Yowie capital of QLD?
by Murray Byfield
Kilcoy is a small town west of Caboolture QLD Australia the first settler in the region was Sir Evan Mackenzie who arrived in 1841 and named his landholding ‘Kilcoy’ after his family estate in Scotland.
Kilcoy claims to be the home of Australia’s Bigfoot. The Yowie. The legend of the Yowie goes back generations in Kilcoy and even further with Aboriginal accounts. Early timber cutters and farmers claim to have seen it in the hills since pioneering times.
A well-known account is that of two teenagers who witnessed a three metre tall Yowie in 1979. The boys shot at the creature, and it ran away leaving a sulfurous smell behind.
The two boys tracked the creature for some time until they realized that it had doubled back and was tracking them. The teenagers told their schoolteacher who visited the location where the boys had their encounter and made plaster casts of the footprints which measured 50cm long and 15 cm wide.
The last “reported” Yowie sighting in Kilcoy was in May 2007 by University of Queensland student Daniel Raaen.
The most famous landmark in Kilcoy is the Yowie statue in the Apex club’s “Yowie Park”. The current statue is the second Yowie to stand proud in Yowie Park. The first one being placed in 1980 which presumably weathered away until it was replaced with the current statue in 1998. The original caused quite a stir when it was unveiled as it was “anatomically” correct.
I recently had the opportunity to visit Kilcoy for the sole purpose of seeing the Yowie statue. And as a matter of I chance stumbled up the Kilcoy Historical society building located in Yowie Park. I took a chance and asked the gentleman on duty about the legends of the Yowie he was kind enough to pull out a photo album full of news clippings, photos and other Yowie related articles.
He allowed me to take some photographs of the pictures and articles some of which I will show here for educational purposes only.
He also told me about a few interesting things regarding the Yowie:
“A local told me if you stand in Sandy Creek (nearby) for a week the Yowie would come right up to you”
“A bloke and other researchers with camera’s etc had recently visited form northern NSW and tried to find evidence of the Yowie. They didn’t find anything.”
“On Father’s Day each year the locals attach a water balloon between the Yowie statues legs.”
“A Yowie burger is available from the BP service station opposite Yowie Park and is a good feed.”
Does the Yowie still roam the hills of Kilcoy? Whether it does or not seems irrelevant as the Yowie is the town’s official mascot and tourist attraction. In the 70’s there was a campaign to sell Yowie T-shirts. Even the local football team is called the “Kilcoy Yowies”.
Yowie Footprint found in 1979.
Newspaper Article.
Yowie Poem.
Original Yowie Statue.
