Tales of the Unexplained 1998

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For most of his 54 years, Rex Gilroy has been known as "The Yowie Man". It is not always intended as a compliment, but Gilroy doesn't much care.
     "I've been ridiculed for years, but I don't mind. If they think you're crazy, they leave you alone so you can get on with your work," he says. Gilroy runs a natural history museum in Tamworth, but his real calling is the search for the elusive yowie.
     Often mistakenly confused with the bunyip, the yowie is said to be a large, hairy, ape-like creature that avoids contact with humans and lives in remote areas of bushland.
     According to Duncan Roads, editor of the alternative news magazine Nexus, yowies have frequently been seen by hunters, mining workers, rangers and Aborigines. Witnesses keep quiet because they're afraid of being ridiculed or losing their jobs.
     In Aboriginal legend, says Roads, the yowie was said to scare away anyone who came close to discovering its cave network; it was also regarded as having considerable telepathic powers.
     Gilroy, however, scoffs at such notions. He believes the yowie is similar to the yeti of the Himalayas, the bigfoot of Canada and the "Hairy Devil Man" of Papua New Guinea. All these creatures are most likely to be a species of homo erectus; a form of primitive man, says Gilroy.
     On a recent expedition, Gilroy discovered a skull in Mudgee that he believes may be that of a yowie. However, he doubts his news will spark much excitement in the scientific community. "Some scientists immediately rubbish anything that isn't in the textbooks."
     It is precisely this attitude that infuriates Gilroy. He regards himself as a researcher, not a conspiracy theorist, and says all he has ever asked is for people to keep an open mind.
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