the physical descriptions of many ogres as given by tribespeople, fit those of both the ape-like Masali and the more man-like Dera kiboni [or Vada ].

Goraka Papua New Guinea 1974

Hairy female Mabi

In 1974 two native men captured a hairy female Mabi about 1.5m in height, dragging her back to their village, where other men later beat and killed her. A few night later, terrifying cries were heard in the nearby forest. The next day the village was abandoned.

Some weeks later a few tribesmen returned to their village to find a number of huts torn down, and other materials smashed and scattered about the area.. It appeared to the men that several Mabi giants had taken their revenge upon the village for the death of their companion.

Bay of Islands & Auckland New Zealand 1974

Skeletal Remains

The Maori people also recognise another giant race, the Ruaeo, who reached 2.6 to 3m tall, and besides making stone tools also buried their dead.

Evidence of this giant people, now closely guarded as sacred relics by the Maoris, was found in the Bay of Islands in 1974, when a cave was uncovered containing an unknown number of large human skulls at least 2,000 years old, reputed to have belonged to people up to 3.3m in height, said by the Maoris to have been a fair-skinned, fair-haired race.

The Maoris recognise the Ruaeo people as having inhabited New Zealand long before the arrival of their ancestors.

More skeletal Remains

During 1974 further skeletal remains of a 3.3m tall people were uncovered on a property situated on an island near Auckland, when a farmer accidentally dug up the graves of six skeletons, ranging between 2.6 and 3.3m in length when exposed.

The man contacted university anthropologists, who, after examining the finds had the graves re-covered. The exact location of the finds is a closely guarded secret of the Maori people of that region. A local tohunga said at the time that the Ruaeo may have links with a similar giant people who also buried their dead in graves in the islands to the north, and whom the Tongans and Tahitians say, inhabited a wide area of the Pacific long ago.

At another location south of Kaitaia, on the west coast of North Auckland, are several 'tapu' [taboo] caves where burials of a non-Maori people are known. These consist of skeletons of 1.8m to 2.1m in length layed out on the cave floors. Are they further remains of the mysterious Ruaeo people?

Coromandel Peninsula New Zealand 1974

Enormous hairy man-like Beast

Earlier, in 1974 Mr Gino de Costa and a mate drove up to Coromandel Peninsula one day and camped overnight .

To quote Gino:

"As we sat at our campfire later that night, we were surprised by an enormous looking, hairy man-like beast over 2m tall, that emerged from bushes nearby." "The monster then ran past our fire in big strides."

"Although we were armed with rifles for hunting thereabouts we decided not to attempt to pursue the beast, especially at night." "The creature had actually climbed down a steep 30ft rock face to reach our camp." "The following day we told a local farmer of our experience, He informed us that the same creature had been reported seen near our campsite 4-5 times within recent months."