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For
many disbelievers only a personal experience could ever convince them
of the Yowie's existence.
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To
read excerpts from
GIANTS FROM
THE DREAMTIME
The YOWIE in Myth and Reality
Click any Below Chapter (eg: Chapter
1 )
Contents / About the Author / Dedications / Acknowledgements / Forward / Introduction
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11 Chapter 12 / Chapter 13 / Chapter 14 / Chapter 15 / Chapter 16 / Chapter 17 / Chapter 18 / Chapter 19 / Chapter 20 / Chapter 21
Chapter 2 Below 
Early Settlers Tales of Southern New South Wales
While Aboriginal knowledge
of the Yowie dates back countless thousands of years, when exactly our early
European settlers first heard of, or came into contact with the creatures
is something of a mystery, and appears to involve surprisingly, voyages to
Australia centuries before Captain James Cook [1770].
Irish scholar, Jonathan Swift [1667-1745]. in "A Voyage To the Country
of the Houyhnhnms", part of his "Gulliver's Travels" [1726]
appears to conceal in his book information about Australia that could only
have come from ancient Chinese writings, in his time not generally known in
Europe; for he describes a hairy ape-like race known in that land as the Yahoos.
As the Dutch, beginning with Willem Jansz [or Janzoon] in 1606, had visited
Australia throughout the 17th century their geographic descriptions of the
continent - excluding the east coast, which they did not explore - would have
been available to Swift. Yet the Dutch knew nothing of the Yowie; this word,
like Yahoo, was almost exclusively an eastern Australian name for the "hairy
man" [the name 'Yowie' has also been recorded from Tasmania]. Both names
do, however, appear in ancient Chinese literature describing a race of primitive
man-ape like beasts that inhabited the mysterious "Great South Land of
Chui Hiao".
There seems no other way in which Swift could have obtained his information
other than from merchants who traded with China in his day. And Chinese merchant
junks are also known to have visited England in the 17th century.
In the course of his adventures Gulliver takes command of a merchant ship,
'the Adventure', of 350 tones. Sailing from Portsmouth on the 7th of September,
1710 he intended trading with the 'Indians' in the South Sea. However, his
crew mutinied and confined him to his cabin. After sailing for many weeks,
and not knowing what course the mutineers had taken, on the 9th May, 1711
Gulliver was at last marooned on a strange shore.
Here he soon discovered human-like footprints made by several 'animals' that
he spotted in a nearby field.
Hiding among the bushes, Gulliver observed their physical appearance. They
had heads and breasts covered with thick brown hair. They had beards like
goats, and a long ridge of hair down their backs, and the foreparts of the
their legs and feet. The rest of their bodies were bare so that he was able
to see their skins, which were of a brown buff colour.
They did not have tails nor hair on their buttocks. They walked upon two legs
with a stooped appearance. The females were not as large as the males, with
long hair on their heads and only a sort of down on the rest of their bodies.
"I never beheld in all my Travels so disagreeable an Animal". he
says.
Gulliver is soon confronted by no less than 40 of these ape-like beasts. He
escapes them and meets two horses who are able to converse in a strange language.
He soon learns that his companions are Houyhnhnms, two of a race of talking
horses that rule the land. Gulliver hears them frequently use the word 'Yahoo',
which he quickly discovers is the name of the ape-like creatures.
My readers can pursue the full story for themselves in "Gulliver's Travels".
What is important about this story is that the word 'Yahoo' and a description
of Australia's "hairy man" somehow came to the attention of Jonathan
swift in far off Ireland at least 50 years before Cook's arrival in Botany
Bay.
The suggestion is that, in the course of their voyages into south-east Asia
and beyond, ancient Chinese traders and explorers ventured into Australian
waters, eventually to find and explore our east coast.
They must have spent considerable time hereabouts; time in which they established
friendly relations with our Aboriginal people, from whom they presumably learnt
of the mysterious "hairy man" or 'Yahoo', also known as the Yowie.
A 1st century AD Chinese scholar, Pan Ku, recorded the extent of Chinese voyages.
Most of his writings are now lost. The southern region of the world, he claimed,
was the location of a great land, inhabited by sub-humans call Ya hu's, a
race of hairy man-like monsters. He also described pouched animals, such as
the kangaroo.
Surviving fragments of a book, "Classic of animals of mountains and air",
written some time around 600 BC, besides describing various animal and bird
species of China and south-east Asia, includes also the "southern land
of Chui Hiao", where besides the kangaroo, there is the description of
a hairy man-ape like creature called the Ya hoo. It is also called the Ku
ei, or "fearful manlike creature". The words 'You ee' and 'Yow ee'
are also used to describe these manbeasts in another natural science fragment
of the same period.
"Atlas of Foreign Countries", a book written between 265 and 316
AD describes the far north coast of the mysterious great south land as being
inhabited by a race of one-metre tall pygmies - an obvious reference to the
pygmy-sized Aboriginals of the far north Queensland jungles.
Another Chinese book, "The Classics of Shan Hai King", written some
time before 338 BC, describes our Aborigines and their use of the boomerang,
while other writings speak of their ability in hurling spears long distances
with the aid of the woomera.
Besides kangaroos other chronicles suggest Chinese mariners were familiar
with the koala and 'giant birds' [the Emu?]. These writings also warn mariners
who sail to the "southern land of Chui Hiao" to beware: gigantic
man-like monsters roamed the land, and would eat any Chinamen who were unfortunate
enough to meet up with one of these cannibal giants.
The above revelations make it quite clear that the ancient Chinese were familiar
with Australia and its animal, as well as human [Aboriginal] inhabitants who
they showed, were quite distinct from the hairy manbeast creatures.
The mystery remains as to how Jonathan Swift obtained his information on the
Yahoo. Perhaps Swift's book might have been known to some of the 'First Fleeters',
and it appears that the Yowie or Yahoo began attracting attention shortly
after the establishment of the settlement in Sydney Cove in 1788..
Excerpts
from my 2001 Book "Giants From the Dreamtime-The Yowie in Myth and Reality.
Available Now. To Order Your Copy Details Are On The Main
Homepage.
To Continue Reading Click On Image 
Or 
Below For Chapter 3
Chapter
3
Early Settlers
Tales of Northern New South Wales
Chapter 3
Click any Below Chapter (eg: Chapter 1 )
Contents / About the Author / Dedications / Acknowledgements / Forward / Introduction
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11 Chapter 12 / Chapter 13 / Chapter 14 / Chapter 15 / Chapter 16 / Chapter 17 / Chapter 18 / Chapter 19 / Chapter 20 / Chapter 21
All Images & Text are
© Rex Gilroy 1959-2002 &
Beyond or Subsequent Photographers.
All
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