Giants From the Dreamtime the Yowie In Myth And Reality

Thredbo 1977

Kosciusko Snowman

Then in 1977, a 2.6 m tall, hairy muscular man-like creature appeared early one morning in the back yard of an isolated farmhouse, terrifying the occupants. Little wonder that, since the mid-1970's, 'Yowie' has been replaced by 'Kosciusko Snowman' in local parlance!

Jimberingga 1977

Massive upright-walking-black haired gorilla-like Monster

To the north of here lies Jimberingga. This community bears a name which is actually another variant of Jimbra, the other local name for these monsters, and it, too, is an area of 'hairy man' sightings in recent times.

One day in 1977, two young property workers, brothers Vince and Trevor Collins, were driving a truck along a bush track about 10 kilometres north of Jimberingga when they heard a loud crash on their cabin roof, then another on the back of the vehicle. Stopping to check, they realised two large rocks had been hurled at their vehicle from roadside scrub. Looking back along the road, they beheld a horrifying sight.

"A massive, upright-walking, black haired, gorilla-like monster emerged from the bushes onto the road, waving a large tree limb menacingly at us and making an unearthly, terrible, loud snarling sound. "He was only 100 yards away and beginning to stride towards us, all the time brandishing the tree limb at us.

We could make out his sex and that he was very hairy, and had a large gorilla-like head-a nightmarish, ugly brute. By now we were frantically climbing back into our truck, and as I increased speed, he had already begun running swiftly in long strides towards us, waving the tree limb and screaming.

Our last sight of him was from a distance as we drove off along the road. He stood there for a moment watching our escape, threw the limb aside and strode off into the trees," said Vince in an interview with me in 1979. 

South Of Cape York 1977

Twenty Pgymy-size Natives

In 1977, a small Army group made contact with a party of 20 pygmy-size natives who threw spears at them while exploring an area about 80 km south of Cape York. At another location further south they later stumbled upon an abandoned camp site. Here the men found several small bark humpies. They also retrieved a number of small stone implements scattered about the soil.

Barrington Tops Area 1977-Related 1982

Twenty Pgymy-size Natives

In 1982 Mr Ralph Kelly of Sydney, NSW related to me the following story: "I was in the company of a group of bushmen exploring deep in the Barrington Tops [inland from Taree] in 1977, when the men found a huge strip of bark, 30 cm in width, which had been torn off a tree trunk up to a height of 10 m.

This had in turn been stripped of its fibre which had then been rubbed into balls, in the same manner as Aborigines did, in order to make string for basket weaving". "There was a musty smell about the site, and it soon became obvious to us that the string makers had left the spot in haste at the sounds of our approach".

Ralph Kelly also informed me that he has been in the Barnard River area, 100 km north of Glenrock Station [Scone district] which is in the Hunter region at the southern end of the New England Ranges. In this area he once had the feeling of being watched while attending to grazing cattle in an isolated, lonely bushland area. In the same area on another occasion, a stockman was rounding up cattle when he suddenly realised he was being watched by two naked little black natives from behind nearby bushes.

They fled into the scrub when he became startled.

Bushmen living in the Barrington Tops district, on the western [Muswellbrook] side of the range in the 19th century, claimed pygmy-sized Aboriginals had been seen roaming the forests of the high country, sometimes watching cattlemen mustering stock.

It was these early bushmen who first gathered information on the culture of the pygmy folk. They knew, for example, that these natives were more primitive that the Aboriginals, lacking the spear-thrower and boomerang, and various other tools of their neighbours.

Suggan Buggan 1977

Naked hairy man-like Creature

One day in 1977 Mr Tom Brown was driving his car north of Suggan Buggan, on the Victorian side of the Snowy Mountains. As he drove at a moderate speed along the road through scrubland, his attention was suddenly drawn to a man-sized figure some distance ahead of him, as it emerged from roadside tree cover on the right hand side, and proceeded to walk across the road as the car approached.

As Mr Brown approached the figure, he observed it to be a naked hairy man-like creature of 2 m height. The manbeast at this instant stopped in the middle of the road, forcing Mr Brown to pull up quickly. By this time he was within 8.3 m of the strange beast.

The man-like creature stood looking rather inquisitively at Mr Brown and his vehicle for an instant, then turning it bolted on two legs for the safety of the roadside scrub. Mr Brown was left momentarily in a state of mild shock. Recovering quickly he drove on looking back for another glimpse, but the creature was gone.

[Note: It was in this same area that the Aboriginal couple, Big Charlie and his wife, had their experience with a Doolagarl, while driving a Wagonette through bushland one day a few years prior to World War One, as reported in Chapter Two].

Springwood N.S.W 1977

Naked hairy man-like Creature

During December 1977, Mr and Mrs Cecil and Iris Baker were visited at their Heather Road, Springwood home by two brothers, Alan and Ken Clarke. When they left to go home upon climbing into their car, parked outside in the street, they heard a strange wailing sound coming from nearby roadside scrub. A few days later Iris spoke with a Mrs Emma Robson, who lived near the St Columba's College.

Mrs Robson told her that her two dogs woke her up the night before with their barking. When she went to see what was troubling the dogs, from the scrub near her back door she heard an eerie wailing sound. By this time, she said, every dog in the vicinity had begun barking and running around the houses. People emerged from their homes checking their yards and surrounding scrub with torches.

A few people later claimed to have seen a tall, hairy, man-like creature moving about in the nearby scrub.

Lithgow 1977

Unseen Presence

One day in 1977 Mr and Mrs Michael and Helen Lodge were picnicking with their dog in bushland at a remote Lithgow picnic ground. The time was about 5pm when as they sat on the ground, their dog suddenly began running erratically and sniffing all over the place, then growling at the bushes near where they sat. Some unseen presence was moving about in the scrub, breaking twigs underfoot.

Then the dog took fright, its hackles raised. This was enough to encourage the Lodges's to quickly pack their belongings into the car and leave the area in haste.

Enormous man-like Footprints

Later, other picnickers were to report having found enormous man-like footprints embedded in soil in that same area.

Cullen Bullen-Capertree Area 1977

Several enormous man-like Footprints

One April weekend in 1977, two men, Keith Grove and Garry Norton both of West Pennant Hills NSW, were on a weekend camping excursion to Cullen Bullen in the Capertee area. They had brought their trail bikes with them and were spending the daylight hours exploring the rugged forest trails of the district.

However, after the evening meal, as they settled down in their sleeping bags around their campfire near their car, they were startled by a loud, mournful cry coming from the depths of the forest. A loud eeeooo-eeeooo! The sounds died away and the men returned to sleep.

Then around 3am they were both awakened again, this time by loud screaming howls, and the sounds of crashing timber. Flashing their torches in the direction of the sounds across a nearby creek, they could see nothing. However, the sounds were enough to make them remain awake until daylight.

After daybreak the men went down to the creek bank to get water for the billy, at the same time wondering what had made the terrifying sounds during the night.It was then that they found, embedded in the mud of the creek bank, several enormous man-like footprints, far too large for any normal human being, at least 40 cm in length and 20cm wide across the toes.

The feet had been deeply impressed into the mud, the ball of the foot at least 7cm deep, with the instep almost the same depth, with all five toes also deeply impressed.It appeared to the men that the tales they had heard of the Yowie were no laughing matter, and that their camp had been visited by such a creature during the night.

They searched the surrounding scrub to find further, though indistinct footprints embedded in the leafmould-covered forest floor. On their trail bikes they explored all day the nearby back roads and tracks, but failed to find any further traces of the mystery visitor.

The men spent the Sunday night sleeping in the car without further incident, but they were taking no chances, and drove out of the area the next day. Over the years Keith and Garry have returned to the same spot but have never again found any trace of the 'monster-man' of Cullen Bullen.

Abercrombie Caves Road-Bathurst Area 1977

Several enormous man-like Footprints

During December 1977 Mr Stephen Drambacs was rabbit shooting in the hills along the Abercrombie Caves Road south of Bathurst, when he had a meeting with a "hairy man".

The following account of his experience was related to me by him some months later. "I was heading for home at the time as it was getting late. the time was 7.30pm so I thought I had better take a short-cut through the scrub to get to my home.""I was working my way through one of the bush-covered properties hereabouts, all of which are intersected with gullies."

"Suddenly, hearing a noise behind me I turned around - and got the shock of my like - to see, standing at the bottom of a nearby gully, a hairy 'man-ape' like creature, which immediately began scrambling up the embankment and moving in my direction." "As I ran I realised that I had rifle on me [why I never thought to use if before I don't know], so I turned around and fired three shots in the direction where the 'man-ape' had gone into the bush, at least to scare him away."

"In the brief view I was able to get of the creature, I can say 'he' was 5ft [1.5m] tall and was stockily built with dark black hair. The face was also dark coloured." "The man-ape didn't seem to be covered with long hair all over the body, but the hair on its head was quite long. Because of this I couldn't make out definite features, but I thought the creature had a human-like nose and not pushed in like that of an ape's."

"There were also indistinct feet and hand prints in the mud at the bottom of the gully when I returned to inspect the scene the next day, but rain soon disintegrated these before I could cast or photograph them."

Summer Hill Creek-Ophir 1977

Ape-like Beast

Mrs Pauline Yeates says that one day during 1977, a group of hikers saw a 2.4m black haired, ape-like beast moving through the scrub near the third crossing of Summer Hill Creek.

Central Western Daily-Orange 1977

Double Sighting

The period 1977-1979 saw countless [and too often tongue-in-cheek] newspaper reports concerning the Yowie. I quote the following:

CENTRAL WESTERN DAILY [column] [Orange NSW] - 12th October, 1977.

According to a Wellington Man, the Yowie really does exist. The who prefers not to be named, said he saw it when driving along the Wellington-Yeoval road at night. He saw it twice, in fact, within a half a mile of the original location. It was big, about seven feet tall, wide and bulky, and he is convinced it is a link with the ice-age. He wants a party to scale Mt Wellsley to Mt Arthur to flush it out as he's convinced that's where it is. He has warned people passing the area to watch out.

Turon River-Hill End 1977

Hairy ape-like Beast

Mr and Mrs George and Janice Gibbs of Sydney went camping with their big Doberman dog in January 1977 on the Turon River at Hill End, at a spot on the river where a well known bridle track crosses the river at the second to two weirs. Their next four nights here would be unforgettable.

On the first evening, coming on dark, they were seated next to their tent beside their campfire cooking tea. About this time George got the feeling that "something was watching them". He asked Janice to look over his shoulder and tell him if she could see anything, because at the same time they could both hear the crackling of breaking branches on a rise among the trees on the other side of the Turon River [which is not very wide - about 10m in width].

Janice looked but could not see any thing. George then looked across the river and spotted the head of 'something' moving back and forth behind a tree trunk. George did not do anything about it that night and could not explain what he had seen. They slept that night without any disturbance. The next day also passed without incident, that is until evening [and the next evening] when, about the same time as the previous evening the same thing happened again, [around sundown ie 6-7pm].

"We just studied it, and it studied us, as it were", said George, when relating this story to me in 1983.

On the third night however, they decided to use their spotlight which was attached to the car for shooting trips. When the 'intruder' reappeared about 10pm, George said quietly to Janice, who was by now working it from inside their car, "now turn on the spotlight". As she did so, George fired a 15 shot magazine with his Winchester rifle at the tree trunk, behind which the strange visitor was hiding as before, hoping to lure him out into the open.

"I fired the shots in a row down the side of the tree trunk, at which the mystery visitor suddenly let out a deep breathing, asthmatic rasping-type sound," added George.

Everything then went dead quiet, the mystery intruder had vanished.

One thing the Gibbs' later realised was that, at all times of the intruder's visits, there were no other animal sounds to be heard in the area. A feature common to other Yowie encounters. The next day a man and a woman, both in their late 40's, arrived on the scene intending to set up camp for a week. George and Janice told them nothing of their strange experiences, but the couple would be gone the next morning without telling George and Janice, for reasons no doubt to do with the events that were to follow.

That night about 1am, George was woken up by the whimpering of his big Doberman, which he had tied up on top of the car - a Valiant Fiji 1971 model - by a tow bar chain long enough for her to wander around. George could hear her whimpering and the chain going 'crash' about the car.

He woke up Janice and grabbed his Winchester rifle and left the tent to see what was wrong. He found the dog whimpering under the car. She was still shaking as he dragged her out from underneath the vehicle. Janice meanwhile remained in the tent.

It was then that George suddenly froze! There 5m away and standing 2.5m tall, looking down at him [George is 1.6m in height] was a "hairy, ape-like beast". George was so terrified that he could not pick up his rifle [which had already dropped to the ground], and the dog was still trying to get out of his arms. The creature, George observed in the available light, appeared like a "human with fur [hair], not plump or hefty like a gorilla".

He could not see the eyes for the darkness, but the face appeared flattish. The head appeared fuzzy [ie hairy], and the moon, which up till now had been out, was just going under clouds so this was all he could see of the 'manbeast'. The manbeast turned, stooped in posture, its hands at its side, then it began walking away from George and his terrified dog. George, still shaking, picked up his rifle and not thinking, called out "stop or I'll shoot!" to the strange manbeast.

At this moment the creature began walking in longer strides than before, its arms still hanging at its side. The manbeast then broke into a run towards the tent of the other couple. Their tent was located 30m or so down the river to the west, so George could not fire at the creature for fear of hitting the couple [who were still asleep]. The beast ran directly for their tent but side-stepped around the back of it and disappeared into the trees.

After this incident George and Janice put their Doberman dog in their tent with them. Said George to a by now terrified Janice; "If that animal wanted to hurt us, it had ample opportunity, so don't worry about it." They spent an uneasy, sleepless night, the Winchester by George's side just the same. The next morning they found that the other couple had left without as much as a goodbye. George and Janice decided to break camp and left soon after.

A couple of weeks later, at the end of January, George and Janice returned to the scene of their encounter with the hairy hominid, this time with three mates from George's Sydney workplace. The men, having heard George's account of the weird events, wanted to see for themselves what the area was like where the mystery creature had appeared.

During their first night camped at the site, these men claimed they heard strange sounds coming from the opposite side of the river. Thereafter, for the next two days that the group camped there, the three men remained inside their tent at night, so frightened did they become at the prospect of meeting up with the "hairy man of Hill End", as the locals call the creatures.

George's mates were relieved when he and Janice informed them they were breaking camp. "Red Jack Ellis", a local identity, told George and Janice on another occasion that he could take them into areas where the monsters have been claimed seen.

Mt Barrington 1977

Hairy ape-like Beast

In 1977 a friend of this author, Mr Louis Morrell and a mate, Ian McLaughlin were at Mt Barrington near the Chalkstone Caves of Mt Egmont, exploring along a dirt orad in Louis' Datsun Station Wagon. Rain began falling as they crossed a brook. At this moment they both spotted a "2.2m tall, man-like, ape-like beast", standing observing them from among roadside forest scrub.

"What do you think that is?" Louis asked Ian. "We could smell a strong formic acid type stench about the area," Louis later told me. He continues: "The manbeast had long arms and big hands and was covered from head to foot in long hair. 'He' began emitting low, somewhat plaintive grunting sounds at us, then turned around and ran off in big leaps into the forest."

"Soon from the depths of the forest we heard loud wailing sounds. I recall now that the beast's head had a receding forehead and thick protruding eyebrow ridges. The head appeared very thick," he said. After the creature had gone the men discovered that there were wild watermelons growing about the site, most of which had been smashed and their contents eaten. Tree bark had also been removed, as if the creature had been searching for insects.

Rangers in the Barrington Tops region claim there have been many other reports of 'hairy people' from the Caves area. According to Rangers, the early copper miners who entered the Tops over 100 years ago, claimed to have seen 'apes' frequently, as did their counterparts on the rugged Carrai Plateau west of Kempsey.

Barrington Range Area 1977

Yowie Encounter

In mid-April 1977, together with my wife and fellow researcher, Heather I carried out a major search of the NSW north coast districts in pursuit of evidence of the Yowie. For quite some time I had been hoping for some really authentic photographic or other evidence to turn up, which might at last convince understandably sceptical Australian scientists of these creatures existence.

The question was, which area was the most likely one where this kind of evidence might be obtained. I decided, on the strength of the prolific number of reported encounters with primitive 'man-ape' hominids in the Carrai Range, to concentrate most of our efforts there.

However, we first made a visit to scone, in the northern end of the Hunter Valley, and on the western side of the Barrington Range.

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".

Oxley Island 1977 Interview

Large black man-like Shape

We had been unsuccessful in securing any photographic evidence of the elusive Yowies of the Carrai, or finding any fresh footprints. Yet we had obtained a large number of new reports from Kempsey district residents, enough to encourage us to continue investigations here in the future.

Saying goodbye to George Gray we headed southward to Taree, there to investigate the claims of the Gee family of Oxley Island, several kilometres south of town and close to the mouth of the Manning River.

Arriving at the Gee's farming property on May 5th, we interviewed the family, inspected and photographed the respective sites that figured in the following story:

About 11am one morning in early February 1977, while alone on the farm, Mrs Gee was standing at her back door looking south across the nearby Manning River a good 300 years away towards family wharf, which was situated over a rise of ground 1.5m high. Suddenly a large black manlike shape appeared, half visible over the rise.

As the rise of earth partly obscured the figure, Mrs Gee estimated the full height of the manlike creature to be about 3.3m. At this point the telephone rang and Mrs Gee went to answer it. Shortly afterwards she returned to find the mysterious beast gone. A search of the wharf area later revealed large man-ape like footprints in the surrounding mudflats.

Mrs Gee recalled for me how, three night before her sighting the family dogs had barked each night, perhaps aware that someone, or 'something' was on the property. One week following Mrs Gee's sighting of the strange figure, neighbours on a nearby farm had heard a high-pitched screaming sound some time after 11pm. When they went to investigate they detected a very foul-smelling odour about the back yard.

One week later the Gee family awoke one morning to find an old 1500 gallon water tank and its stand in the backyard had been pushed over during the night. Leading up to the tank they discovered numbers of large footprints. A search for more soon resulted in the alarming discovery, that the seemingly enormous beast who had made them had come up from the river, crossed newly dug cornfield into a shed, through which they passed until they reached the water tank.

Around the whole area Mr Geoff Gee and his son Geoff junior smelt a foul odour just like their neighbours had detected a week before. Geoff Gee junior found he had smelt the same odour further up Oxley Island on the same night the screaming sounds were heard by their neighbours. Mr Gee himself later smelt the odour on a dirt road near his farm. It remained there for three days when it could still be detected about the cornfield.

Tall hairy ape-like Beast

About this period a woman tennis player reported seeing a tall, hairy ape-like beast in roadside scrub as she was driving home from a game in Harrington. Also residents of Mitchell Island [just across from Oxley Island], reported seeing what could have been the same creature seen by Mrs Gee.

Was it possible the creature seen by Mrs Gee had been able to cross the Manning River at low tide, to emerge at the Gee property, and if so, had it crossed the full extent of Oxley Island, to yet another river barrier to reach the Harrington area?

The Manning river at its mouth is very deep, except at low tide, where it could be possible for a 3.3m tall creature to wade across in certain places. It might have found it easier to cross the next river barrier to reach Harrington from where it could have, by crossing farmland, vanished back into the coastal mountain belt from which it had originally wandered.

The investigation of the Gee's Gigantopithecus-like manbeast ended our 1977 north coastal NSW search, and the many new reports we had gathered were more than enough to encourage us to make future field investigation throughout this region.

Torrington North N.S.W 1977 Letter

Large black man-like Shape

The following information was contained in a letter from Mr Charles Elliott of Kyogle NSW dated 14th September 1977.

It confirms the story of Mrs Burton concerning Rex Clifford:

"Recently while on a holiday with my parents at Torrington in the north of NSW we were discussing recent publicity about the Yowie, when my mother mentioned that a dead animal of a similar description had been found in the area some years ago."

"I interviewed a Mr Lance Burton of Torrington. He informed me that some 15 years ago a Mr Rex Clifford, a tin miner, from Emmaville, found the body of an animal at what is known as The Gulf which is an area of rugged granite ridges to the north-west of Torrington."

"Mr Clifford described the animal as being about the size of a ten year old child, covered in brown hair and he said the animal had teeth similar to that of a human being, this being the main feature of the body that caused him to examine it more closely. Mr Clifford showed the body to Mr Lance Burton's father, Mr Roy Burton of Torrington."

"Mr Lance Burton said that "someone" from Emmaville had contacted "someone" either from Sydney University or the University of NSW and a man had come to Emmaville and interviewed Mr Clifford about the finding. When he was informed that it was about 13 miles ride on horse to view the body the man returned to Sydney without further investigation."

"Mr Lance Burton further stated that his father and mother had seen unusual footprints in The Gulf area but they said they were different to those described as those of the Woodenbong 'Yowie'. Because of limited time I was unable to interview Mr Clifford or Mr Roy Burton to verify the story about the alleged finding or ascertain if it would be possible to locate the skeleton of the body."

"Your description of the sounds made by the Yowie brings to mind another incident in Torrington area. Some years ago two brothers, Mr Bill Sherratt and Mr Fred Sherratt were camped at Pyres Creek which is to the north-east of Torrington.

They said one night they heard a noise that started like a pig grunting and rose to a scream. They did not sight the animal that made the noise. Although there are many wild pigs in the area now, at that time wild pits were unknown in the area. Both men, who have spent many years camping in the bush in the Torrington area, stated they had never heard anything in any way similar to that noise before."

Mt Connor 1977

Unexpected Visitor

South-east of Alice Springs and east of Ayers Rock stands Mt Conner, home [according to the Aborigines] of the Mimi people, a 4ft [1.2m] tall pygmy-size race. One night during May 1977 a lone fossicker, Peter Fitzgerald, was camped near here next to a waterhole beside his 4-wheel drive vehicle, when he had an unexpected visitor to his campfire.

"She was stark naked, 4ft tall, young with nubile breasts, and had little hair at all on her body but for the shoulder-length reddish hair of her head. She just stood next to some bushes observing me some yards away." "I tried enticing her to the campfire with some bread I cut from a loaf, but she would not approach any closer. Then I threw it to her and she dashed forward, grabbed it, put it to her mouth, then proceeded to eat it."

"Then she turned her head to look away, in the direction of rustling sounds coming from nearby bushes. I realised she was not alone. She then ran off into the darkness. I heard the sounds of more than two other creatures running off with her." "Shaken, I spent the rest of the night inside my vehicle. Next morning I counted six sets of child-size human footprints in the sand around my camp.

I remained here for most of the day before heading off, and although I saw no more of the little female or her companions, I more than a few times had the feeling I was being watched, as I fossicked about in a nearby creek."

According to a local Aboriginal, Barney Cameron: "These little people live in fear of the Pankalanka [also known as the Pungalunga] giants. These Pankalanka people are really terrifying. They use big wooden or stone tools and make fire, with which they roast any Aborigines they catch.

They eat white people too if they get them. They are like the Dinagabbie further west and both these people are giants up to two or three times the height and weight of any Aborigine or white man." "It is eerie country out there at night. Aboriginal people keep clear of certain areas as we know the little hairy Mimi lurk in wait for unwary travellers," said Barney.

Europeans don't generally take Aboriginal 'bush yarns' of this sort seriously unless, of course, they have such encounters themselves.

Adelaide Hills 1977

Hairy male Creature

One June day in 1977 a Mr Paul Stewart was bushwalking in scrub among the Adelaide Hills 25 km from the city. As he walked along a track between two hills, a hairy male creature emerged from bushes ahead of him. Standing 2m in height, the brownish, long-haired 'manimal' stood barely 6m ahead of him, stared at him for a moment, then crashed its way back into the scrub as the bushwalker retreated in the opposite direction!

Fitzoy River-Gogo District 1977

Pgymy sized frizzy haired Natives

In 1977 an Aboriginal stockman 'Jimmy', was droving cattle on the Fitzroy River near Gogo when, on a dusty track he met three pygmy size, frizzy haired natives, two males and a female.

"I spoke to them in my own Aranda tongue, and they seemed to understand me. The intimated they were passing through from somewhere in the Grant Range further west, where their tribe was situated. They were all no taller than 3ft 6inches to 4ft[about 1 to 1.2m] and the female carried a bark container with yams and other bush tucker, while the men carried spears and stone knives.

All were clothed in kangaroo skins," he told a policeman. Known in the Kimberley region as the Jim Jim [among other names] to the Aboriginal people, these little natives are often claimed seen by drovers on lonely bush tracks, by parties of explorers, by telegraph linesmen and surveyors working in isolated locations over a wide area of the Kimberley-Arnhem Land wilderness.

Jimberingga 1977

Massive black-haired gorilla-like Monster

To the north of here lies Jimberingga. This community bears a name which is actually another variant of 'Jimbra' and it too is an area of Jimbra sightings in recent years.

It was about 10km north of this community one day in 1977 that two young property workers, claimed they saw a "massive, black-haired gorilla-like monster" emerge from bushes onto a road, waving a large tree limb menacingly at them and emitting loud snarling sounds. The young men retreated to their truck and drove off in haste.

Willare Bridge-Kimberley Region 1977

Dirty looking hairy male Creature

In 1978 I received the following report from Mr Norm Brooks of Bunbury:

"At Willare Bridge over the Fitzroy River in the west Kimberley region during January 1977, I was camping overnight with two mates, Keith James and Laurie Sullivan."

"A about 8pm as we were sitting by our campfire, situated 30ft from our tent, Keith thought he heard something moving about in bushes close by." "There's nothing there" I said after a glance in the direction of the sounds." "Then who's that standing behind the tent?" remarked Laurie. "Sure enough, there was a dark figure, very tall, about 7ft, visible in the dim glow from our fire.

It then moved forward, around the tent and into full view 30ft from us - a dirty-looking, hairy male creature, his head very ape-like with a sloping forehead, his eyes set deep inside big projecting eyebrow ridges, with a pushed in nose, hunched appearance, with arms much longer than a normal human and he had big feet."

"At this, Keith leaped from the fire and dashed for our Landrover to grab one of our .22 rifles. At this moment the man-ape startled, turned and bounded off into the scrub. He did not return, but we stayed they all night with our guns at the ready just in case."

Bunbury 1977

Hairy apeish-looking male Creature

About October 1977 a family at Bunbury, on the coast south of Fremantle had an unwanted visitor from the nearby hills.

One night they were woken up by their Collie Dog's loud snarls and barking in the yard. It then bounded up the driveway and sounded as if attacking something. There were loud yells from its prey. When the husband and wife reached the front door they saw in the moonlight a 2.3m tall 'human' figure fighting off the dog at the driveway entrance. Their daughter appeared, torch in hand.

The torchlight revealed a hairy, apish-looking male creature, which at that moment, got a grip on the dog and hurled it over the next fence and ran off into the night. The dog retreated under the neighbours house in fright. The next morning the occupants of the whole street were agog with the news that two boys down the road out late, had come face to face with a 'man-like monster' heading for nearby bushland.

He ran right through them screaming and snarling clutching his side [where the dog had apparently bitten him]. "It was just like a big hairy man", said one of the boys to a newspaper reporter. Aborigines up around Geraldton warn people never to go out in the hills after dusk, as the "hairy men", the Jimbras, might catch them, for it is at this time that they emerge from their lairs to wander about, sometimes in groups, in search of food - human or other wise!

Yinu River China 1977

Droppings-flattened grass-large Footprints

A Chi-Chi giant left droppings and an area of flattened grass at a site on the upper reaches of the Yinu River, which were found in March 1977 by Liu Minzhuang, a biologist at Huadong Teacher's University, and executive chairman of the China 'Wildman' Investigation and Research Society.

Nearby Liu Minzhuang also discovered a number of large footprints measuring 43cm in length. Casts made from these show remarkable similarities with others from island south-east Asia and Australia, and display human characteristics.

The Chi-Chi's are known to construct crude shelters out of bamboo. Crude stone tools left by these hominids where they have sheltered, sometimes alongside campfires, have been reported found in caves and rock overhangs.

They resemble Homo erectus tools similar to those associated with recently-abandoned campsites uncovered in Australia, as reported in earlier chapters. Examinations of the droppings left by Chi-Chi's show they subsist upon an omnivorous diet of berries and other vegetable 'bush tucker' and meat.

Dusky Sound Area New Zealand 1977

Freshly flaked Maori-style stone Tools

During 1977 a deer hunter, Brian Lyons was camped in the Dusky Sound area of this vast, inhospitable region, when he came across a cave showing signs of recent occupation, and a fireplace with still warm embers, about which were scattered freshly-flaked Maori-style stone tools. The man had the feeling he was being watched and left the area in haste.

People still claim sightings of the mysterious "White Tribe". Who are these timid natives? A remnant group of Patupaiarehe? Survivors of yet one more 'unknown' pre-Maori race? Once more we seem to be posing questions for which at present, there are no real answers.

Coromandel Range New Zealand 1977

Hairy red Man

Having carried out a number of field investigations in New Zealand since 1980, and having tramped the wild regions where these hominids are said to live, Heather and I can easily accept the proposition that these creatures still survive.

Take, for example, the Coromandel Range south of Auckland, one of the domains of the legendary Moehau manbeasts.

Dubbed the "Coromandel Man" by the local media, these hominids had been seen for generations thereabouts, and their appearances during 1977 resulted in the kind of ridiculous behaviour as described in the following news item, which appeared in the Sydney "Sunday Mirror" of 20th March that year.

Horsemen Hunt the Mystery Hairy Red man.

An armed posse of 15 horsemen is combing the rugged ranges near Auckland this weekend ....hunting for the "hairy red beast. The hairy man - a towering, manlike beast with flowing red hair covering most of its body - has been sighted three times in recent months in the Coromandel Ranges 90km south of Auckland.

The last attempt to find the elusive creature was almost four years ago by a party of Australian tourists - but they returned empty-handed. They sighted one of the hairy man's footprints, with two big toes on each foot, but failed to sight the strange creature. The recent sightings have triggered new interest.

A second group also plans to track down the hairy man. Their leader, Mr Neville Mack, says he had documented every reported sighting of the creature since 1932. He plans to interview several people who claim to have seen the hairy man and one elderly Maori, Hori Hepera, 94 who claims to bear the scars of a confrontation with the hairy man.