Searching for the a u S tralian c ryptids

Cryptids have been at the core of fringe media for decades. Whether it’s farcical claims pigeonholed in unorthodox news outlets, or an online message board foaming at the mouth over a 144p photo of “Bigfoot”, hoaxes have an unmatched niche in the human brain and in human storytelling.

Whilst Mothman, Bigfoot, and the Loch Ness Monster have more or less become household names, the cryptids of Australia are often left completely without note. Whilst they may not be as legendary, if you scrounge the forums, the disrepute books and ravings, Australia has fared a share of hoaxes, doctored images, and fabricated tales, that are just as fascinating and just as absurd as anything else on the cryptozoology catalogue.

the Yowie

The only place to start is the Yowie, Australia’s most iconic cryptid. The mythos of the being has a long and convoluted history in Australia, drawing from thousands of years of Aboriginal storytelling across the North Coast of Queensland through to Southern New South Wales. However, despite these beginnings, the Yowie discussed in the fringe news is far removed from its Indigenous source, the creature and its mythos being a textbook victim of mass commodification.

Whilst the image of the creature varies between Aboriginal communities, the original renditions of the Yowie describe the being as a four to ten feet tall ape-like man covered in hair, with a flat nose, and long talons adorning its fingers. It’s often described traversing the planes and rainforests of the country with the creature maintaining a small presence in Indigenous dreaming to this day.

Despite these beginnings, following the centuries of colonisation after James Cook, and the subsequent mass erosion of Indigenous culture, the persona and depiction of the Yowie has been significantly warped by modern media and rural tourism. Current depictions of the cryptid that circulate online have been severely commodified, with depictions of the creature becoming directly analogous to the Western Sasquatch, losing most, if not all, of the Aboriginal aspects of its identity.

This commodification has seen the creature become a marketing tool for small-town tourism, with regions like Kilcoy Queensland and Woodenbong NSW using the Yowie’s likeness for billboards, statues, and marketing bottom lines. The most blatant example of this commodification is Cadburys line of “Yowie chocolates” through the 1990s, and the medley of nostalgia they still inspire.

Ultimately, sightings of this cryptid are far flung and prolific in fringe media with the personality of local news (rightfully) giving the being as little credence as the American Sasquatch. Bigfoot hunting has been a craze in the fringes of the world, and despite its origins, the Yowie will exist alongside the Yeti, Forestmen, and Sasquatch for the years to come.