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Some northern New South Wales Aborigines commonly Over the years we have, of course, toyed with various theories, referred to the little creatures as brown jacks. but the pesky little creatures, like the elves and fairies of Europe, According to a 1977 edition of the Richmond River Historical _ have always managed to avoid being pinned down. At times, like Society Bulletin, the hippie Mecca of Nimbin, NSW, was named many of our colleagues, we have favoured what seems to be the after the small hairy creatures that Aborigines said lived in the most logical explanation: that the junjudees are simply juvenile area. They were described as being "sort of hobbits". When he yowies. That assumption, however, flies in the face of the was a child, Bundjalung elder Gerry Bostock was told that the apparently unanimous belief among knowledgeable Aborigines name of a neighbouring town, Mullumbimby, also means "little that such is not the case. hairy man".?- Monkeys, of course, have supposedly never existed The magical aspects of junjudee lore have made us, at times, in Australia; they got no closer than the Indonesian island of Bali, strongly inclined to dismiss the whole phenomenon as native myth. about 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) away to the northwest. The Whenever we drifted too far in that direction, however, we were nearest great apes, orang-utans, are in Sumatra, even further away. dragged back to "reality" by eyewitness reports by both Aboriginal Although it was some years before we interviewed people who and white Australians, who, like Michael Mangan, seemed to be claimed personal encounters with junjudees, we soon met describing encounters with very solid, very real little creatures. Aborigines who told of sightings by relatives or friends. Perhaps, at this point, it would be best for us to present various Disconcertingly, however, our informants didn't appear to be representative items from our junjudee file, so that readers can speaking of an entirely uncouth race of wild little monkey-men. attempt to make up their own minds. They sometimes attributed to them strange behaviours and semi- magical qualities that are reminiscent of the fairy lore of Britain "A handsome little fellow" and other places. In 1977, 86-year-old Henry Methven told Patricia Riggs of the The Ualarai people of central northern NSW, for instance, | Macleay Argus about a little creature he'd seen while hunting near believe that the winembu will sometimes persuade a human being Jervis Bay, southern New South Wales, in about 1901. Having to follow them home. The person's become separated from his spirit is then somehow stolen, but, companions, the then 10-year-old when the victim returns to human According to a 1977 edition of Henry returned alone to a temporary society, he or she finds it impossible . . . . camp. to describe the ordeal. ; the Richmond River Historical "I was stripping off my shirt and Among the clans of the lower Society Bulletin, the hippie when I looked around, the Hairy Man Clarence Valley in northern NSW, . . was standing right behind me. He the little hairy men are known as Mecca of Nimbin, NSW, was was only about...two or three foot...a nimminge. In 1991 a Bundjalung named after the small hairy handsome little fellow ... he had a elder, Ron Heron, recalled a story that ao. J long straight nose and he was the has echoes of the European fairy tale creatures that Aborigines said colour of a real full-blood...dark and "Three Billy-Goats Gruff": i i coppery ... everything about the little "[When] I was 16 or 17, Frank lived In the area. bloke...seemed to be human." Randall, a friend of my father, told The creature was strongly built with me of a little hairy man living at a short neck. There was hair on the Ashby. Some nights, when Frank was walking home from the back of its hands. On its head, the hair was about two or three ferry...he would come to a small wooden bridge where there inches long and "a bit smoky-looking, a bit grey". Its body hair would be a little hairy man waiting for him. Frank would have to was different, "darkish brown". That was as much detail as the wrestle with this man before he could go across the bridge. He said startled boy could absorb. "I took off into the bush and got stung this would happen as many as 10 times each year. Since then...I with stinging nettles," he said. "The next day we tracked him. He have heard similar stories from other older people." had feet like a human's...five toes." Well, this was very confusing, not to mention inconvenient. We On a nearby ridge, they found evidence that the little creature were just beginning to assemble enough data to make a reasonable lived with others in a small cave and dined on shellfish. Henry said case for the existence of the big hairy yowies, but now we had to all the tribal elders knew about the creatures. They called them deal with distracting tales of hairy little people—and magical hairy wallathegah. The creatures were said to be harmless and to have little people at that! For some time we tried to accommodate the a great fondness for honey. Earlier that day, Henry's party had Aboriginal reports, which at that stage were all second or third harvested honey from a native beehive and Henry had carried it hand, by filing them as native folklore. The Charters Towers back to camp. The elders said, "He could smell the honey and he reports we consigned again to the limbo of the "too hard" basket. followed you along." That was the way things stood in the early 1990s when we were working on our first book, Out of the Shadows: Mystery Animals _ A light-fingered Lilliputian of Australia. As a result, although we wrote a lengthy chapter Folklorist Aldo Massola, author of Bunjil's Cave,’ heard similar about the "Bigfoot"-like yowie, we dismissed the matter of the tiny stories of little hairy men, known locally as net-nets, from junjudee in just a few paragraphs. Since then, however, we have Aborigines at Lake Condah, Victoria, in the 1950s and early collected a lot more Aboriginal junjudee lore as well as eyewitness 1960s. As well as being hairy and very small, net-nets were said reports from both Aborigines and non-Aborigines. We would like to have claws instead of fingernails and toenails. They were to be able to say that, armed with this new information, we now mischievous but harmless, and were believed to live in natural know exactly what the little hairy men are and exactly how they hollows among jumbled heaps of boulders. Andrew Arden told of relate to the yowie phenomenon. Frankly though, we are almost as encountering one in about 1932, while hunting with his wife in the baffled by the junjudees today as we were when we first heard of Stony Rises near the lake. He had just shot a rabbit when "one of them 27 years ago. the little people" suddenly appeared, seized the carcass and ran Over the years we have, of course, toyed with various theories, but the pesky little creatures, like the elves and fairies of Europe, have always managed to avoid being pinned down. At times, like many of our colleagues, we have favoured what seems to be the most logical explanation: that the junjudees are simply juvenile yowies. That assumption, however, flies in the face of the apparently unanimous belief among knowledgeable Aborigines that such is not the case. The magical aspects of junjudee lore have made us, at times, strongly inclined to dismiss the whole phenomenon as native myth. Whenever we drifted too far in that direction, however, we were dragged back to "reality" by eyewitness reports by both Aboriginal and white Australians, who, like Michael Mangan, seemed to be describing encounters with very solid, very real little creatures. Perhaps, at this point, it would be best for us to present various representative items from our junjudee file, so that readers can attempt to make up their own minds. According to a 1977 edition of the Richmond River Historical Society Bulletin, the hippie Mecca of Nimbin, NSW, was named after the small hairy creatures that Aborigines said A light-fingered Lilliputian Folklorist Aldo Massola, author of Bunjil's Cave,’ heard similar stories of little hairy men, known locally as net-nets, from Aborigines at Lake Condah, Victoria, in the 1950s and early 1960s. As well as being hairy and very small, net-nets were said to have claws instead of fingernails and toenails. They were mischievous but harmless, and were believed to live in natural hollows among jumbled heaps of boulders. Andrew Arden told of encountering one in about 1932, while hunting with his wife in the Stony Rises near the lake. He had just shot a rabbit when "one of the little people" suddenly appeared, seized the carcass and ran 58 = NEXUS APRIL — MAY 2007 lived in the area. www.nexusmagazine.com