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believing that a madman was attacking the cabin, he ran for his Griffith were surveying a road in bushland at Murderer's Hill, life up to O'Reilly's Guest House for help. near Walballa in Gippsland, Victoria, one misty day in Campers also arrived at the guest house, informing the staff of | September 1979 when at 11 am they saw, five metres away, an the terrible noises coming from the ranger's cabin, and so a group _ape-like animal, 1.2 metres high, standing on its hind legs with its walked back to see what was going on. No one had seen people back to them. They noticed that it was a powerful animal with or vehicles near the house, so rampaging louts were discounted, wide hips and buttocks that were visible as it threw its long arms and, although dozens of tools now lay on the grass in the dark, no over a 1.3-metre-high fallen log and then clambered over to disap- sign of the madman was found and no explanation for the incident —_ pear into thick vegetation. They noticed a patch of pale skin on could be determined. the back of the neck beneath the black hair that covered all of its T arrived on the Sunday night to hear about the incident, and the body. It did not appear to be a chimpanzee, gorilla or orang-utan, next morning we picked up all the tools and stored them away as___ which they had seen in zoos, but was definitely another species of before. Then I walked into the rainforest immediately below the ape that had no tail. backyard and was surprised to find that our enormous woodstack Then, at 3.30 am on | June 1996, in bushland behind a house had also been attacked. Approximately 7 metres in length, 1.5 that we were renting on the slopes of the Koonyum Range at Main metres wide and 2 metres high, and composed of very heavy Arm in northeastern NSW, I was again fortunate enough to hear pieces of timber held in place by strong timber stakes that had the calls of this undescribed animal. There was a full moon illu- been sledgehammered into the ground, it now lay completely scat- minating a crystal-clear night and there was no air movement—so tered and most of the stakes had been pulled out of the ground. sounds, such as a rooster crowing, could be heard for some kilo- It took us the rest of the day to rebuild the woodstack, and we metres. Approximately 200 metres away, near a dry creek-bed in had absolutely no idea what was responsible for its dismantling. eucalypt forest at 200 metres elevation, a series of some 90 loud, No human had the power to move so much timber. The regrowth _ bark-like calls rent the air. of the rainforest above and surrounding it was undisturbed, the The calls were mostly in a series of three, making a sound like weather had been fine, and we knew of no life-form that could "“arroo-ARROO-arroo". The first was a start-up call, which was perform such a task. But the call and the reports of a powerful not as loud as the middle call, which was climactic and was fol- nocturnal primate at large in the locality now provided an answer: lowed by a softer call. The beginning of each of the three barks, the ranger's cabin had been attacked by a Yowie. "arr", was sudden and intense, while the final "oo" portion was cut Yowie sightings have since been recorded occasionally short as it fell off in volume. Between the sets of three barks, at a throughout the locality but, for my own part, years of bushwalk- _ time of about five or six seconds, a disturbingly strange, soft, gur- ing and flora and fauna surveys have yielded not the slightest gling call, "gu-gu-gu-gu", could be heard. It continued with very trace of their existence. little variation for about five minutes, with the last couple of Another Tamborine resident, Larry Edwards, heard similar calls series of calls appearing less loud, as if the creature had begun to from Guanaba Gorge just after dark on 7 September 1992. They — move off. They were quite unlike the calls of foxes or barking reminded him of the loud, resonating, shrill, roaring calls that he deer that I had heard in Southeast Asia and, once again, had more regularly heard as a youngster at Blunder Creek, southwest of _ of a primate feel to them. Brisbane, between 1961 and 1972. His family always heard the The next day I found three toeprints in an earth creek-bank calls at the beginning of spring each year, at about 9 pm on full- where the creature had climbed up the slope. Each toe was about moon nights. The call would last for about two minutes, increas- the same size as a human big toe, but each slightly smaller in size ing in volume as the animal ran down a dry creek-bed in the gully towards the right, as if from a right foot. Nearby, on a ridgetop below the house, with the sound of its feet making huge, leaping steps; then the call would decrease in volume as the crea- ture continued on its way. He told me that the man who was in charge of the nearby Blunder Repeater Station tape- recorded the calls and made plas- ter casts of the footprints which were three metres apart when it was running. The prints were humanlike but 30 cm long and 10 cm wide, with circular claw- marks 5 mm wide that were 4 cm deep into the soil. With the com- mencement of suburban develop- ment in the area, the calls were no longer heard. =" se T= first person I ever - if = talked to who had actually a . . _ observed a Yowie was a | Depiction of male and female Yowies, based upon ancient Aboriginal as well as modern-day European eyewitness descriptions. Victorian Gi t eee eer Sketch by Rex Gilroy, from his book Mysterious Australia (1995, NEXUS Publishing). John Macey and workmate Sid Griffith were surveying a road in bushland at Murderer's Hill, near Walballa in Gippsland, Victoria, one misty day in September 1979 when at 11 am they saw, five metres away, an ape-like animal, 1.2 metres high, standing on its hind legs with its back to them. They noticed that it was a powerful animal with wide hips and buttocks that were visible as it threw its long arms over a 1.3-metre-high fallen log and then clambered over to disap- pear into thick vegetation. They noticed a patch of pale skin on the back of the neck beneath the black hair that covered all of its body. It did not appear to be a chimpanzee, gorilla or orang-utan, which they had seen in zoos, but was definitely another species of ape that had no tail. Then, at 3.30 am on | June 1996, in bushland behind a house that we were renting on the slopes of the Koonyum Range at Main Arm in northeastern NSW, I was again fortunate enough to hear the calls of this undescribed animal. There was a full moon illu- minating a crystal-clear night and there was no air movement—so sounds, such as a rooster crowing, could be heard for some kilo- metres. Approximately 200 metres away, near a dry creek-bed in eucalypt forest at 200 metres elevation, a series of some 90 loud, bark-like calls rent the air. The calls were mostly in a series of three, making a sound like "“arroo-ARROO-arroo". The first was a start-up call, which was not as loud as the middle call, which was climactic and was fol- lowed by a softer call. The beginning of each of the three barks, "arr", was sudden and intense, while the final "oo" portion was cut short as it fell off in volume. Between the sets of three barks, at a time of about five or six seconds, a disturbingly strange, soft, gur- gling call, "gu-gu-gu-gu", could be heard. It continued with very little variation for about five minutes, with the last couple of series of calls appearing less loud, as if the creature had begun to move off. They were quite unlike the calls of foxes or barking deer that I had heard in Southeast Asia and, once again, had more of a primate feel to them. The next day I found three toeprints in an earth creek-bank where the creature had climbed up the slope. Each toe was about the same size as a human big toe, but each slightly smaller in size towards the right, as if from a right foot. Nearby, on a ridgetop "qd NEXUS 69 AUGUST — SEPTEMBER 1999