Location: The vast uninhabited wilderness in the Kosciusko National Park. The location was a creek flat beside a powerline access road which comes off the Snowy Mountains Highway a few kilometres north-west of the locality of Yarrongobilly.
Date: Easter 1979
A large group of people were camping on a rise beside a large open creek flat as part of a primary school Christian camping trip. We had been up that night sitting beside the campfire, listening to the dingoes howling as they came down from the surrounding bush to the creek flat, probably to drink. It was very very cold and we were quite a distance from any amenities.
Very late one night, we were awoken by some very loud, distressed sounds emanating from nearby. Initially we thought that it was a distress call and that someone was in trouble and needed help. It was as if someone was calling out at the top of their lungs. Then we realised that the calls weren't words that we could understand. It sounded as if someone was saying something but it was garbled or gibberish. Then it occurred to us how loud it was. It struck us that if someone was in great distress, why would they be bellowing out for help in the black of night? And why would they be kilometres away from even the meagre trail that we were camped beside, and many kilometres from the main highway, which is really only a back country road and would probably only see a handful of cars in the wee hours of the night. Who was this and why were they there?
After listening for a time to this screaming and bellowing, we became terrified. The noise was very loud and it was just plain wrong to hear this sort of thing deep in the bush in the middle of the night. We estimated that the caller was probably a kilometre or so away. We sat motionless. Then the calls came closer and louder. Then after a few minutes, after getting closer, the calls stopped. This of course did nothing to make us feel any better, because we thought of course that as it had approached ou campsite, it had seen us and gone quiet, to approach more stealthily. Although we stayed awake for some time after things went silent, we heard nothing else and eventually went back to sleep.
We spent some time in the morning discussing what it could have been. Perhaps a madman out in the bush, who was cranky that we were camped near his home? This seemed pretty unlikely. In addition to this was the fact that it sounded louder than human. We realised that all this was highly improbable, coupled with the fact that the voice wasn't actually saying anything coherent. It wasn't until after some discussion that we considered the possibility that it could have been a yowie.
The Talbingo area has had a number of yowie reports from the late 1800's. Sightings have been reported quite close to the township of Talbingo in the 1990's.
I have since revisited this place (Easter 1995 and December 2003) and did not hear anything. I noted a possible footprint in a creek crossing in 2003. Making more accurate observations on the second visit, the sound appeared to come from west of Michelago Peak. In all directions from Michelago Peak, it is very rough, bush covered terrain with very few tracks at all. It is totally uninhabited by humans.
Date: Easter 1979
A large group of people were camping on a rise beside a large open creek flat as part of a primary school Christian camping trip. We had been up that night sitting beside the campfire, listening to the dingoes howling as they came down from the surrounding bush to the creek flat, probably to drink. It was very very cold and we were quite a distance from any amenities.
Very late one night, we were awoken by some very loud, distressed sounds emanating from nearby. Initially we thought that it was a distress call and that someone was in trouble and needed help. It was as if someone was calling out at the top of their lungs. Then we realised that the calls weren't words that we could understand. It sounded as if someone was saying something but it was garbled or gibberish. Then it occurred to us how loud it was. It struck us that if someone was in great distress, why would they be bellowing out for help in the black of night? And why would they be kilometres away from even the meagre trail that we were camped beside, and many kilometres from the main highway, which is really only a back country road and would probably only see a handful of cars in the wee hours of the night. Who was this and why were they there?
After listening for a time to this screaming and bellowing, we became terrified. The noise was very loud and it was just plain wrong to hear this sort of thing deep in the bush in the middle of the night. We estimated that the caller was probably a kilometre or so away. We sat motionless. Then the calls came closer and louder. Then after a few minutes, after getting closer, the calls stopped. This of course did nothing to make us feel any better, because we thought of course that as it had approached ou campsite, it had seen us and gone quiet, to approach more stealthily. Although we stayed awake for some time after things went silent, we heard nothing else and eventually went back to sleep.
We spent some time in the morning discussing what it could have been. Perhaps a madman out in the bush, who was cranky that we were camped near his home? This seemed pretty unlikely. In addition to this was the fact that it sounded louder than human. We realised that all this was highly improbable, coupled with the fact that the voice wasn't actually saying anything coherent. It wasn't until after some discussion that we considered the possibility that it could have been a yowie.The Talbingo area has had a number of yowie reports from the late 1800's. Sightings have been reported quite close to the township of Talbingo in the 1990's.
