And There Were Giants

And There Were Giants

By: Rex Gilroy
Psychic Australian
Date: October 1976

Online Source

The History of Yowie Research

Fossil Australians could have been 12 ft tall and 600 pounds.

Giant Tool Making Hominids NSW

In old Pleistocene river gravels near Bathurst, N.S.W. huge stone artifacts-clubs, pounders, adzes, chisels, knives and hand-axes-all of tremendous weight, lie scattered over a wide area. A fossicker searching the Winburndale River north of Bathurst discovered a large quartzitised fossil human molar tooth, far too big for any normal modern human. A similar molar of chert fossilisation was also recovered from ancient deposits near Dubbo, N.S.W. Prospectors working in the Bathurst district over 40 years ago frequently reported coming across large human footprints in shoals of red jasper.
     Some of these have been rediscovered over the years and give every appearance of being of great antiquity. The point raised by these discoveries is that there once existed on the Australian continent giant tool-making hominids who preceeded the aborigines (Austroloids)by many thousands of years. For, it is certain that the aborigines were never the first inhabitants of this continent. Even they admit in their ancient folklore that this land was inhabited by many races of man, as well as giants, long before them.

Dutch paleontologist, Ralph von Koenigswald

     Scientific interest in the former existence of giants dates back to 1934 when the Dutch paleontologist, Ralph von Koenigswald, came across a tooth in a Hong Kong chemist shop, which, he later said 'made his hair stand on end'. For the tooth was far larger than and normal human's. In fact, this tooth (a third lower Molar) was up to six times greater in volume to that of a modern man. Here was the molar tooth of a giant. Fossil teeth of all kinds have been used for generations. Crushed to a fine powder they were considered to be a potent aphrodisiac. Two years later Koenigswald discovered a second tooth in a Canton chemist shop, this time it was an upper molar.
     This find was added to again in 1939 by a third lower molar. Von Keorigswald estimated that, had the creature been intact, it would have stood at least 13 ft. high. He named the creature Gigantopithicus, meaning 'giant ape'. Von Koenigswald's search for giants took him to Java, where in 1941 he unearthed the fragment of an enormous jawbone containing three teeth. These teeth were even more man-like in appearance than those of the Gigantopithicus but where slightly smaller. Von Koenigswald named this new find Meganthropus, or 'Giant Java Man'.

Gigantopithicus and Meganthropus

     Since the initial discoveries of von Koenigswald there have been further finds of both Gigantopithicus and Meganthropus, in China, the Near east, Africa and South-East Asia, indicating these beings existed over a considerably wide range. There is also considerable scientific argument favouring a more man-like designation for the Gigantopithicus than the original 'ape' tag given by von Koenigswald. The trouble with most scientists is their reluctance to admit to the former existence of giant humans of considerable size in ancient times. There is, in fact, no physical barrier whatsoever for giant human beings to have existed in the past.

Giants

     Every form of life that has existed upon this earth has gone through it's 'giant' period. There have been giant plants, giant insects, giant reptiles, birds and fish. Why not also giant humans? From the excavations of Professor J. Mulvaney in south-western New South Wales it is now established that aboriginal man inhabited Australia at least 40,000 years ago. It is now also accepted that the aborigines co-existed with many now long extinct marsupial species in a lush, tropical environment at a time when the northern part of our continent was connected to mainland Asia by a land-bridge, of which the islands of South-East Asia are but a surviving remnant. This bridge was submerged toward the end of the last great ice-age, perhaps 20,000 years ago when the melting ice throughout the world raised the ocean levels a further 300 feet or more, inundating large tracts of low-lying land. Thus the aborigines were isolated on the Australian continent.

Pre-Aboriginal Races

     Just how long ago our earliest inhabitants appeared is still very much a mystery. Australian archaeology is still in its infancy and it may be many years before we know the full story of the earliest people to inhabit this continent. As an open minded field archaeologist I have never been able to accept the 'traditional' view that our only first inhabitants were the aborigines. Spurred on by this belief, many years ago I began extensive field investigations and excavations in the hope of unearthing supporting evidence for my theory. My first thought was that if races of man had indeed occupied this continent before the appearance of the aborigines, evidence for their prior existence would have to be found from areas which would have supported life during the period prior to the know appearance of the aborigines.

Bathurst District

     Several likely areas for commencing my search came to mind, but it was the geological features of the Bathurst district which finally drew me to commence my investigations thereabouts. During the latter part of the last ice-age, swamps and lakes with extensive tracts of forests and grasslands covered much of what is now central western New South Wales. These conditions supported the large population of marsupials that inhabited this region at that time and this included the many now long extinct species of larger creatures such as Diprotodon, the giant kangaroos and other species. It was while examining a geological map depicting extinct water courses of the central west of New South Wales that I discovered the former courses of the Macquarie River which had dried up many thousands of years before the coming of the aborigines.
     Following an extensive field inspection covering many miles of the former course of the Macquarie River, I decided upon a number of digs into layers which had once formed the original bank of the extinct river. These digs, however,led to nothing. It was only much later, while on a hunch exploring the original Macquarie River course some miles south of Bathurst, that I located a section where the river once cut deep into a hillside to create a gorge 100 ft. high. The general layout of the area, with its many stratified geological layers, immediately reminded me of the famous Olduvai Gorge of Tanzania, in East Africa where the late Louis B. Leakey discovered fossil remains that have pushed the age of man back millions of years.

Test Digs

     A test dig was soon begun on the east bank deposits, unearthing a large chopper, a chisel and hand axe, displaying a basic similarity to those once used by Wadjak Man of Java. I soon established a second dig on the opposite (west) bank, and found implements displaying considerably more modern innovations in their knapping technique. No normal human hand could have held these implements with ease, most of them weighed anything from 8 to 10 lbs. Geological evidence indicated the former river level to be 100 ft. above this site, at the gorge, where I found more extensive deposits of large stone tools.All artifacts at these sites were of jasper (the hardest rock of this region) as well as silicate and chert.

Half a mile away I found among other tools a great club weighing 21 lbs. Displaying a handle chipped out to form a gripping surface and thumb rest for a mighty hand larger than any living man's. By now I had not the slightest doubt that a race of giant hominids once occupied the Australian continent. Pondering these finds I asked myself if these sites represented three tool-type developmental phases in the history of the race of giant men, or did they represent three distinct races of giants? Over following months I numbered other sites, and at one of these, site 5, I recovered a huge hand-axe, 25 lbs. in weight, which makes it the heaviest stone artifact yet found at Bathurst. My analysis of these digs can be summarised as follows.

The Late Phase

     "The Late Phase": The youngest (surface) deposits at bed 1, site 1 are not more than 10,000 years old, whilst those of the deepest strata are at least 35,000 years old, thus the period of occupation of this camp site extended over 25,000 years.

The Middle Phase

     "The Mid Phase": The bed 3 deposits at site 1 cover an extensive area, at least 100 square yards and to a depth of 6 ft. Geological evidence at both bed 3 site 1 and site 3 has provided an age of about 60,000 years. The site 5 occupation layers date to 30,000 years and further excavations there have since revealed aboriginal artifacts, implying a period of giant occupation of 30,000 years and also that the site was shared by both giants and aboriginals in the same period.

The Lower Phase

     "The Lower Phase": The site 2 artifacts had been considered to be the oldest culture site of the 'Bathurst Giants'. The site was given a date of 60,000 years, that is, until I discovered sites 4 and 6, both of which possessed identical stratified layers which could be accurately dated back 240,000 years. Not only have these findings indicated that the giants of the "Lower Phase" occupied the Bathurst district for a remarkable 180,000 years, but that sites 4 and 6 have provided the oldest stone-age artifacts so far discovered across the Australian continent.

Bathurst Stone Tools

Bathurst Giants

The above findings provide evidence to prove the existence at Bathurst of three distinct races of tool-making giants, each of which introduced a new style of stone artifact manufacture. But just how tall were the Bathurst Giants? Many of the huge artifacts recovered from the Bathurst occupation sites weigh anything from 8, 10, 15, to 21 and 25 lbs., implements which only men of tremendous proportions could possibly have made and used. Estimates for the actual size of these men range from 10 to 12 ft. tall and over, weighing anything from 500 to 600 pounds or more. There were, however, even taller giants. From fossiliferous deposits north of bed 3 site 1, I excavated from a depth of

6 ft. below the surface a fossil lower back molar tooth measuring 67 mm. in length by 50 mm. times 42 mm.across the crown.
     From a reconstruction of the probable size of the original jaw from which this molar tooth came we arrive at a complete jaw of approximately 42 cms. in length, 36 cms. wide and with a depth of about 90 cm. The Cranium must therefore have been 60 cm. in length across the dome, by 21 cm. depth. Thus, the complete skull must have been 110cm. depth, about 36cm. wide and 60 cm. in length. Of course I wish my readers to regard these measurements as nothing more than suppositions. But, if my measurements are approximately correct, the enormous beast to whom this hypothetical skull belongs to would have been at least 25 ft. tall, weighing well over 1,000 lbs!

Gigantopithicus

     The crown formation of the tooth is identical to other examples recovered from Java, China and Africa and which belonged to the Gigantopithicus, who lived half a million years ago; the primitive supposed ape-like creature said to have been 13 ft. tall, and which, since its initial discovery from a single molar recovered by von Koenigswald in China in 1934 has caused considerable controversy. Scientists have been adamant to link such a huge beast directly with man since "no human could have possibly been that big", as they put it. However, the late author and anthropologist, Ivan T. Sanderson, who actually examined the available jaws and teeth of these creatures, put forward a renewed claim now becoming generally accepted by the academic world that the Giantopithecines were hominids and therefore tool makers. The Bathurst giant molar tooth is, however, not the only relic of its kind to come from this district. A second, smaller fossil molar, measuring 5.8 cm. width also came from deposits nearby. Both relics, by their degree of fossilisation indicate a considerable antiquity and are at least 500,000 years old.

Ancient Giants

     Evidence of giant pre historic men in Australia is not confined to the Bathurst district. At Gympie, in southern Queensland a few years ago, a farmer, Mr Keith Walker, was ploughing his field when he turned up a large fragment of the back portion of a jaw which still possessed the hollow for a missing lower back molar tooth. The relic, which was later donated to me, now rests in my natural history collection as a valued relic of Australia's ancient past. A comparison with other, more complete fossilised jaws from Asia, indicates that the creature to whom the Gympie jaw belonged was at least 10 ft. tall, the height reached by the giant Java Man, Meganthropus. Geological tests made by a Brisbane University geologist indicate the fossil to be at least no later than 50,000 years old, although there is a likelihood that the relic is much older than that. However, it is from the great size of the many fossilised footprints of giant men that have been found from many parts of Australia that we really get a real indication of the proportions of these giant beings.

Bathurst Fossilised Footprint

Blue Mountains Fossilised Footprints

Take, for example, the many fossilised footprints to be found on the Blue Mountains, some of which I posses in my natural history collection. The Megalong Valley, below the town of Blackheath on the western side of the Blue Mountains has been the site of a number of important fossil discoveries, least of all the fossilised ironstone skull of an extinct form of wombat now in my museum display. Several years ago a Mr. P. Holman, while searching for fossils recovered a large block of ironstone protruding from a creek bank, upon which he could clearly see the deeply impressed print of a large human-like foot. Upon closer examination, the print was found to be that of the instep with all five toes clearly shown.
This footprint measures 7 inches across the toes. Had the footprint been complete it would have been at least 2 ft. in length, which is I find the standard measurement of fossilised footprints of the 12 ft. men. Not all fossilised human footprints are of huge proportions. For six years I continually walked past a large rock which sat at my Mt York Museum front door as a garden decoration not

noticing until one day that there was the almost complete print of a broad footed modern man sized hominid. The print measures 13 cm. across the toes and is 19cm. in length. However, the largest print found on the Blue Mountains to date, although only half-intact and measuring 28 cm. across the toes and 30 cm. in length, would surely, had it been complete, have measured at least 60 cm. length.

     This interesting fossil, even by its remaining proportions, must have been made by a being at least 20 ft. or more tall. This print brings to mind the half preserved fossil (instep) print found a few miles west of Cowra, N.S.W. Preserved in mudstone, the print is at least twice the size of the Katoomba example and is certainly the largest such print on this continent. Some, if not all of these fossilised footprints, both large and small, raise serious questions concerning the actual true antiquity of man in Australia, which at present are very difficult to answer without provoking heated arguments among conventional university-orientated archaeologists who do not allow themselves to step beyond the confines of aboriginal prehistory.
     An example is the set of three huge footprints discovered a few years ago near Mulgoa, south of Penrith, N.S.W. These prints each measuring 2 ft. in length and 7 inches across the toes are 6 ft. apart, indicating the stride of the 12 ft. giant who left them. However, it is not their size which has provoked hostile opposition to my claims, but the fact that these prints were preserved by Volcanic lava and ash flows which occurred millions of years before man is supposed to have appeared on the Australian continent.

Aboriginal Folklore {Giant Beings}

     Aboriginal folklore is full of traditions about giant men and women who lived far back in the 'Dreamtime'. According to the former tribes of the Taree district of N.S.W, the giant men and women were so big, that, if they were to enter an aborigine's humpy they would have to crawl in. The Tjangara of western Australian tribal folklore is an enormous 10 ft. tall hairy man-like beast who wanders the hinterland armed with a big stone club, killing and eating anyone he chances to meet. Is the Tjangara a race-memory of the Meganthropus?
     Or, is it a variation of a similar hairy man-like beast known over a wide area of eastern Australia, as the Yowie, or "Great Hairy Man", and of which there have been many reported sightings since last century, even to the present day. Implying the existence of a still-living relative of the Himalayan Yeti (Abominable Snowman) and a link with a primitive Pleistocene hominid fauna which formerly spread out over the connecting land bridge into Australia.These and many more questions relating to our ancient past await an answer. However, one thing is certain, there can be little doubt, as from the mass of huge stone artifacts, the fossil footprints, teeth and other finds, that "there were giants on the Earth in those days".

Rex Gilroy is an Australian who has written articles and self-published books on cryptids and unexplained or speculative phenomena. His work has focused on yowie reports, 'out of place' animals, UFOs, and propositions regarding a 'lost' Australian civilization.

FALSE: "It is now also accepted that the aborigines co-existed with many now long extinct marsupial species in a lush, tropical environment at a time when the northern part of our continent was connected to mainland Asia by a land-bridge, of which the islands of South-East Asia are but a surviving remnant. This bridge was submerged toward the end of the last great ice-age, perhaps 20,000 years ago..."

Wallace's line delineates Australian and Southeast Asian fauna. The probable extent of land at the time of the last glacial maximum, when the sea level was more than 110 m lower than today, is shown in grey. The deep water of the Lombok Strait between Bali and Lombok formed a water barrier even when lower sea levels linked the now-separated islands and landmasses on either side.

(Above) Fossil or just a rock?
If it is a fossilised molar there is nothing to suggest it is human or ape - most likely belonging to one of the extinct species of Australian megafauna.

Professor Dr. Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald
(1902–1982)
Paleontologist and geologist

Meganthropus has been the target of numerous extreme claims, none of which are supported by recent peer-reviewed authors. Perhaps the most common claim is that Meganthropus was a giant, one unsourced claim put them at 9 feet (2.75 m) tall and 750 to 1000 pounds (340 to 450 kilograms). No exact height has been published in a peer reviewed journal recently, and none give an indication of Meganthropus being substantially larger than H. erectus. However, earlier estimates from the 1940s and 1950's based primarily on the very large Sangiran No. 6 jaw fragment led Prof. Franz Weidenreich, and several other anthropologists to conclude Meganthropus was indeed a giant, and substantially larger than any H. erectus, perhaps on the order of 2 to 4 times the body mass. This fact seems to be born out in Von Koenigswald's and Weidenreich's decision to name the taxon in 1942, "Meganthropus palaeojavanicus" which in Neo-Latin translates to "great or large man of ancient Java."

There have been some rumors of post-cranial material, but those have either yet to be published or belong to H. erectus. Reports, most if not all apparently from Australian researcher Rex Gilroy, place Meganthropus in Australia, and attach it to giant tools and even modern day reports. However, almost all paleoanthropologists maintain that Meganthropus is only known from central Java. In a similar way, some Bigfoot researchers claim that Bigfoot is a modern Meganthropus.

Ivan Terence Sanderson (January 30, 1911 – February 19, 1973) was a biologist and writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Sanderson is remembered for his nature writing and his interest in cryptozoology and paranormal subjects.