Europeans had been reporting sightings of 'hairy men' in the Jamieson, and the adjoining Cedar valley since the 19th century, while Aboriginal traditions indicate the region was inhabited by the Yowies for untold thousands of years before then. Indeed, local tribesmen venearted the 'Ruined Castle', a prominent Jamieson Valley rock formation as a sacred 'Yowie Dreaming' site, believing the creatures often slept in the surrounding rock overhangs and caves of the 'Castle' area.
To the Aboriginals, particularly the mountain tribes, the mere mention of the word (Yowie) was enough to inspire fear, causing scared looks and frightened exclamations, so convinced were they of the creature's existence...
The early legends of the tribespeople concerning the Yowies cover a wide area of the continent, including Tasmania, with the largest concentration of traditions occuring throughout the length and breadth of the eastern Australian mountain ranges, from Victoria through to far north Queensland. New Guinea and New Zealand must also be included here, for these landmasses also have their own rich store of 'manimal' traditions to be examined in due course.
Gargantuan hominids in Pleistocene Australia?
Aborigines
of the Blue Mountains central-western NSW region believed in a race of gargantuan
hominids which they called "Barrmi Birgoo" or "giant fella taller
than a gumtree".
Aboriginal Traditions Myths and Legend...
The most common 'hairy man' was undoubtedly that which existed throughout the eastern Australia mountain ranges (although I have found they also occurred elsewhere in Australia in ancient times). They were known by many names depending upon the numerous dialects spoken by the Aboriginal people, but all translated to the same meaning-'hairy man'.
The Yowies were described as standing, in the case of males, 2m to 2.6m tall, being hairy, muscular creatures; whereas the females were smaller, at around 1.5m tall, with less hair, of lighter build and with long pendulous breasts. The head of these creatures differed from Aborigines, in that they were long and narrow in shape.
The general Appearance of these primitive beings recalls Homo erectus (Java Man), as will be demonstrated anon.
According to the Aborigines, the sounds emitted by these 'hairy people' varies from grunts to howling. They wandered the remoter forest regions of the eastern mountains ranges, often in small family groups, sometimes in pairs or singularly, sleeping in caves, rock overhangs or in open forest depending upon weather conditions.
They were known to make fire, manufacture crude stone and wooden tools and killing animals for food, as well as feeding upon nuts, roots and berries. They were to be territorial by nature, regarding any place in which they were temporarily in occupation of as if their own, chasing out any rival groups of their own kind, and also any Aborigines who chanced to wander into their territory.
Aboriginal Yowie Encounters...
Ngaut-Ngaut, the blood sucking hairy man of Western Victoria, was said to kill and eat any Aborigines that strayed into his domain. These average human height beings were called Dyirri-Dyirritch by the Swan Hill district tribespeople, who said these cannibals preyed upon the Aborigines throughout the Murray River region of New South Wales/Victoria.
The Dyirri-Dyirritch would dig a deep trench in which he placed an upright spear, then camouflage the top with bracken. Any Aborigine falling in would be impaled on the spear, Dyirri-Dyirritch then roasted and ate his victim.
The Wallanthagang hairy manbeasts of the far south coastal tribes were described as small human-like creatures that inhabited the tea-tree scrub and forest of the Cambewarra Mountain area, which lies slightly north of the Shoalhaven River, at the southern end of the Kangaroo Valley.
From here to Port Hacking they were known as the Waladhegarra or 'little hairy people'. They shared the region with the Mumuga, hairy men of great strength. They were smelly creatures, defecating all the time, and would chase Aborigines who approached thier rock lairs with loud cries and throwing large stones.
While the name Yowie was commonly applied by the tribespeople to these primitive hominids, we can see they were known by many other names as well.
On the northern side of the Grose Valley, deep in the Blue Mountains, extending northwards through the vast reaches of the Wollongambie Wilderness, the Darkinjung tribespeople feared a malevolent hairy manbeast called by them Ghindaring. His body hair was said to be reddish, and he was associated with volcanoes (still active hereabouts a few thousand years ago).
These creatures wandered the mountainside, and Aborigines kept clear of them lest they became the next cannibal meal of one of these monsters.
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