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Brett Green Yowie Drama

Yowie / Bigfoot

HOAX 3

Then two of his close friends told me that Green claimed to have been knighted by the queen.
The John Green genealogy web site were also told this by Brett himself.
Then I found out he had obtained the "knighthood" from he principality of Hutt River.


"Then two of his close friends told me that Green claimed to have been knighted by the queen."

(Part 2)

As mentioned on the previous page, who exactly is "me"? Mike Williams is the author but it is unclear as to whether Williams is relating a personal account or what Harrison (or someone else) told him. In any case, who are the "two of his [Green's] close friends" who related the claim in the first place? Do they not stand by their statement? If someone claimed to be an astronaut would they have believed that as well?

So exactly how was it "found out" that Green "obtained the 'knighthood' from he principality of Hutt River"? Is there any documentation to support this claim? If so then where is it?

Looking further, there is only 1 internet reference to the term "Sir Brett Green" but it refers to a different Brett Green and is clearly said as a complimentary jest.

There is nothing to support this claim of hoax.
Again, just because someone says "It is so" doesn't mean that it is and even if Green did say to his close friends that he had been knighted it was most likely said in jest. We Aussies are renown for that kind of humour.

Green Man

The Green Man motif has many variations. Found in many cultures from many ages around the world, the Green Man is often related to natural vegetative deities. It is primarily interpreted as a symbol of rebirth, representing the cycle of growth each spring. Some speculate that the mythology of the Green Man developed independently in the traditions of separate ancient cultures and evolved into the wide variety of examples found throughout history.

17-08-2013

HOAX 4

 Then there was the saga of the "Tales of a Warrior" which purported to show Brett`s uncle John Green living with aboriginals in QLD and finding evidence of pyramids and yowies.

   This faked diary was supplied to universities in QLD by Brett Green after a mystery fire destroyed the original.So no one could check..

   The Green family historian`s told me the following re Sir Brett`s claims.

   "John Green lived at Tongarra until his death in 1889 and is buried in the cemetery of All Saints Church of England, Albion Park. The family man and Aussie battler revealed in The Green Book is a very different person from the emotional, opinionated writer of the Green 'diaries'."

The quote above is not referenced but the original source quotes material by Gympie historian Dr. Elaine Brown who investigated Brett Green's sensational claims and found them to "pure fiction":

These books were purportedly based on diaries written by Green’s direct ancestor, John Green (1819-1889), a pioneer of the Illawarra District in New South Wales, who is supposed to have ridden on horseback through south-east Queensland on various occasions between 1850 and the 1880s. The thread of mysterious ruins and legends runs through the stories.

From the time the first book, The Legend of Gympie, was published, many readers suspected that something was wrong with Green’s claims. The content of the Green ‘diaries’ contradicted surviving records in three important areas: local history, the history of the Green family, and Aboriginal history. Nearly every page contained errors of historical fact, and the list of references at the end included many books that had nothing to do with the topics covered. The book was illustrated with unsourced photos of Aborigines from different parts of Australia, and with ‘enhanced reproductions’ (digitally altered photos) of ‘mystery stone sculptures’ of ‘Dhamuri’.

These questionable characteristics continued in the books that followed, and it became clear that, whoever wrote the Green ‘diaries’, they were not authentic and the Tales of a Warrior series was pure fiction.

The first problem for Brett Green is that the original ‘diaries’ are not available for examination. He claims they were destroyed in a fire at his family home on Red Hill, Gympie. There was such a fire on 19 October 1984, but records show that the Fire Brigade arrived promptly and that only the lounge room was affected.

The second problem is that other members of the Green family deny that their ancestor John Green ever came to Queensland. They say that he could not have written the ‘diaries’ because he was illiterate, and he could not have jumped into a flooded creek to rescue an Aboriginal boy because he could not swim. In addition, the signature published by Brett Green as that of John Green is quite different from the signature shown on official documents, such as John Green’s will.

Green family historians Grayeme and Lynne Bone have produced a well-researched family history, The Green Book, which tells the stories of John Green, his two wives, his sixteen surviving children, and their many thousands of descendants through six or more generations.

According to the Green family, John Green was a farm labourer from Lincolnshire, England, who migrated to Sydney in 1844 with his wife Mary Vickers and eventually settled on a farm at Tongarra, near Dapto. Mary died in 1854, leaving four children, and John then married Mary Iles, who had twelve children. John Green lived at Tongarra until his death in 1889 and is buried in the cemetery of All Saints Church of England, Albion Park. The family man and Aussie battler revealed in The Green Book is a very different person from the emotional, opinionated writer of the Green ‘diaries’.

Brett Green’s third problem concerns the Aboriginal vocabularies and legends he has published. Aboriginal words with variant spellings and remarkable pronunciations have been concocted from existing, authentic vocabularies. Aboriginal legends that reveal a cosmology quite different from that of traditional stories – involving, for example, Sun Gods and Moon Goddesses – have been created. The language of the diaries is quaint in both construction and vocabulary. Why, for example, would John Green call mangroves ‘sea trees’, and talk about Aboriginal ‘sacred sites’ a century before this term became part of the Australian way of thinking?

Then there are the ‘eye-witness’ accounts of Aboriginal customs. John Green’s accounts of supposed Aboriginal sexual practices, orgies, disembowelments and massacres may titillate some readers, but others find them distasteful, even pornographic. The sensational passages in which they occur are similar to late 20th century writing and are at odds with writings from more inhibited Victorian times.

The maps produced by the author to show Aboriginal ‘territories’ in the Gympie District are another problem. The first general surveys of the Upper Mary River and coastal country were not carried out until the mid-1860s, and detailed maps came later. How could a roving white horseman of the mid-nineteenth century define Aboriginal boundaries on uncharted land?


Aboriginal people find it difficult enough to prove their association with particular lands using authentic, surviving records and traditions. Any claims they might make could only be confused by the fictions that appear in the Tales of a Warrior series.

Like Rex Gilroy, Brett Green believes there are government and academic conspiracies afoot, preventing his ‘truths’ from becoming accepted, and people who are inclined to believe conspiracy theories are inclined to believe him.

Gilroy and Green have followers who are interested in their theories. Some are people who will swallow anything, especially if it is said with confidence and earnestness, but there are also many who do not have the means to check out what is asserted.

In my work as a local and family historian, I find that most people are keen to reach the truth, and are prepared to devote themselves to genuine research – a process that finds facts, challenges fictions and debunks hoaxes.

- Elaine Brown

Illawarra

In 1997, I offered to organize a reunion for a relative ( unfortunately) who was supposed to be writing the family history of John Green, my ggrandfather who arrived in 1844 from England with wife Mary (Vickers). They settled in the Illawarra & had 6 children, before Mary died. John remarried to my ggrandmother Mary Annie Iles and had a further 12 children. The first generation of Greens spread to Sydney, Central Coast, Clarence River & Nanango in Qld.

Glenreagh seemed a sensible place to call all descendants together to help this bloke put our genealogy together. During the time I was organizing the reunion I got suspicious of his knowledge & intent. He had written 5 books already, but I couldn't get copies. Came the reunion & his speech to the 400/500 gathered, left jaws dropped & eyes wide open. He had poor old John, working for Mrs Macarthur at Macarthur Farm, fighting with the Red Coats at Eureka Stockade etc etc. His geography was atrocious, he had some birth certs info ie born Tongarra, but had added on the Clarence River.

He gave us copies of one of his books from the series ( Transcribed from the diaries & notes of John & James Green - 1820 to 1938). BUT these "diaries" had been "tragically" burnt in a housefire, but "luckily" had been transcribed previously & stored elsewhere, so "all was not lost". They told the story of John Green making regular trips (& later of his son James accompanying him) from the Illawarra to the Mary River.Qld One trip took 3 days!!!

In 1851, supposedly while searching for new sheep grazing lands, he came upon a young aboriginal boy drowning in the river, of course he saved him & that became a lifelong association, recorded in his "diaries" & the basis of his books. (Trouble with this was, our John Green signed his marriage register with his mark X )

I cried for days until, Grayeme told me to pull myself together, get the right information & he would write a true version on Our John Green.

In 1999, we launched our book "The Green Book", at John's grave at All Saint Church, Albion Park with the help of the best big family you could wish for ( bar one).

- Lynne Bone

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.

However, again, this is old news and the credit for investigating and exposing this belongs to Dr. Elaine Brown.

The images purported to be of the mythical Yowie in “Yowie Tales” were indeed inappropriately taken from the “Next of Kin” episode of the BBC’s “Walking With Beasts” series. This may have direct legal consequences for self-published author Brett Green. Dean Harrison and Gary Opit duly deserve credit for this discovery.

Credit for investigating and uncovering hoaxes 2 (photographs of fake artefacts) & 4 (the fictional ‘diary’ of John Green), however, belongs to Dr Elaine Brown.

However, hoax 3 (claim of knighthood) is completely unsubstantiated. Indeed, to even describe it as a “hoax” is somewhat absurd.

The implications of Brett Green’s storytelling and fakery upon the wider “Yowie Research” community (of which I am largely an outsider peering in) will be examined in future articles.