Hello, Introducing myself

[David]

Firstly let me say what a wealth of information is available here. The team behind it and the contributors are to be congratulated and the 'hands on' research is simply invaluable. I have a lifetime interest in Australian history and since the availability of the National Library's indexing of a lot of the local historical newspapers it is fascinating to correlate all these local sightings over the years both 19th and 20th century. Referred to locally in these old clippings mostly as the Yahoo or Australian Gorilla it was apparently so common that nightime interaction with the hairy men was considered a nuisance.

It was interesting to note that a lot of sightings involved gunfire on a part of the settlers with two incidences reporting the discovery of blood, an obvious wounding. Many reports also saw the raising of a hunting party to track the 'animal' down. As far as I can tell no posse was ever successful. My thinking is that an intelligent creature would further hone its skills of avoiding detection.

I have personally spent a lot of time in the ACT wilderness and high plains since my teenage years (now 49) and have seen,'felt' and heard things over the years that have left me wondering. That's all I am saying. I also realised that whilst travelling these terrains that I was always focused on the destination (heritage settlers hut ruin or such) that I probably wasn't as perceptive to what may be in the area with me. Putting it simply it was pretty easy to avoid me.

Anyway I have waffled a bit. I have reached a point in my life where I now have the time and resources to pursue something than for no other reason than it interests me so I am planning to explore an area that with the help of historical and recent reports of habitat and Google earth I think I'll get out and have a bit of a look. I'm quite interested in the work of Rusty2 and plan to follow his lead with attracting the beastie to me more so than chasing it around the bush (I'm too old). So I have drilled down my target areas from a vast habitat and have ordered some audio and video equipment via China (thankyou Mr ebay) and am going to have a go. So that's me... any help, advice or warnings along the way from members of this forum would be most appreciated.

Cheers Dave

[Rusty2]

Hey there Dave and welcome to the forum !

There's mountains of information on the hairy people here , and just as much speculation too . Have a look at those 3 toed prints you mentioned , I think you'll be surprised at the similarity between them and the one you found . There's plenty of nice folk's to help you feel your way through the info and feel free to ask question's , there's some very experienced people here who've had many years of interaction with these creature's .
There's also pleny of tech head's here to help with other stuff .

Thanks for your kind word's mate , good luck and best wishes on your new venture !

[NoPolys]

Dave;

Welcome to the group and lots of good luck in your endeavour! I hope you find this site as much fun as a good resource for helpful hints and advice.

Cheers

Nopolys

[The yowie Mrx]

Top vid's mate!

[Dion]

Hey Dave, welcome to the Forums

[David]

Thanks guys! This is such a great resource. Hopefully I can contribute a bit as we go along.

[andrew]

Welcome to the forum young fella. I suspect we will be in contact as two of us here are based in your area and likewise oriented to your plan. We have a modest bit of gear and have a likely area under examination.

Andrew

[SAB 8]

Welcome to the forums Dave, and I am sure everyone appreciated those kind words.

Great to see that you are being so proactive with your interest. Awesome!!!

I was interested to read about those early newspaper accounts, are they available to view online - is that at Trove?

[David]

Thanks Andrew. I'll look forward to the contact and any advice you can offer along the way. Cheers

Thanks SAB8! Yes Trove http://trove.nla.gov.au It's a great resource. I find the easiest way to find old local articles is start with a keyword (yowie, hairy man, yahoo, australian gorilla etc...) and then drill down (in the left-hand column) by local newspaper and then by decade. I have only really been looking for a short while and different local articles keep turning up in my searches and I haven't really looked in the major Sydney papers archives yet. I have a theory that all these local historical 'mentions' of contact can pretty much draw a habitat map for an area. I am actually quite amazed at just how common reported sightings were in my area through to the 1920s where it often seems that it was pretty much a given that these creatures exist.