Location: Lismore, New South Wales
Event: Yowie Sighting
Date: 1935
Source: Lismore Northern Star. 7th of July, 1977
- Gary Buchanan
A 52-year-old man who claims he saw a Yowie at South Lismore in 1935 was emphatic that the passing of time had not dimmed his memory of the incident.
The man gave his name over the phone but asked that it not be published because he was "afraid of being rubbished" by his friends. His is the second Yowie sighting reported this week.
He said he was 10 years old when he saw the Yowie on his deceased grandfathers dairy farm in Three Chain Road, South Lismore. The man said he decided to report his sighting after reading in The Northern Star this week about a Woodenbong woman's claimed sighting of two Yowies. Mrs. Thel Crewe, of Richmond Street, Woodenbong, claims that she saw two ape-like creatures in the yard of her home late one night in November last year.
The Ballina man says he was living on his grandparent's farm when they saw the Yowie at about 9 o'clock on a moonlight night sometime during winter. "I was standing on the verandah of the farm house when I thought I saw a man walking across the paddock from the direction of the hills," he said. "I remember that as it walked towards the house my grandfathers horse started to kick up a hell of a fuss in its yard. I went inside and told my grandfather that someone was coming. When he came outside and saw what it was, he pushed me inside, blew out the lamp in the living room then grabbed his rifle. My grandparents then took me in the kitchen and we all watched through a small window as the creature walked past the house."
Clearly Visible.
The man said the Yowie was about 25 yards away and clearly visible in the moonlight. He said it looked very similar to the artist's impression drawings, which appeared with Mrs. Crew's sighting story in The Northern Star on Tuesday.
"The biggest difference was that its head didn't seem to have a neck, but was sitting straight on it's shoulders, " he said. "It also looked as if it had a hunched back, but it was standing up straight. It was much thicker around the shoulders and chest than a man. After walking past the house, it hesitated for a few seconds near the sulky shed, then kept on walking. My grandfather thought it was going to go into the shed. We lost sight of the animal when it disappeared behind the dairy. My grandfather said that it was gone and won't come back."
Dragged Feet.
The man said the Yowie was the most frightening thing he had ever seen. He said that as the creature walked it seemed to be dragging its feet.
"My grandfather said it was the same creature he had seen up in the gully on the property only a few years earlier. He said he had ridden into the gully to pick some guavas when he saw the creature come down one side of the gully, cross a small creek, then climb up the other side of the hill. I remember him telling me that his horse had played up on him very badly when the creature came into view. My grandfather told me not to talk about what we had seen, because people would not believe me."
The man explained that the area behind South Lismore had been much wilder country in 1935 than it was at present. He said the mountains and hills had been covered with a thick covering of trees. He claimed that he and his grandparents had watched the Yowie for about 5 minutes before it had disappeared behind the dairy.
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