Rex Gilroy's 1970 Yowie Sighting

It's huge, hairy and hides in the bush

by Jill Bowen
The Australian Women's Weekly
December 15, 1976

"Then at 3.30 pm on August 7. 1970, Rex says, "I was hiking back from Mt Solitary when I stopped to rest on a rock and eat my sandwiches.

"This creature jumped from behind a tree, scurried through giant ferns and into the rain forest making a grunting, gurgling sound that changed to a screech once itentered the scrub.

"It was covered with hair with no facial features and had the loping gait of an ape. I thought it was a circus orang-outang that had escaped.

"I shot home and told Dad - he's an old miner and he said he'd heard of these things being seen before."

Rex took to literature and read eastern Australian folk tales in which Aborigines describe a creature of "the Yowie or great hairy man."

Why Yowies are Fair Dinkum !

by Rex Gilroy
Australasian Post
August 7, 1980

It was a sunny afternoon, that August 7, 1970, as I was making my way through dense forest country in the rugged Jamieson Valley south of Katoomba, deep in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. The time was 3.30 p.m. when, as I was moving across a densely wooded gully near the Ruined Castle rock formation, my attention was drawn by the sound of breaking foliage 40 yards away to my right.

There, moving upon two legs into dense forest I saw a creature, which up till then I had never seen in all my years of exploring the Australian bush. Although the beast was gone in the undergrowth within seconds, the scene is deeply etched in my mind to this day. Although I never caught sight of the creatures face-it was moving away from me-it was about 5-6ft in height, covered in long dark hair, and moved upright upon two legs with a stooped gait.

I had just caught sight of the Yowie, Australia's answer to America's "Bigfoot" and the equally enigmatic Himalayan Yeti {abominable snowman}.

It was on the afternoon of August 7th 1970 on the western slope of Ruined Castle, overlooking Cedar Valley, that I had my first encounter with a living "hairy man". However, I made the mistake of trusting the press, who quickly lampooned my initial newspaper report in the nationwide media.

The distortions created by the Australian press, radio and TV caused such embarrassment that I soon ceased repeating the story to people, and in the years ahead I rarely mentioned it, even at times denying it in certain quarters.

However, times change and also attitudes, so that I am at last able to relate my experience in my own words, and not as the media failed to report it.

The facts are as follows: I had been climbing Mt Solitary that day and returning from there along the 'saddle' track to Ruined Castle, I decided to go searching for fossils on the steep western slope of the 'Castle' above Cedar Creek. There is thick scrub here and as I picked up slate rocks containing fossil plants on that quiet afternoon, I heard the sounds of breaking foliage and twigs snapping underfoot further down the steep slope.

Chancing to look down among the foliage I saw, about 15 metres away a naked, darkish, hairy skinned male creature approximately 2m in height, moving across the slope from north to south oblivious to my presence. The hominid looked rather primitive, with big eyebrows and hairy arms, and long dark hair trailing down from its head. He appeared to be scavenging, as if looking for fern roots or other bush food with a digging stick.

I watched in silence as he disappeared into the dense scrub, heading southward down the slope in the direction of Cedar Creek. I glanced at my watch. The time was 3.30pm. The mystery hominid had been in view for barely 4-5 minutes. I climbed up the slope in haste to reach the track, as I knew I had to hurry to get out of the valley before sundown.

The hominid I saw was not the 4 ft [1.2 m] long-haired, gorilla-like monstrosity created by the newspaper artists, who in more than one instance claimed myself as the artist responsible for the drawing! Little wonder that today many eyewitnesses are reluctant to approach the media with their own experiences.

August 1976 is the first time Rex Gilroy claimed to have sighted a Yowie some 6 years earlier - a 4ft brownish hairy ape-like animal moving on two legs for a few seconds, didn’t think much about it at the time and wasn’t until months later during a chance reading did he realise it was a “Yowie” or “Great Hairy Man” of the aborigines.

Gilroy later disputes the accuracy of the version (which included grunting and gurgling noises and a screech) recorded in the Australian Women’s Weekly of December that same year but by June 1997 the creature had grown to be between 4 and 5 feet in height and a screech was added to his account.

By 1980 the creature had grown to be between 5 and 6 feet in height and moving quickly with a stooped gait some 40 yards away but with no mention of any vocalisation. In all these versions, Gilroy was unable to see its face.

20 years later and into the new millennium, Gilroy claims to have seen the now 2 metre (7ft) creature for 4 to 5 minutes, gives a description of its facial features, mentions no screeching whatsoever, and sometimes adds that it was also utilising a digging stick whilst chastising the media for failing to get his original story straight!

Go figure...

My own interest in the Yowie stems from a personal experience which happened some years ago in the Jamieson valley several miles south of Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains of N.S.W.

I had been returning from a hike over nearby Mount Solitary when in the vicinity of the Ruined Castle rock formation I caught the glimpse of a brownish hairy ape-like animal moving on two legs through the under growth to disappear within a few seconds into the surrounding rainforest. The creature appeared to be about 4 ft high in height, judging by the height of a fern tree that I had seen the beast brush past. Thinking that I had seen was some escaped circus orangutan or similar species I put the incident aside. Only some months later while on a chance reading of eastern Australian aboriginal myths and legends did I come across numerous references to a mystery hairy man-like beast known as the 'Yowie', or "Great Hairy Man"of the aborigines.

The Ruined Castle has been the scene of numerous occurences involving the Yowie since the 1870's. Now one hundred years later the creatures continue to make their appearances. I have already written of my own first experience with the Yowie (Psychic Australian, august 1976) when on 7 August 1970 I was returning home from a hike over near Mt Solitary. Reaching the base of Ruined Castle I stopped to rest on a rock for a few minutes. As I sat there eating sandwiches, overlooking a sunlit forest glade below I was suddenly surprised by an apelike creature covered in brownish hair moving swiftly on two legs through the undergrowth to disappear within a few seconds in the surrounding rainforest. Moments before the beast had appeared I had looked at my watch, the time was 3.30 pm.

No sooner had the strange beasts disappeared into the rainforest that I heard a loud screeching sound, then all was silent. Dropping the packet of sandwiches I had been eating at the time of the creatures appearance, I left the rock and moved to a tall fern I had seen the creature brush past. Judging by the height of the fern I deduced the height of the hairy beast to be about 4ft to 5ft.