Yowie (cryptid)
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| Country | Australia |
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| Region |
Great Dividing Range Northern Territory Australian Capital Territory South Australia Western Australia New South Wales Queensland |
Yowie is one of several names given to a mythical hominid reputed to live in the Australian wilderness. The creature has its roots in Aboriginal oral history. In parts of Queensland, they are known as quinkin (or as a type of quinkin), and as joogabinna, in parts of New South Wales they are called jurrawarra, myngawin, puttikan, gubba, doolaga, gulaga and thoolagal. Other names include yahoo, yaroma, noocoonah, wawee, pangkarlangu, jimbra and tjangara.
Many people discount the existence of the yowie, considering it more likely to be a combination of folklore and hoax. Yowie-type creatures are common in Aboriginal Australian legends, particularly in the eastern Australian states.
The yowie is usually described as a hairy and ape-like creature standing upright at between 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in) and 3.6 m (12 ft). The yowie's feet are described as much larger than a human's, but alleged yowie tracks are inconsistent in shape and toe number, and the descriptions of yowie foot and footprints provided by yowie witnesses are even more varied than those of bigfoot. The yowie's nose is described as wide and flat.
Behaviourally, some report the yowie as timid or shy. Others describe the yowie as sometimes violent or aggressive.
The origin of the name "yowie" to describe unidentified Australian hominids is unclear. Some nineteenth century writers suggested that it arose through Aboriginal legends. Robert Holden recounts several stories that support this from the nineteenth century, including this European account from 1842:
Another story about the name, collected from an Aboriginal source, suggests that the creature is a part of the Dreamtime.
On the other hand, Jonathan Swift's yahoos from Gulliver's Travels, and European traditions of hairy wild men, are also cited as a possible source.
In a column in The Sydney Morning Herald in 1987, columnist Margaret Jones wrote that the first Australian yowie sighting was said to have taken place as early as 1795.
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