Mt Kembla 1930s

[MrHead181]

A close friend of mine who is in his late 80s and i where talking about local history about railway lines in the Illawarra which used to run down from the coal mines to the wharf's alone the coast line. The next time i saw him he had a book for me about Dapto local history. When i was reading the book there was a page about a man monkey in the Avondale area marked in bright yellow maker. My friend didn't know i had any interest in Yowies at all,we never had spoken about it before. When i took the book back to him i asked him about the part of the book about the man monkey.
He told me that his sister had marked it as his father and uncle had run in`s with a similar creature in the Nerriga many years ago when they where down there looking for gold. It used to come in to camp bang on there caravan and try to scare them. They did see the creature a couple of times and a local by the name James Henry Sturgiss had several run in`s with the hairy man when he was out catching wild horse`s. He wrote a book called The Man From Misty Mountain,i havent been able to find a copy of that book yet .
Now to Mt Kembla, my friend told me in the 1930`s they used to go up to Mt Kembla on Sundays to see his Grandmother and have a pinic. The area is a couple of kms past Mt Kembla and there was a number of fruit orchards up there. On this day his gran took him for a walk down to the creek and on the way down they could hear something follow them down there. He said his gran got so far down and told him not to move and let them pass. After it passed by them she told him if he hears them not to move and never let them get him. Once she knew it was gone she told him to run and dont stop till he got back to the house. I asked him what was it,he said it was what his father had seen at Nerriga.
As i said i have never spoke to him about Yowies in all the years i have know him. I did give him the book The Yowie he finished it in a couple of days and he said he really enjoyed it.
I dont post much on this website but spoke to another member who i have the most respect for about this and what i should do,so thats the story what was told to me. My friend is very old school and i believe what he told me 100%
The road up thre is still open but the Orchards have been gone since the 2000s and the area is now under water board control.
Hope you guys enjoyed this
Tony

[Yowie bait]

A close friend of mine who is in his late 80s and i where talking about local history about railway lines in the Illawarra which used to run down from the coal mines to the wharf's alone the coast line. The next time i saw him he had a book for me about Dapto local history. When i was reading the book there was a page about a man monkey in the Avondale area marked in bright yellow maker. My friend didn't know i had any interest in Yowies at all,we never had spoken about it before. When i took the book back to him i asked him about the part of the book about the man monkey.
He told me that his sister had marked it as his father and uncle had run in`s with a similar creature in the Nerriga many years ago when they where down there looking for gold. It used to come in to camp bang on there caravan and try to scare them. They did see the creature a couple of times and a local by the name James Henry Sturgiss had several run in`s with the hairy man when he was out catching wild horse`s. He wrote a book called The Man From Misty Mountain,i havent been able to find a copy of that book yet .
Now to Mt Kembla, my friend told me in the 1930`s they used to go up to Mt Kembla on Sundays to see his Grandmother and have a pinic. The area is a couple of kms past Mt Kembla and there was a number of fruit orchards up there. On this day his gran took him for a walk down to the creek and on the way down they could hear something follow them down there. He said his gran got so far down and told him not to move and let them pass. After it passed by them she told him if he hears them not to move and never let them get him. Once she knew it was gone she told him to run and dont stop till he got back to the house. I asked him what was it,he said it was what his father had seen at Nerriga.
As i said i have never spoke to him about Yowies in all the years i have know him. I did give him the book The Yowie he finished it in a couple of days and he said he really enjoyed it.
I dont post much on this website but spoke to another member who i have the most respect for about this and what i should do,so thats the story what was told to me. My friend is very old school and i believe what he told me 100%
The road up thre is still open but the Orchards have been gone since the 2000s and the area is now under water board control.
Hope you guys enjoyed this
Tony

Hey Tony, thanks thats a cool story. I dont doubt it either! Great to hear the older encounters and reports. Thanks to your mate for sharing it!

[Yowie Chaser]

Cheers Mate for posting, i wonder what his Gran new?? telling him to run.

i read something somewhere just last night if theres fruit growing 100 meters from the bush there will be Yowies, funny you brought that up.. new place to check out..

[Bluedog]

Cheers Mate for posting, i wonder what his Gran new?? telling him to run.

i read something somewhere just last night if theres fruit growing 100 meters from the bush there will be Yowies, funny you brought that up.. new place to check out..

Quite a few years ago I drove cane trains around the wide Bay area of QLD. The trains were manned with a driver and offsider working shifts. Quite often on night shift you might find yourself working in siding in the rural back blocks surrounded by cane, small crops, orchids and scrub.
A fellow driver told me how in early hours at a siding next to a avacado orchid the heard a noise in the orchid and shone a torch in there, he told me they seen the reflection of 2 wide set red eyes around 8 feet of the ground. They were a little freaked out but assumed it must be an owl sitting in a avacado tree, they had a job to do so they got on with it saying that they felt very uncomfortable the whole time they were in the siding.
I have often wondered if it was yowie eye shine they saw, feeding on the avos.

[gregvalentine]

. . . had run in`s with a similar creature in the Nerriga many years ago when they where down there looking for gold. It used to come in to camp bang on there caravan and try to scare them. They did see the creature a couple of times and a local by the name James Henry Sturgiss had several run in`s with the hairy man when he was out catching wild horse`s. He wrote a book called The Man From Misty Mountain,i havent been able to find a copy of that book yet :

That book was published by the now defunct Budawang Committee - I have an original copy but have not read it for many years; don't recall any accounts of the hairy man in it but will have to check.

[gregvalentine]

. . . had run in`s with a similar creature in the Nerriga many years ago when they where down there looking for gold. It used to come in to camp bang on there caravan and try to scare them. They did see the creature a couple of times and a local by the name James Henry Sturgiss had several run in`s with the hairy man when he was out catching wild horse`s. He wrote a book called The Man From Misty Mountain,i havent been able to find a copy of that book yet :

That book was published by the now defunct Budawang Committee - I have an original copy but have not read it for many years; don't recall any accounts of the hairy man in it but will have to check.

There's a couple of used copies available on eBay from someone in Berry NSW, if you're prepared to fork out $40 or $60.

[greybush]

Thanks Tony,I don't live too far from mt kembla,beautiful spot,I think the water board area would be a prime spot for the hairyman to live,plenty of food and water and with restricted access, not many people. If you or anyone else have any more stories of mt kembla/mt kiera or surrounding areas would love to hear them.
Cheers ,Greybush

[MrHead181]

Wouldnt mind having a look up there at night mate, theres a couple of interesting spots up there mate
Tony

[greybush]

I'm interesred to have a look