Yowie
The
official Webpage of the Abominable Snowman Internet Resource Study Group. Reams
of facts, views, history & fun on the elusive creature,
Where
you need to go, if you are interested in the Yeti
In
a modern context, Yowie is the generic (and somewhat affectionate) term for the
unidentified hominid reputed to lurk in the Australian wilderness. It is an Australian
cryptid analogous to the Himalayan Yeti and the North American Bigfoot.
Rather
confusingly, Yowie (or "Yowie-Whowie") is also the name of a completely
different mythological character in native Australian Aboriginal folklore. This
version of the Yowie is said to be a bizarre, hybrid beast resembling a cross
between a lizard and an ant. It emerges from the ground at night to eat whatever
it can find, including humans. This creature's characteristics and legend are
sometimes interchangeable with those of the bunyip.
The origin of the term
"Yowie" in the context of unidentified hominids is unclear. Some presume
that it simply arose through confusion with the aforementioned Aboriginal legend.
On the other hand, Jonathan Swift's yahoos from Gulliver's Travels are sometimes
cited as a source. The word "Yowie" was also apparently a slang term
for the Orang-utan in Victorian England.
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The earliest published reference to the word in
its current usage is in Donald Friend's 'Hillendiana' (Friend, 31), a collection
of stories about the goldfields near Hill End in New South Wales. Friend refers
to the "Yowie" as a species of "bunyip", an Aboriginal term
used to describe monsters said to dwell in many Australian rivers and lakes. Researcher
Rex Gilroy popularised the word in newspaper articles during the 1970's and 1980's
(Healy & Cropper, p.13).
Reports of Yowie-type creatures are common
in the legends and stories of Australian Aboriginal tribes, particularly those
of the eastern states of Australia (Healy & Cropper, p.6). The mid to late
19th Century saw a wealth of sightings, most describing a large, gorilla-like
creature (albeit usually bipedal), which lived in remote mountainous or forested
regions. Reports have continued to the present day with the trail of evidence
following the pattern familiar to most unidentified hominids around the world
- i.e. eyewitness accounts, mysterious footprints of hotly-disputed origin, and
a frustrating lack of conclusive proof.
Australian cryptozoologist Rex
Gilroy has attempted to popularise the scientific term Gigantopithecus australis
for the creature (without support from the Australian scientific community), based
on his theory that they comprise a relict population of the extinct ape Gigantopithecus.
There is, however, no evidence that Gigantopithecus ever existed in Australia.
