Ouran-Outang People
of Botany Bay
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This section will detail the instances of the "hairy man" and "wild man" reported in the colonial and regional newspapers in order
to get a better understanding of the concepts. The main source of the articles is Trove - the online archive of Australian Newspapers
which is still in the process of growing so relevant articles may be added at a later date as they become available. This is a work
in progress. I am also happy to receive contributions from readers.
Reports of the Wild/Hairy Man
"Wild man of the woods" (also referred to as the "hairy man of the woods") in this instance refers to chimpanzees. Note how they are
also referred to as "large baboons", "ourang-outangs", and "pongos" (defined as an anthropoid ape, esp an orang-utan or (formerly)
a gorilla).
[Source]
In the example on the right, however, "wild man of the woods" refers to a bearded bushman:
The Sydney Gazette reported that George Clarke and Peter Kenny were marched into Sydney town on Saturday 10th December, under the
military escort. The former of these is the man who gave himself up at Bathurst representing that while in the bush he discovered
a river and other important matters. His breast, arms, and shoulders, have been tattooed by the blacks, among whom he says he lived
in great familiarity; round his neck he wears a string of beads made of grass that grows in the direction where he lived; his hair
is long and parted in the middle, and he had not washed the stains from his skin; such is his tout ensemble, that few could have distinguished
him from an aborigine. He reports himself to have been in the bush over three years and says the blacks treated him very well.
Source
The noble savage represents an idealised concept of uncivilized man.
Newspapers also contained fictional stories for their readers entertainment like this one from America.
Full text.
In this instance
"wild man of the woods" referred to a Native American.
.
Kasper Hauser
(30 April 1812 (?) – 17 December 1833) was a German youth who claimed to have grown up in the total isolation of a darkened
cell. Hauser's claims, and his subsequent death by stabbing, sparked much debate and controversy.
ST. PATRICKs DAY, AND THE RACES.
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW)
Date: March 24, 1825
Page Number: 2
A SINGULAR LETTER FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA.
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW)
Date: May 15, 1830
Page Number: 4
SECOND RACE, FOR SIXTY DOLLARS.
Mr. James Badgery's horse, Hector;
Mr. Nash's horse, Hector ;
Mr. Kleusendorlfe's horse, Captain ;
Mr.
H. Cooper's horse, Wildman (bolted);
Captain Piper's mare, Jessy ;
Mr. Hill's mare, My Lady.---(Won by Mr. J. Badgery's bay horse, Hector.)
... Mr William was at this time about eleven months old, but was still at the breast, as I could never prevail on his lovely mother
to wean him, and at the very time of which I am speaking, our little settlement was invaded one night by a tribe of those large baboons
called ourang-outangs, pongos, or wild man of the woods, who did great mischief to our fruits, yams, and carrots.
...
The Australian (Sydney, NSW)
Date: January 6, 1832
Page Number: 3
"Kenny," the wild man of the woods, who reports the discovery of a large river to the northward, is in custody for cattle stealing.
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW)
Date: June 5, 1832
Page Number: 2
When our brethren at Sydney have succeeded in establishing this perfect and complete system of protection, they need not travel beyond the Aborigines of their own country for an illustration of its effects. It may truly be called a natural system, inasmuch as it is discovered in all its vigour in every savage tribe. Some barbarians, indeed, so far relax the principle as to exchange skins for cloth, or ivory for handkerchiefs and iron pots, brought from a far country ; but the noble savage, the genuine wild man, spurns away all unpatriotic accommodation ; naked he was born, naked he will live, and naked he will die.
…
In the afterpiece of Valentine and Orson, Simmons played Orson the wildman with good effect; in the scene where he laments the death
of the bear, his acting was undoubtedly good.
…
The Sydney Monitor (NSW)
Date: November 5, 1834
Page Number: 3
In the time of King Pepin, a wild-man named Orson, raised from a baby by a she-bear, is actually of royal blood. He is discovered
and civilised by his brother, Valentine, who has grown up at court, thus regaining his birthright. Many knightly adventures ensue.
Why include the name of a racehorse in the data?
Well, It is not unusual for racehorses to be given a topical name which suggests that
the "wild man" was a subject of local conversation at the time. Similar examples include "Bunyip" - mythical monster of the Australian
waterways - and "Hairy Man" which were also the names of racehorses in 1846.
PADDY AND THE BLACKMOOR
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW)
Date: January 9, 1836
Page Number: 4
…
From that day forward, Thady was very eager to see a blackmoor Indian. One day roaming the woods with his hatchet in his hand, he
saw a square looking trout reclining at his ease on the green sod, Thady was sure he had now clapped his eyes on one of them, and
coming up, 'Musha,' says he, ' but I never seen one o' your sort afore--why, man, you'll get your death o' cowld, lying there !'
The
wild man of the woods looked up…
The Australian (Sydney, NSW)
Date: March 6, 1838
Page Number: 4
A "Casper Hauser" has been found in the back woods of Indiana. He is about fifteen years of age, is quite wild, knows no human language,
and although domiciliated in the family of Mr Clarke, with every comfort around him, he daily endeavours to escape to the forest.
He devours small birds, nuts, and raw deer's flesh ; and the only indication of humanity he has yet given, besides bearing the form
of man, developing a savage kind of reason, is the falling violently in love with a servant girl in the family. A more perfect Orson,
or wild man of the woods, has never been seen either in this or any other country.
Yowie / Bigfoot
FALSE YOWIE FACTS
In the book ‘Modern Geography – a Description of the Empires, Kingdoms, States and Colonies: with the Oceans,
Seas and Isles: In all Parts of the World’ by John Pinkerton, published in 1804, there is the following comment concerning a strange
population of ‘Aborigines’ who shared the foreshores of Sydney Harbour with other tribespeople.
These ‘Aborigines’ were described as
being flat-nosed with wide nostrils; thick projecting eyebrows with deeply sunk eyes. Their mouths were of ‘prodigious width’ with
thick lips, teeth that were wide and even, with prominent jaws. They were described as being “remarkably hairy” [alluding to the kangaroo
hide cloaks they wore]. They made fire, lived in rock shelters and used crude stone tools according to other observers of the time.
The Aborigines of the harbour foreshores regarded them as another people entirely – the Yahoos or Yowies – the “hairy people”.
by Rex Gilroy
Contents
Two Years in New South Wales.
By: Peter Miller Cunningham
Volume 2
Date: 1827
Page Number: 34-36
16-05-2014
...
They believe in a good spirit, which they call Koyan, and in an evil spirit named Potoyan. The former is held to watch over and
protect them from the machinations of the latter, and to assist in restoring the children which the other decoys, to devour. They
first propitiate Koyan by an offering of spears, then set out in quest of the lost child ; which, if they discover, Koyan of course
obtains the credit, but if it is not to be found, they infer that something has been done to incur his displeasure. Potoyan strolls
about after dark seeking for his prey, but is afraid to approach a fire, which serves as a protection against him; therefore they
are neither fond of travelling after dark, nor of sleeping without a fire beside them. The Sydney blacks make a large fire, and
sleep around it; but in the interior they coil themselves singly round one which you might put in the crown of your hat.
Potoyan is provoked, however, if you swing a fiery stick round!" Don't, don't!" the timid ones will say, "Devil—devil come!" his usual
mode of announcing his approach being by a low continuous whistle, like a gentle breeze singing through the branches of a tree, which
Potoyan's whistle doubtless is. A gentleman at Newcastle took advantage once of this circumstance to clear his veranda of a group
of these believers in the powers of Potoyan, who had huddled together in it for the night, but were keeping both themselves and the
proprietor in sleepless purgatory by the incessant and discordant clacking of their tongues. Seeing no likelihood of getting rid of
this annoyance, he slipped gently to the window, opened it quietly, and quavered forth Potoyan's portentous whistle. A confused low
muttering was first heard, then followed a deadly silence, as if alears were eagerly listening to make out the sound;—when again
tuning his pipe, up they started and bolted nimbly off, never making a bed-chamber of the same veranda again!
...
Hairy man:
Hunter Region
NSW
A Voyage Around the World
Including Travels in Africa, Asia, Australasia, America, etc. etc.
From MDCCCXXVII to MDCCCXXXII
By: James
Holman, R.N., F.R.S., etc. etc.
Date: 1835
Page Number: 480
19-07-2014
...
The natives are greatly terrified by the sight of a person in a mask, calling him "devil" or Yah-hoo, which signifies 'evil spirit'...
Hairy man:
James Holman FRS (15 October 1786 – 29 July 1857), known as the "Blind Traveler," was a British adventurer, author and social observer,
best known for his writings on his extensive travels. Completely blind and suffering from debilitating pain and limited mobility,
he undertook a series of solo journeys that were unprecedented both in their extent of geography and method of "human echolocation".
A Description of a wonderful large wild man, or monstrous giant, brought from Botany-Bay (c.1789)
The Hairy Wild Man from Botany Bay (c.1802)
The features of the women are not unpleasant, though approaching to the negro. The black bushy beards of the men, and the bone or
reed which they thrust through the cartilage of the nose, gives them a disgusting appearance ; which is not improved by the practice
of rubbing fish oil into their skins, as a protection from the air and moskitos, so that in hot weather the stench is intolerable.
They colour their faces with white or red clay. The women are marked by the loss of the two first joints of the little finger of the
left hand, as they were supposed to be in the way when they coiled their fishing lines. It is however not improbable that this practice,
and the extraction of a tooth from the boys, may be mere initiations, rude lessons that they may learn to bear pain with apathy. The
children are seldom disfigured except by accidents from fire; and their fight is surprisingly acute. Some are nearly as black as African
negroes, while others exhibit a copper or Malay colour, but the hair is long, not woolly like the African. Their noses are flat, nostrils
wide, sunk eyes, thick brows and lips, with a mouth of prodigious width, but the teeth white and even. "Many had very prominent jaws;
and there was one man who, but for the gift of speech, might very well have passed for an orang-outang. He was remarkably hairy ;
his arms appeared of an uncommon length ; in his gait he was not perfectly upright ; and in his whole manner seemed to have more of
the brute, and less of the human species, about him, than any of his countrymen. Those who have been in that country will, from this
outline of him, recollect old We-rahng."
18.08.2015
Note how Gilroy misquotes and exaggerates Pinkerton's description:
Yowieocalypse wishes to advise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visitors that this article contains names of deceased people.
Puttikan = Potoyan. See"Two Years in New South Wales" above.
22-01-2016
Up to 1839
22-01-2016
MORE FALSE YOWIE FACTS
Modern articles on the Yowie sometimes note that the first Yowie sighting occurred at Sydney Cove in 1795
but what is that claim based on? Wikipedia cites this article from 1987 but even it's author is unsure of it's origin:
No historical references to this alleged sighting have ever been found. It is not unlikely that Gilroy simply made it up...
In
2007, Gilroy expanded upon his fictional narrative:
The First Fleeters who befriended the Aboriginal inhabitants of Sydney Cove,
soon learnt of the monsters known as ‘Yowee’ and ‘Yahoo’ that inhabited the surrounding forest land. The tribesmen called a nearby
bay ‘Yowee’, because of the numbers of “hairy men and women” who roamed its shores; and it was in the vicinity of what is still today
‘Yowie Bay’ [Miranda district] that, around January 1795 another hunting party of soldiers and convicts are claimed to have spotted
a man-sized ‘thing’ running from them over a tree-covered ridge overlooking the bay. [Source]
No historical references to this alleged sighting have ever been found. It is not unlikely that Gilroy simply made it up...
23.01.2016
An Australian Grammar
Comprehending the Principles and Natural Rules of the Language Spoken by the Aborigines in the Vicinity of Hunter's
River, Lake Macquarie, &c. New South Wales
By L. E. Threlkeld
Date: 1834
Page Number: 81
Ko-yo-ro-wén – The name of another imaginary being, whose trill in the bush frequently alarms the blacks in the night. When he overtakes a native, he commands him to exchange cudgels, giving his own which is extremely large, and desiring the black to take the first blow at his head, which he holds down for that purpose, after which he smites and kills the person with one blow, skewers him with his cudgel, carries him off, roasts, and then eats him!
Kur-ri-wilbán – The name of his wife : she has a long horn on each shoulder growing upward, with which she pierces the Aborigines, and then shakes herself until they are impaled upon her shoulders ; when she carries them to the deep valley, roasts and eats her victim. She does not kill the women, they being always taken by her husband for himself. Ya-ho, has by some means been given to the blacks as a name for this being.
20-02-2016
THE EX-OPPOSITION JOURNALS
The Australian (Sydney, NSW)
Date: December 15, 1837
Page Number: 2
… and finally, it may be mentioned, that so gross are the delusions of his distempered brain, that he imagines the entire surface
of the Colony to be one vast field of blood, where a war of extermination is carrying on between Hughnyms and Yahoos — Emigrants and
Convicts — while he himself is more terrible in the conflict than Thaliba the Destroyer!
…
Colonial colloquialism:
Convicts = Yahoos
26.02.2016
The Australian (Sydney, NSW)
Date: October 20, 1825
Page Number: 2-4
... This then is the idea entertained at Calcutta of the Ouran-Outang people of Botany Bay! Thanks to our penny-wise tax-imposers,
for this. The true state of New South Wales would by this time have been known to every Bengal Tiger, but for the prudent precaution
taken to prevent the produce of the East interfering with the trade of the United Kingdom. But for this grand scheme it would not
now be imagined by one of the richest Cities in the world, that New South Wales was but "a den of Thieves" any more than we imagine
Calcutta to be a jungle of Elephants, and each pagoda a den of Lions...
15.01.2017
Yahoos at Sydney Cove 1795?
see More False
Yowie Facts
(right)
‘Inhabited by a race of formidable giants': French Explorers, Aborigines, and the Endurance of the Fantastic in the Great South Land, 1803
OURANG OUTANG
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW)
Date: February 4, 1826
Page Number: 3
... One of these singular animals, resembling the human species more than any other known, was shipped at Batavia, island of Java,
on board the ship Octavia, arrived at this port on Thursday evening. It was of the male species, and, though alone, he went upon all
fours ; when any one took him by the hand, or fore foot, could walk tolerably well upright...
"I have shipped on board the Octavia,
Captain Blanchard, an ourang outang, (or the real man of the wood) to your consignment and Captain B. This animal is, I supose, one
of the greatest curiosities ever sent to America. I have known one sold in London for 10,000l. sterling"...
15.01.2017
OURANG OUTANG
The Monitor (Sydney, NSW)
Date: October 13, 1826
Page Number: 3
On the 5th of January last, Dr Abel read in the Asiatic Society at Calcutta, some observations on the skin and some fragments (which
had been presented to the society) of an Ourang Outang, which had been killed on the Coast of Sumatra, and which seems to have been
the largest and most remarkable animal of this kind that has ever been seen by Europeans...
...
He was about eight feet high...
15.01.2017
SINGULAR HEAD.
The Sydney Monitor (NSW)
Date: September 20, 1828
Page Number: 2
15.01.2017
At the Royal Institute of France, on the 2nd of October, M. Julia Fontenell presented a head of a New Zealander in a complete state
of preservation...
...
M.J. Fontenelle concludes, that this race may be considered as a sort of link between man and the ourang outang...
FOSSIL BONES.
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW)
Date: May 14, 1829
Page Number: 3
15.01.2017
Though this continent is unquestionably rich in fossil woods and vegetables, I have heard of no fossil animal remains, with the exception
of shells, having been discovered until the petrified sacrum of a large animal was found, a short time ago, upon the surface of the
soil on Holdsworthy Downs, and which is now on its way to England, in the possession of my friend Mr. Carlyle, with the view of being
presented to Professor Jamison...
The vertibræ before alluded to, therefore, seems to be that of an animal
accustomed, like man, to walk with the head erect; but whether or not it may have belonged to some gigantic race of human beings formerly
inhabiting this continent, or to a species allied to man merely in attitude, is a question which we can only amuse ourselves by blind
conjectures about, man being the only being known in present times to whom the erect attitude of the head is natural, that of the
Orang Outang being now known to be artificial. Whatever species of being it may have belonged to, however, one thing is manifest,
that a race of animals formerly inhabited this continent of an immeasurably more gigantic size than any of the aboriginal races of
the present day...
15.01.2017
A ROMANCE IN REAL LIFE.
The Sydney Monitor (NSW)
Date: May 1, 1830
Page Number: 4
At the time William was eleven months old, their little settlement at Vander Creek was invaded at night by a tribe of those baboons
called ourang-outangs, pongos, or wild men of the woods. In driving off the depredators, a youngling, belonging to the monsters, was
killed; and two mornings afterwards, an ourang-outang, who had concealed himself in the garden, carried off the child William, swam
across the Keys river, and reached the woods in safety with the infant, notwithstanding an instant pursuit. About three months afterwards,
Mr. Mitchell's wife was missing, and suspicion fell strongly on one of the native chiefs who had made an offer to purchase her, according
to the African custom. Lieutenant M'Kenzie, with three companies of the 72d, were sent to assist in inflicting summary vengeance upon
the supposed despoiler, when a Kaffre servant of one of the settlers stopped the expedition, by informing Mr. Mitchell, he had seen
his wife carried across the river by a band of pongos (ourang-outangs), but he had until then kept it secret, for fear of giving him
distress, as they were too far gone for pursuit when he beheld them...
Some gigantic race of human beings formerly inhabiting this continent
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW)
Date: November 1, 1831
Page Number: 2
We understand that an official report has been forwarded to the Government, by the Commandant at Bathurst, of a most important discovery
said to have been made in the interior, to the Northward of the colony...
... In addition to these particulars, the narrator reports
that he fell in with numbers of Hippopotamuses and Ourang Outangs — animals of whose existence in New Holland we have never before
heard even a surmise. The most important part of the discovery, supposing the statement of this man to be correct, is the existence
of a river such as he describes; and there is no doubt that the Government will immediately take proper measures to ascertain the
fact.
15.01.2017
INTERIOR DISCOVERY.
The Colonist (Sydney, NSW)
Date: August 4, 1836
Page Number: 3
It has been reported for some time by the blacks in the neighbourhood of Port Macquarie and the M'Leay River, that to the west of
the former place was a great water, whose waves were rough and boisterous; and that in it there existed an animal which pursued them,
and obliged them to climb the trees for safety...
I met with a person now in Sydney, who informed me that several years
since, when wandering amongst the native tribes as a missionary, in about the direction alluded to by the Port Macquarie blacks, he
fell in with an immense collection of water, the boundaries of which could not be seen with the naked eye, and that the natives drew
upon the sand,the representation of an animal which came out of the water and was destructive to them, and also another animal like
(judging from their description) the ougrang outang, which they said carried away their gins. Of both these animals, he stated, they
expressed great fear. These statements have been long known to the Government...
15.01.2017
Ourang-Outangs on the Moon
MOON INHABITED.
The Cornwall Chronicle (Launceston, Tas.)
Date: January , 1837
Page Number: 1
The Colonist (Sydney, NSW)
Date: November 2, 1837
Page Number: 6
15.01.2017
15.01.2017
THE WILD MAN.
Colonial Advocate, and Tasmanian Monthly Review and Register (Hobart Town, Tas.)
Date: August 1, 1828
Page Number: 36
16.01.2017
The Calcutta Gazette mentions the existence at Ava, of a man covered with hair, whose history is not less remarkable than that of
the celebrated porcupine man, who excited so much curiosity in England and other parts of Europe near a century ago. The hair on the
face of this singular being, the ears included, is shaggy, and about eight inches long...
Large Hairy Wild Man, 1800
From the Lancaster
Gazette (Ohio)
The Monitor (Sydney, NSW)
Date: 26 March, 1828
Page Number: 7
After seeing these bones, we can scarcely any longer doubt the existence of the Kraken and other monsters, whose history has been generally considered fabulous...
In 2007, Gilroy expanded upon his fictional narrative:
The First Fleeters who befriended the Aboriginal inhabitants of Sydney
Cove, soon learnt of the monsters known as ‘Yowee’ and ‘Yahoo’ that inhabited the surrounding forest land. The tribesmen called a
nearby bay ‘Yowee’, because of the numbers of “hairy men and women” who roamed its shores; and it was in the vicinity of what is still
today ‘Yowie Bay’ [Miranda district] that, around January 1795 another hunting party of soldiers and convicts are claimed to have
spotted a man-sized ‘thing’ running from them over a tree-covered ridge overlooking the bay. [Source]
The real facts:
Yowie
Bay comes from an Aboriginal word meaning "place of echoes". [Source]
The term "Yahoo", which originated in England from author
Jonathon Swift's (1726) novel "Gulliver's Travels", was imported to the Australian colony in the early 1800's following England's
fascination with Orangutans (referred to as "Yahoos" and "Wild men of the woods"). [Source]
The term "Yowie" (and variations)
had different meanings to different Aboriginal groups but only came to be applied to a Bigfoot-like creature in the 1970s. [Source]
Latest British Extracts.
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW)
Date: May 30, 1818
Page Number: 3
...
The inhabitants of the Kurile Islands appear to be a mild, inoffensive people ; those subject to the Japanese are represented as
greatly oppressed. Some of them are remarkable for having the face, and, it is said, the whole body covered with short hair, and are
therefore called the Hairy Kuriles.
...
03.02.2017
EXPEDITION WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW)
Date: 11 September, 1832
Page Number: 3
From the Marietta (Ohio) Republican.
We have been informed that during the session of Congress for 1820-21 an act was passed
authorising the raising of a company of 42 men to explore the Rocky Mountains and north from the Mexican line, the Behring Straits,
and 83 degrees north latitude...
After passing the mountains they passed 386 different Indian tribes, some
perfectly white, some entirely covered with hair, (denominated the Esau Indians, who were among the most singular) and so wild that
the company were compelled to run them down with horses to take their dimensions, which was a part of their duly, whilst others envinced
the most friendly disposition...
03.02.2017
CORRESPONDENCE.
The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal (WA)
Date: 15 February, 1834
Page Number: 235
...
He says my house is a pickaniny buck to it, (that is little in comparison) ; that its bulk is proportionate ; that it has a very
long snout—can gape very wide—small teeth, but a great number of them : likewise it has ears—its eyes sunk deep in its head—long arms,
or flippers, which it continually shakes about it—its hands web-footed. From his description, its arms, or rather flippers, which
are not straight, would reach 12 or 14 feet when extended ; it has two legs and knee-joints, but its feet web footed ; it is covered
with hair all over the body, and impervious to a spear, or that it is impossible to kill it, —and that it would be impossible to shoot
it ; he likewise states that it lies dormant for two or three months, then gorges itself, and again lies dormant ; that it only comes
at the approach of winter, and then again at the termination retreats into the sea. He describes it as being a very terrific animal,
and that the natives are in dread of it...
03.02.2017
The Australian (Sydney, NSW)
Date: 12 February , 1836
Page Number: 4
…
The maid immediately gave information to the authorities of the place, who on arriving released the wretched being from her long
and doleful captivity. The father and mother have been placed in custody. The unfortunate girl on being restored to the light of day
presented the most hideous appearance. She was unable to stand, her legs having been so long bent under her as to have deprived her
of all use of them.—Her body was covered with hair, and it was hardly possible to recognize a human being in the miserable and deformed
object.
—Courier Francais.
03.02.2017
… It will be recollected that, after news had arrived in England that the Charles Eaton had been lost off Torres Straits, and that
fears were entertained that the crew and passengers were either drowned or murdered by the savages...
Captain Lewis said
that the poor child, who now appeared to be between six and seven years of age, was quite naked whilst amongst the savages, and covered
with hair...
03.02.2016
VISIT OF THE CHILD WHOSE PARENTS WE BE MURDERED BY THE SAVAGES AT TORRES STRAITS TO THE LORD MAYOR.
Commercial Journal and Advertiser
(Sydney, NSW)
Date: 22 May, 1839
Page Number: 4
The Australian (Sydney, NSW)
Date: 14 October, 1826
Page Number: 3
Brucedale, near Bathurst...
...
Of an evil spirit that haunts their native woods, they have at times most alarming fears, and believe it sometimes comes when they are asleep, and crushes them to death, and takes away their women and children. Whether there really be any creature in these woods capable of destroying man, it is hard to say, nothing of the kind has ever been seen by any of our people I am much inclined to think that this creature; which they so much dread, and call Coppeer, is one of their imaginary beings. They seldom think very intently, or study. Their notions of things are very crude, and every past impulse caused by a past object, quickly carries them off from the train ot thought...
12.02.2017
CIVILIZATION OF THE BLACKS.
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW)
Date: 12 March, 1831
Page Number: 3
...
Q. Tell me why are they afraid ?—A. Because of Kôn.
Q. Who is Kôn ?—A. Who can he be ?
Q. Tell me in your language, who is Cone ?—A.
Kôn is a savage being.
Q. Did you ever see him ?—A. No.
Q. Where then is he ?—A. He is in the woods every where, pointing with his hand.
Q.
Then how is it that you have never seen him ?—A. Whenever he sees the blacks coming, for he always looks about, he goes down into
the ground.
Q How can he go down ; has he not a body like mine ?—A. No.
Q. What is he like ?—A. He is like the rainbow, like your horse,
he can go any where.
Q. Who was his father, his mother ?—A. We do not know ; he had none ; he lived before us ; all the blacks are
afraid of him. There is another being, Pirrirore, they are afraid of, who eats, they say, children in the woods, and his wife, it
is said, is sometimes seen.
...
12.02.2017
Yowieocalypse wishes to advise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visitors that this article contains names of deceased people.
29 November, 1822