Database: Sightings & Evidence 1940-1949

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Southern Highlands 1940's

Yowies

Old identities of the southern Highlands district still talk of incidents stretching back 100 years along the Deua River, west of Moruya, around Araluen between Braidwood and the south coast and Numeralla.

The Yowies here were said to occasionally wander from out of the rugged mountainous forest country onto remote farms, to kill straying stock, carrying off the butchered remains to caves back in the mountains leaving behind them the crude stone knives with which they had carved up the animals.

They do not appear to have been the 'monkey'-type Yowies of elsewhere, and as late as the 1940's were still being reported seen quite frequently, until the spread of civilisation drove them deeper into the mountain ranges.

Orbost District 1940's

Hairy man-sized Creature

Back in the 1940's Jimmy Cook, a part Aboriginal, was employed on a farm in the Orbost district of north-eastern Victoria. One day he set out to walk into town. An hour or two later he returned to the farm in an exhausted state, trembling and for some time unconsolable.

After he had sufficiently recovered, he told his employers that, on his way along a bush road he had spotted a 'hairy man' watching him from nearby bushes. The man-sized creature began to follow him and Jimmy 'took to his heels' screaming in terror.

He made for the nearby Snowy River, and upon reaching the bank, clambered over rocks, wading into the water to the opposite bank. The hairy creature, having reached the water's edge, stood watching him escape.

Megalong Valley 1940's

Manimals

Tales of Yowies seen in Megalong Valley were still commonplace during the 1940's, when Mrs Iris Baker [now of Springwood, and mentioned earlier in this chapter] had her own 'close encounter' with one of these 'manimals'.

Crowdy 1940's-Related 1982

Swamp creature of great Height

Mrs Irene Daniel informed me in 1982 that, when she was a young girl in the early 1940's, she lived with her family at Crowdy, situated 50 miles south of Port Macquarie.

"I used to walk in to the school with other children of a morning along a bush track. Sandy hills lay on one side, on a freshwater lagoon which lay between the ocean and swamps and bushland." "On one occasion the children found big footprints in the sand leading down toward the lagoon."

"I also recall about this time, three men were out shooting one day when they spotted a creature in the swamp thereabouts. The creature was of great height, about 12 ft [3.6 m]. The men at first thought it was a man walking in the swamp, but once they realised it was no normal human they ran off in fear of their lives".

Emmaville 1940's

Ape-like Tracks

"One day Roy went out looking for sheep on his horse. This was during the early 1940's. He rode off into the dense mountain country. He later returned in haste, galloping up to the house." "'Did you hear the news. A couple of kids are lost up in the mountains. I found bare footprints out in the scrub - might be their's,' he said. We wanted to make our own search for the children, but as it was getting dark the search had to wait till morning."

"At first light we rode up into the scrub to the site of the footprints. Roy had apparently not had a close enough look at the tracks the previous day, for when we saw them we realised they appeared more ape-like than human." "We boiled the billy and while discussing the tracks and the likely whereabouts of the missing children [who turned up later elsewhere], we began to feel that we were being watched. We were glad to get out of the area.

Giants Dance 1940's

Two legged brown man-like Creature

In the area known as "Giants Dance", which lies on the Wild Cattle Creek, itself about 6 km from Watsons Creek, there is an unpopulated area of gum forest some 50,000 or so square acres in extent. There was a tin mine here in the 1940's.

Near the mine and above the creek was a cabin constructed of tin sheeting, and it was here that kangaroo shooter, Mr Keith Blackman used to stay when shooting in the area. One day as he walked down to the creek, rifle in hand, he saw ahead of him, and across the creek, a "two legged, brown haired, 2.6m tall, manlike creature," as he described it later.

The manbeast strode into the water in his direction, at which Keith fired a shot at the monster hominid, then turned and bounded for the cabin, barring the door. The hairy man-ape did not pursue him and had disappeared by the time Keith nervously looked outside. However, the next morning when he emerged, he was shocked to find huge footprints in the soft dirt all around the area. He lost no time leaving the place after that!"

Roper River 1940

Kalkadoon Man

"In the early years of the 20th century, prior to World Was One, settlers of the Cloncurry and Mount Isa districts were warned by Aborigines that "giant blackfellas" were still living in the arid country of the nearby Selwyn Range. 'Kalkadoon Man come get you' was a common warning.

I know of a cave painting in the Cloncurry district that old Aborigines say depicts this giant." "In the late 1940's I met a drover, Jim Spriggs, at a pub in Darwin. In the course of a discussion on our travels I happened to mention the old stories of giant Aborigines in northern Qld." "Oh, the Abo's talk about them up in Arnhem Land, and I saw one myself a while back," he said.

"I pressed him further and he told me that, one day in 1940 he was mustering a large mob of cattle in the Roper River area near Urapunga. With him were three Aboriginal stockmen." As they sat on their mounts, about 200 yards away a very tall dark figure emerged from the nearby scrub. At this the Aborigines cried 'Kalkadoon Man boss, Kalkadoon Man', and galloped off in fright.

Jim then realised that the figure in the distance was no ordinary man and at least 8 ft in height. He was holding a spear which he then hurled into a nearby calf. As the cattle took fright and scattered, the big native dashed to the calf, and removing the spear, picked up the dead animal and strode off back into the scrub.

All this time Jim just sat on his horse dumbfounded. "I was unarmed but for my stockwhip, and if necessary could have dealt out some punishment to the big bloke if he tried to attack me." Jim then road off to search for his frightened Aborigines. "I found them soon after, and with difficulty got them to help me round up the scattered stock. They were certainly glad to get out of the place," he said.

"Having learnt the Aboriginal name for these giants I was pleased some years later to be invited by a couple of tribal elders, while in the Victoria River district near Wave Hill, to inspect a number of very large human footprints fossilised in solid rock, made they said, by a 'Kalkadoon Man' in the Dreamtime."

"These giant Aboriginal beings will always remain very real to them." The scepticism of many people regarding such claims is understandable, but to the Aborigines these beings are very real. They are real also to experienced old bushmen who have had their own encounters with the Kalkadoon people, and do not take kindly to anyone who doubts their honesty.

Like the Jim Jim pygmy folk, the dreaded Pankalankas and gorilla-like Jimbras, the Kalkadoons are no myth and some still survive "out there, somewhere"!


Micalong Gorge 1941

The strange creature "walking on two legs & covered in long Hair"

One day in 1941, Jack Flynn a stockman employed at Wee Jasper station, reported to his fellow station hands he had seen a strange hominid creature in Micalong Gorge, while he was resting on the top of a cliff in a part of the gorge called The Pound. He had been holding a few sheep here while waiting for his employer, Manager Mr. D.G. Wilkinson, to join him.

"The strange creature", he said, "suddenly appeared at the base of the cliff, along which it proceeded to walk." It was, he noticed, "stopped in appearance, walking upon two legs. It appeared small, about the size of a yearling calf, and was covered with long hair." "I could not see the animal's head, although its forequarters were dark, and its hindquarters were a light roan to grey colour."

"It continued on, walking across a rocky outcrop, making no noise, which indicated that its feet were padded," he later said to a reporter. Further queries soon revealed that, for some time prior to Jack's sighting, other station hands had heard strange roaring sounds coming from the bushland thereabouts.....


Barrington Tops 1942

Track of large unusual Footprints

During the winter of 1942 a party of four bushmen were returning from a horseback visit to the Barrington Tops, riding through snow. At a spot about 5 km south-east of Carey's Peak their dogs became very excited, racing about, their eyes glaring savagely, every bristle they owned standing stiff, and growling ferociously.

Then the men noticed they had begun following a track of very large, unusual looking footprints going towards the western edge of the Allyn Valley. Dismounting, the men soon realised that the footprints, although human in appearance, were far too large for any normal man; besides being of a rather peculiar shape with an extraordinarily high and deeply arched instep, leaving a footprint in which the toes and heels sank deep, the arch left a much lighter impression.

All agreed the footprints belonged to a very heavy, man-like creature. A carpenters ruler being produced by one of the men, the depth of the feet impressions was found to average nine inches [23 cm], while the length was 16 inches [40 cm], suggesting the hominid who left these foot impressions in the snow was surely much taller than an average man and of heavy build.

The men's curiosity was aroused and headed by their dogs [who were still growling and sniffing about], they began following the footprints, which were so fresh that the men believed the creature could not be far ahead.

However, about a kilometre later the party came to a halt above a sheer drop of 30 m into a stand of dense gum forest, where the footprints ended. Here they were amazed to find that the creature had lowered itself down the cliff, using vines. Signs of dislodged rubble from the cliff face left by its feet suggested it had eluded the men by no more than a few minutes.

Mixing clay from a nearby creek bank with a quantity of snow the bushmen produced a few crude casts of the best of the foot impressions. When later presented to a scientist at Taronga Park Zoo, he said that, although not clear enough for a positive identification, they resembled foot impressions of a gorilla or large bear, and it was suggested the creature was therefore an escaped circus animal.

The bushmen later returned to the scene of the footprints find, and explored a large area of the Tops, yet were unable to come across any further signs of the mystery hominid. [Note: The scene of the footprints discovery was in the general area where the McCormack brothers had camped to feed their stock in 1848.

Barrington Tops 1942-Related 1989

Ganky-hairy Manbeast
In November 1989 this author received the following story from Mrs Daisy Schafer of Grafton: "In 1942, my brother Mr Burt Williams, at that time 25 years old, together with a young mate 'Charlie', were up in the Dorrigo Plateau working at a sawmill amid thick scrub and forest country."

"One afternoon having finished work for the day, they were walking to their hut to get tea ready. As they reached their hut, they were shocked by an 8 ft tall [2.4 m] hairy 'manbeast' which came from out of nearby scrub, walked up to the men, grabbed Charlie around the neck, lifted him up and then commenced to drag him off into the forest."

"Burt [who was very strong in those days] pursued the beast to save his friend, hitting the monster with his fists. At this the manbeast dropped Charlie and ran off into the dense forest. Burt and Charlie retreated to the hut, bolting the door against the creature's return. Charlie's neck was black and bruised for days thereafter and I recall having seen the injuries the next day."

"The next day Burt and Charlie got a lift in a truck back to Burt's home and Charlie never returned to the mill. Burt himself only lasted there another week before joining the American Merchant Marines." "They described the manbeast as possessing enormous hands and feet, with long hair down to its shoulders and over the rest of the body. The men failed to recall much about the creature's face other than it looked ape-like.

They told their story to a local policeman, who advised Burt to "shoot it next time you see it and ask questions later, if it is what you say it was". "The story got around the Bridgevale district where the men lived. Locals, particularly old identities, said the creature must have been a 'Ganky', another old local Aboriginal name for the Yowie in the Dorrigo region."

"A week later, after Burt and Charlie had their experience with the 'Ganky' and after his return to work at the mill, Burt was walking into Bridgevale for groceries when he felt he was being followed by 'something'; in the bush along the side of the dirt road. He had the distinct feeling it was the "Ganky' again." "That was the last time he had any experience with the monster before leaving the mill for good,. Albert is now 70 years old."

Tully 1942

Two little male Natives

In Tully in 1942, another farmer was aroused one morning by his fowls at the rear of his house. Suspecting dogs, he dashed outside with his shotgun, only to find two little male natives crouched in the corner of a shed. Lowering his gun, he tried talking to them, but seeing they could not understand him he realised they were still-wild natives. He judged their height to be just over 1 metre. The farmer motioned to them to go and they bolted for the nearby scrub.


Shennongjia 1943

Chi-Chi's

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. In the Qinling Mountains peasants know that the Chi-Chi's are particularly on the move during autumn and winter, when wild chestnuts are found on the groung.

They believe these hominids never willingly attack people unless someone chances to wander into 'their' territory, or that their young are secreted away nearby. The peasants warn travellers that, if they should come face-to-face with one of these "Wild People", they should give the Chi-Chi food to show them that they mean no harm.

Shot "wild man" Chi-Chi

In the spring of 1943, one Zhang Yujin was with a party of soldiers, who shot a 'Wild Man' in the Shennongjia district. A second, possibly a female escaped. When the soldiers examined the dead Chi-Chi, they found it to be as tall as a human being, the whole body being covered in dark red hair. The palms of its hands and soles of its feet were covered with thick white calluses, while the fingers and toes had pointed nails, Zhang Yujin said later.



Shannon 1945-Related late 1990's

Dark man-sized hairy Creature

While preparing this book I received the following story from Mrs Lyn Roberts now of Adelaide, SA, but formerly of the Great Lakes District of Tasmania. She writes that, in 1945 when she was about 6 years old, she lived with her family at Shannon. At that time her father, Mr Max Harrison, was working for the Sate Electricity Commission.

"Shannon was a small town now no longer there. There was a little school and also a nearby Army camp." "My sister Lois used to play in a huge vegetable garden owned by a Mr Purcell, which used to supply the Army camp with fresh vegetables, and which was situated on the edge of forestland."

"One late afternoon I happened to be playing there too, when we both spotted a dark, man-sized hairy creature, walking with a stooped posture in some haste across the garden. We ran off home and told Mum." "I don't think Mum believed our tale, because all she said was 'Don't worry, its only a Bunyip'!"

Tenterfield 1945

Soldiers jeep struck & killed a hairy man-like Creature

About 90 km to the north-east of Torrington is Tenterfield, where in 1945 a group of Australian soldiers travelling in a jeep through scrub country struck a hairy man-like creature, killing him instantly.

The manbeast, about 1.8m in height, had stepped out onto the bush road from shrubbery at the side of the road as the vehicle approached. The men buried the body somewhere up in the scrub and did not speak of the incident at the time to avoid possible action by the police. Today no one knows the location of the grave.

Philippines 1945

Japanese Soldiers Hiding

The Philippines are also not without their 'manbeast' tales from antiquity, for the original inhabitants knew a time when their people were not safe even in their jungle villages, from attacks by tall, hairy, powerfully-built "man-animals'. These fearsome males inhabited the jungles and mountains of the interior of the main islands of Luzon and Mindanao, with their smaller females and young.

The early villagers supposedly gradually hunted down and killed these primitives, yet there are Filipinos today who claim to have caught sight of some of these hairy beings. Familiar tales of stolen poultry, of killed and butchered stock, and the tell-tale large man-like footprints left in surrounding soil, or on lonely jungle tracks, can still be heard in modern times.

Those who scoff at such claims in the Philippines, should remember that, two Philippines-based Japanese soldiers who went into hiding rather than surrender in the closing stages of the Pacific Ward in 1945, remained undetected for some 30 years until, in the mid-1970's, following the death of one of them, the other soldier finally gave himself up. Tales of secretive hairy hominids still roaming the interior should there for be treated with an open mind. Similarly, in 1961 a lone Japanese soldier staggered out of the New Guinea jungles to surrender after 17 years living with a stone-age tribe.



Musgrave Ranges 1947

Narragun Killed

In 1947 a group of Aboriginal stockmen south of Victoria Downs [Northern Territory] on the South Australian side of the border, on a cattle track in the Musgrave Ranges, spotted a 4m tall Narragun observing their cattle mustering activities from among trees.

The men pursued the beast into a dry creek bed, where they emptied their rifles into the creature. They were afraid to speak of the incident for some days. Finally in company of several white stockmen they returned to the scene of the shooting. The body was gone. Drag marks showed it had been removed, presumably by one or more of its own kind.

Elders later took the young men to task, saying the creature should not have been harmed. It is just one of many 'bushman's yarns' told along the dusty cattle tracks of Australia's desolate interior. Yarns? Even so, Aboriginal and also white stockmen believe them and keep close to their fire at night, guns at the ready, alert to every sound that might suggest the approach of a hairy shape from out of the darkness.



Kangaroo Island 1948

Megatools [giant-sized stone implements]

Some of the most important myths and legends of the Aborigines of the Murray River region concerned those of the Ngurunderi. These giant people lived upon the Murray cod fish, as well as the giant kangaroos and other 'megafauna' that inhabited the surrounding countryside in ancient times. The first Ngurunderi giant was said to have been responsible for the creation of the Murray River.

These giants made huge stone implements, including knives with which they cut up and skinned the giant marsupials they killed. The Ngurunderi people also knew the use of fire for they cooked all the food they captured. One myth says that the first Ngurunderi giant had two wives, which he had obtained in the course of his travels along the Murray River.

The women eventually ran away from him and he pursued them all the way down to the South Australian coast, from where the wives were attempting to cross over to Kangaroo Island, at that time still joined to the mainland. Ngurunderi caused the sea to rise, drowning the women. He then crossed over to Kangaroo Island where he lived for a time.

Note: The first 'megatools' [giant-size stone implements] to be identified by scientists were recovered from Kangaroo Island in 1948 by archaeologist Dr A Gallus. At the time they were linked to an early Aboriginal stone tool culture, labelled 'Kartan', after the original Aboriginal name for the island. Could the Ngurunderi tradition be a race-memory of the former presence there of a much larger form of hominid?

Snowy River 1948-1990

Hairy female Creature

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 1.6 m tall hairy female creature standing nearby amid granite boulders. As he emerged, bewildered at the sight, she bolted away, disappearing over a granite outcrop.

Tall hairy Figure

[It was hereabouts back in 1948 that a party of campers sighted a tall, hairy figure, moving up a mountainside through snow, at a distance of about 100 m].

Hanging Rock Village 1948

Nundle Giant-hairy [reddish] human-like Creature

Most of the locals need little convincing of the existence of these primitive, hairy hominids in the wilderness around them and have many personal experiences to relate, such as the following: George Partridge, now about 60 years old, and a personal friend of this author, often talks to me of his own "close encounter" with the 'hairy man' or 'Nundle Giant' as 'he' is better known to the locals.

George, who has lived all his life at Hanging Rock village, the little community perched high above Nundle township, and nestled amid surrounding forest-covered mountains, has shown me the exact location, where in 1948, when he was about 8 years old, he saw a sight that he is hardly likely to ever forget.

"One afternoon, a young mate and I decided to go and pick some wild cherries in the forest over at Mt Pleasant, in a valley forming part of the mountain." "We took a galvanised tin bucket. We were working our way down a steep gully.

However, before we reached the bottom where the cherries grew, we were stopped in our tracks when we saw, about 100 yards below us, this hairy [reddish] human-like creature, a good 7-8ft [2.1-2.4m] tall - the height of the cherry trees - standing there with his arms raised picking the cherries." "Actually we wondered if 'he' wasn't some kind of large bear."

"We decided not to wait around to find out and bolted back up the mountainside the way we had come, dropping the bucket as we did. We were at least two and a half miles from home and were exhausted by the time we reached my place". "My parents laughed when I told them of the "big hairy bear" we had seen, 'Ah, there's no bears in Australia', my mum said". "A few days later my dad [George Steven Partridge] went down to the spot and retrieved the bucket, but saw nothing".

The Hanging Rock region was alive with miners during the mid-19th century following the discovery of big gold deposits in the nearby Nundle/Peel River area, and it was not long before they learnt of, or saw Yowies while searching lonely forest-covered gullies for signs of the 'yellow metal'.

Aborigines of this region warned the prospectors and early settlers not to venture about this area alone or unarmed, otherwise they might be attacked by 'hairy men' or 'Coories who had inhabited the ranges hereabouts since before the appearance of the first tribespeople.

The Coories were cannibalistic also, and made stone tools and fire, and were either normal human-height or sometimes a bit taller. They also warned the settlers of other, much larger "great hairy men" the Goolagahs, the stone tool-making "giant hairy ones" who would kill and eat anyone they caught in the mountains.

Owen Stanley Range Papua New Guinea 1948

Mabi brandishing a huge wooden Club

In the heart of the Owen Stanley Range about 1948, a young warrior is said to have killed a Mabi manbeast by shooting three arrows into him,, as the monster approached him brandishing a huge wooden club. He removed the monster's head, smoked it and kept it as a trophy for some time thereafter.

Whatever my readers may think of these native tales, the hairy man-giants of the forests are very real to them, for unlike the many evil spirits that haunt their folklore, these monsters are living flesh and blood creatures to them. In fact, all Melanesians believe in an age similar to that of the Dreamtime of the Australian Aborigines, when the first human-like beings roamed the earth.

The Dobu people call these first primitive hominids Kasa sona. They are distinct from ordinary natives, because the Dobu claim they and other tribes are but recent inhabitants of the earth compared with these primitives. The appearance of the Kasa sona as described by the Dobu is reminiscent of Homo erectus ape-men.


Yowroo or Yarhoo or Yowrie 1949 Large Footprints

For example: the 'Queenbeyan Age' (4/9/76 published a letter by a Mr Knowles who related back in 1949, he was living and working in the Araluen area between Braidwood and the South coast.

"Old hands in an area west of Moruya along the Deua River often spoke of what they called a Yowroo or Yarhoo or Yowrie to describe the creature. Twice in 20 years I found footprints-once on the riverbank area and once in a scrub area-that could not be identified as being those of any known creature.

Mr Knowles said there was an area of bush that was completely without any signs of wildlife. I have lived in the bush most of my life and the area was definitely eerie. You always had the feeling something or somebody was watching you. Stock that wandered into the area disappeared without explanation and no remains were ever found.

There was definitely something unknown in that area, just 16km inland from Moruya on the Araluen road," he said. Mr Knowles said the footprints he and others sighted were definitely five-toed and of "considerable depth in river sand". "In one set of footprints, I personally saw the distance between them was up to 2.3m. I am convinced that something different was definitely in that area near Moruya, "he said.