ARE yowies living in the Macleay?
One man seems to think so.
Rex Gilroy has been chasing the elusive ‘hairy man’ for more than 50 years and he thinks the Upper Macleay might hold the answers as to whether such a creature exists.
Tales of huge, hairy ape-like men have been passed down through the ages and countless hunting and research expeditions have been launched to find them, though with little success.
So why does Mr Gilroy think he will succeed where thousands before him have failed?
Well for starters, no-one has more knowledge of one of the world’s most elusive creatures than this self-proclaimed ‘Yowie Man’.
Since discovering a reference to an ancient ‘hairy man’ in a book about Aboriginal folklore as a 14 year-old schoolboy in Sydney’s west, Mr Gilroy has endeavoured to prove such creatures really do exist.
True, he has had his fair share of critics and hoax sightings, but the research he has assembled in his half-century search is quite staggering.
Fossil, stone tool and footprint cast evidence has led Mr Gilroy to believe that the yowie spoken of in Aboriginal folklore is not the stereotypical 2.5m tall, 250kg ape-man, but instead a surviving species of early human.
Mr Gilroy believes the ‘hairy people’ spoken of in indigenous legends are in fact early hominids, notably Homo erectus, a species that was thought to have died out some 20,000 years ago.
No firm evidence of Homo erectus habitation has ever been found in Australia, but Mr Gilroy is adamant there are small pockets of the species living in remote regions such as the Carrai-Bellbrook wilds, and he is planning a research expedition to the area in September.
“I’ve been up that way a few times over the years,” he said.
“It’s an area perfect for this kind of research. People have disappeared up there and never been found again so it makes sense these mysterious creatures could have gone unnoticed.”
Mr Gilroy hopes to spend between two and three weeks in the area, making observations and looking for physical evidence of yowie existence.
He will be accompanied by his wife, Heather, and friend and cryptozoologist Greg Foster.
The trio will set up a special night camera, to be placed in an area where sightings have been made on and off in recent years, and also carry plenty of plaster should fresh footprints be uncovered.
“I don’t want to catch one of these creatures, all I’m out to prove is it exists and if so, that it’s protected,” Mr Gilroy said.
“I’m realistic, even if I got a picture of a relic hominid on film I wouldn’t publish it unless it was A1 clear ... but we’ve got a good team who know how to be quiet and sit down and wait for something to walk past, so to speak.
“We’ll take only photos and leave only footprints, though if I find any yowie footprints I’ll definitely make a cast of them.”
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