Nexus - 0206 - New Times Magazine-pages

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MAN - APES OF AUSTRALIA From all the foregoing evidence it is obvious that the Yowie/Yeti/Bigfoot stand somewhere between man and ape, a fea- ture of most descriptions given by people who have come face-to- face with one of these creatures. nothing remains. Everyone has seen koalas in zoos, but how many have ever found one dead in the wild? The Australian bush is so vast that it is a case of being in the right place at the right time to find any recently deceased animal or its skeleton. The rarer the species, the less chance of finding remains. So finding physical evidence of the Yowie will be very difficult, considering the habitat in which they live. On the other hand, fossil remains of a Yowie could yet turn up to finally settle the issue. It was for the purpose of gathering such evidence that I estab- lished the "Australian Unknown Animals Research Centre" (PO Box 473, Kootingal NSW 2352. Ph: 067 787 201), where I wel- come any information helpful to my investigations. Not a week passes without someone mailing or phoning me a reported sighting to follow up, or, occasionally, mystery footprints to inspect in some remote area. I often receive photos of Yowie type tracks, and, sometimes actual plaster casts. While many cast tracks can easily be dismissed as the work of hoaxers, there are a few identical tracks which possess anatomical features unique to primate - type creatures of which laymen are ignorant, found hundreds of kilometres apart. This was the case with a single cast a least twice the size of a normal human foot, displaying an opposable big toe, found on a lonely 4-Wheel drive track deep in the Kanangra-Boyd National Park, high up in the Jenolan Range, south-west of Katoomba, NSW in 1987. And here are some of the many modern day, startling reports of people who have had the "encounter of a life-time". The Snowy Mountains has produced many encounters. My research findings show many of these reports occur about June, following the first winter snowfall, when the animal life of the high country migrates into the lower regions. It is at this time that sightings of man-beasts, or footprint discoveries, often on snow- covered ground, are most prevalent. During June 1970, at Geehi, northwest of Mt Kosciusko, two mountaineers, Ron Bartlett and Frank Sinclair, were camped on the edge of a stand of mountainside trees. Overnight a light snow- fall occurred. At daybreak they were preparing to abandon camp when Frank noticed some large, man-like tracks embedded in nearby snow. Both had heard tales of the giant hairy "Doolagahls" said to inhabit the mountain country, bi but had taken little notice of these mm. ie "bushmen's tales", until they saw these tracks. The men also detected a strange odour and had the distinct feel- ing they were not alone. Cautiously they began working their way down the mountainside scrub. Suddenly, ahead they spotted a 2.6m tall, dark hairy man-like figure staring at them. It then van- ished into the dense scrub. 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 1.6m tall hairy female creature standing nearby amid granite boulders. As he emerged, bewildered at the sight, she bolted away disap- pearing over a granite outcrop. (It was hereabouts back in 1948 that a party of campers sighted a tall hairy figure about 2.3m tall, moving up a mountainside through snow, at a distance of about 100m.). Earlier, in January 1990, two young women, Susan Townsend, another girl and their boyfriends, were camped on the shore of Lake Jindabyne one late afternoon. While others went wood col- lecting in the surrounding forest, Susan was busy getting the campfire started. Detecting a powerful odour and hearing twigs snapping underfoot, she turned and screamed with fear, as a hairy 2.3m tall, muscular giant naked male creature, almost ape-like in appearance, emerged from trees a mere 10m away. He approached the girl, but hearing the others returning bolted in big strides into the forest. The boys, hearing Susan's frantic account of what she had just seen, gave chase up mountainside scrub, thinking the intruder was some weird hermit. Large rocks hurled at them and loud snarls convinced the boys to end their pursuit. Locals to whom they later told their story, said they probably saw one of the "Doolagahls" that old aborigines claim still live up It compares favourably with a number of giant-sized footprints found by campers in the Numinbah Valley, below the imposing Lamington Plateau on the Qid/NSW border in 1970. These tracks, found embedded in creek mud, measured 45cm in length, by 20cm ae wide across the toes. Much later, in March 1990, businessman Craig Turner en route to Sydney, stoppled his car by a Numinbah Valley creek. Walking along the bank he found several large footprints embedded up to 4cm deep in mud. Spaced 1.5m apart, the footprints measured 40cm in length by 17cm wide. After obtaining plaster from a near- by town, he made casts of left and right feet, which he later gave me. Recently an identical right foot cast of the same measurements came to me from the Kiandra district in the Snowy Mountains. Identical tracks from such widely distributed localities are a per- suasive argument for the existence of the Yowie. Like Asian and American "manbeast" footprints, those of the Yowie have flat arches, with abnormally wide heels. The toes are short, and the forefoot less tapered than the human foot. With a knowledge of primate foot skeletal structure and muscu- lature fake tracks are easily detected. When a fake foot rises, it kicks up a little mound of dirt behind the toes in the footprint. Shoes or a bare foot kick up a mound of dirt back toward the mid- nea oe dle of the foot. in the mountains! NEXUS - 32 scattered, softened by moisture, and cracked by heat; so that soon YEAR BOOK - JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1992