The Yowie Files: In Search of Australia's Bigfoot [Book Review]

Editor’s Note: This is a post by Bigfoot Evidence contributor Vicki W.

As if Australia doesn't have enough dangerous wildlife already, the Aussie's claim to have their own huge bipedal ape-man complete with a fiercely aggressive temperament. Similar to North America's sasquatch legends, the Yowie is first learned of from the native Aboriginal tribes referring to them with various names such as Dulugar, Yahoo, Devil-Devil, or Jimbra. It is known that tales of the creature date back to the 1820's, with stories circulating throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s. Cave art seemingly depicting the beast created by the Aborigines exists just as rock art exists here in America by Native Americans.

Aboriginal cave painting of Turramulli,
the giant yowie-like Quinkin from Queensland

During the 1970's public interest in the phenomenon of hairy man monsters significantly heated up, largely due to numerous newspaper accounts and magazine articles written by Yowie enthusiast Rex Gilroy. More and more researchers emerged and of course, hoaxers slipped in from time to time as well. In 2006, a book was published collating everything there is to know about the Aussie man-beast entitled, The Yowie: In Search of Australia's Bigfoot authored by Tony Healy and Paul Cropper. One of the more fascinating parts of the book is the many fascinating tales detailed by eyewitnesses. Here is a snippet from Darren Naish's review of the book published at Tetrapod Zoology:

Healy and Cropper's discussion of 'modern phase' eyewitness reports makes entertaining and fascinating reading. Among the most interesting accounts (for me) were Neil and Sandy Frost's from the Blue Mountains just west of Sydney. The Frost's accounts involve a prolonged history of sightings (many made at close range), the discovery of tracks and other field signs (namely, 'bites' taken out of tree bark), perceived interactions (viz, where something banged on the side of the house), and even attempts to capture the animals on film (they only succeeded in getting two photos of a humanoid face, obscured by darkness, peering in the camera's direction). It's fairly typical for writers to regard anecdotes as particularly impressive when the witnesses are of the 'reliable' sort (that is, they come from a trained background of some kind, and are somehow more trustworthy than 'average' witnesses). It's been argued that such perceived reliability doesn't count for much, and that hoaxing and misinterpretation can come from a 'reliable' witness as much as a 'less reliable' one. I know all of this, but I can't help but be impressed by the Frost's sincerity and credentials. In similar vein, Percy Window's daylight encounter of 1978 seems impressive. Window was a ranger for the Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service, and claimed to have a prolonged, face-to-face sighting of a black, gorilla-like Yowie at a range of about 4 m.

Many other fascinating encounters are discussed in the book. Yowies have been reported by some witnesses to be unbelievably aggressive, and to pursue people with what was interpreted as predatory intent. Yowies have sometimes been reported to peer into windows, hang around the outsides of houses, and to approach cars on remote roads - all motifs that sound familiar if you've read the sasquatch literature. In further parallels with sasquatch, extremely bad, lingering smells have also been associated with Yowie sightings, and Yowies also seem to be good swimmers and waders.

Healy and Cropper admit that there is little evidence to support the existence of such a creature. There are no bones, tracks are rare, and eyewitness accounts are anecdotal. Though people have claimed to hear vocalizations, there were none recorded during the time this book was published in 2006. Very little film or photos exist, and as with the sasquatch phenomenon none are considered verifiable or consclusive proof. Naish's review goes on to say:

Alleged Yowie field sign has been reported, but is very rare. Droppings have been attributed to the Yowie by some observers. Paul Compton reported the discovery of a 45 cm-long scat (20 cm in circumference) that apparently couldn't be attributed to a human or other known animal (Healy & Cropper 2006, p. 152). Alleged 'nests' have also been reported: one is of particular interest because it was discovered by Major Les Hiddens (you may know him better as the 'Bush Tucker Man' of TV fame) while he was leading a team of scientists to a remote region near Queensland's Russell River. The structure - a rectangular mat about a metre long and metre wide - was apparently made from plant fronds that had been chewed off from the source plant; reportedly, archaeologist John Campbell stated that 'If I were anywhere but here in Australia, I would have to say this was a primate nest' (Healy & Cropper 2006, p. 154) [ok, I'm not sure that an archaeologist can necessarily express a useful opinion on what might be zoological field evidence, but still].

As just mentioned, alleged Yowie tracks are rare: perhaps this could be explained away by Australian terrain and sedimentology. However, those tracks that have been reported are annoyingly variable. Some are five-toed and don't look all that different from typical sasquatch tracks [adjacent track photographed at Barrington Tops, NSW, in 1996... looks dodgy], but others are four-toed or even narrow, three-toed, and look nothing like primate tracks at all. It's worth noting at this point that at least some North American tracks attributed to mystery primates are also four- or three-toed: nobody really knows what these tracks 'mean', but it's most convenient to ignore them and write them off as hoaxes. A couple of alleged yowie tracks were reportedly ape-like in terms of digital configuration, but with an unusual broad, squared-off heel. At least one track cast (the Springbrook cast) was analysed for dermal ridges by Jeff Meldrum (a technically qualified primatologist with a well known interest in sasquatch). No dermal ridges were found; however, the owner admitted that he'd let an estimated 10,000 people handle it (he used it as a promotional tool for his restaurant!), so this isn't surprising. Loud, primate-like calls have been attributed to Yowies, as mentioned earlier.

Lastly, Naish's article deals with a simple question. If these things are real, then what the heck are they?

Good evidence that the Yowie is real is, in conclusion, pretty much absent, and Healy and Cropper don't pretend otherwise. Because Australia's biogeographic history is well known, the hypothesis that the Yowie might be what it looks like - an undiscovered hominid or hominoid - seems absurd. Remember, however, that Australia's mammal fauna is not dominated by marsupials. There are lots of native placentals on the continent too. Indeed, the possibility that hominids of some sort got to Australia independently of Homo sapiens is not entirely unreasonable (H. erectus may have had a sea-faring tradition). However, Yowies (as - mostly - described by witnesses) are not advanced humans that could once have built boats: they're long-haired, gorilla-like animals with arms that reach their knees [Richard Easton's sketches of a Yowie's feet shown here].

The idea that Yowies might be feral humans mostly fails for the same reason. The suggestion that the Yowie legend might have started when Aborigines encountered 'dishevelled white castaways or runaway convicts' has been made on quite a few occasions; it might seem conceivable that Yowie lore was initiated or inspired by encounters with 'wild' humans, but note again that this doesn't match eyewitness reports of giant, gorilla-like animals. Having said that, there are a minority of accounts that do describe man-like creatures. Healy & Cropper (2006) discuss Gary Jones's 1989 encounter from Glenmore Park in Sydney. Jones described a hair-covered creature that was, apparently, exactly like a tall, muscular, but normally proportioned, human.
So, having read the book, I remain perplexed. The most sensible conclusion is that the Yowie represents a combination of hoaxing, hallucination and witness misinterpretation, combined with the global folklore motif of the wild hairy-man. 'Wild man'/mystery hominid sightings and legends don't just come from Asia and North America; believe it or don't, there are also accounts, legends and even recent sightings of such creatures from Hawaii, New Zealand, the UK and Spain. While there's nowhere near enough Yowie evidence to make any hard-nosed sceptic properly pause for thought, some of the eyewitness accounts do, I feel, suggest that people have had encounters with peculiar creatures of some kind. Even if this is a naïve conclusion, we still have a fascinating cultural phenomenon here, and a larger question emerges: why do people claim to see wild, hairy, man-like creatures in the Australian bush?

As a thorough and entertaining review of a very weird mystery animal phenomenon, Healy and Cropper's book succeeds and fulfills expectations.

From scienceblogs.com

Find out more about the Healy and Cropper book, "The Yowie: In search of Australia's Bigfoot" here: www.yowiefile.com

Still not convinced the Yowie exists? Watch below as Australian Yowie Researcher, Dean Harrison recollects his terrifying encounter: