'It was in, what he knows now, the year 1815, whilst roaming southern Australia, in a place we know today as Victoria, that he saw a pale looking, very tall man, almost as tall as himself, with long hair and a beard, wearing a Kangaroo skin, and sitting fishing with a stick by the Birrarung, which was the Aboriginal name at the time for the Yarra River. He sat behind a bush for some time watching how the man was catching fish with a stick, some string made from platted strips of grass and a piece of bent metal. The man would attach a worm to the piece of metal, cast it into the river and wait. The stick would then bend and, after a bit of a tussle, the man would suddenly fling a flapping fish on to the river bank. “What a great way to catch fish,” Jingera thought to himself. It seemed easier than his way of standing in the water and trying to spear any passing fish. His method worked well enough, but was very tiring and not always successful, for his giant shadow more often than not frightened the fish away. In fact in some cases he only succeeded in getting wet, so he ended up having his weekly bath a bit earlier and regular than usual.
Jingera watched this pale fellow for hours, over many weeks. He was good at hiding so was never seen by the stranger. One day, whilst watching, he came to the attention of a swarm of flies. He tried swatting them as fast and quietly as he could, and was doing well until one of them flew up his nose causing him to let out an almighty sneeze, which alerted the stranger to his presence. “Oh dear, I’ve been spotted,” he thought to himself. Indeed he had. Jingera was pleasantly surprised when the pale man beckoned him over, as usually the smaller folk whom he encounters run off screaming. The man spoke to him in the local language, which Jingera understood, and they greeted each other and began talking as if they were old friends. “My name is William, William Buckley,” said the stranger, “I am pleased to make your acquaintance. What is your name my huge friend?” “I have no name, but the small men always call out “Jingera!” when they see me...........before they run away,” replied the Yowie in a sorrowful way. “Jingera? Oh, you must be the Big Hairy Man that I have heard about. I thought you were just a story, but, sure enough, here you are,” said William. “Are you hungry? I have some freshly caught fish if you’d like some, my big hairy friend,” asked William. Jingera gratefully accepted the offer to share the fish, and he watched as William cooked it over the bright hot orange light that he called a fire; then enjoyed the wonderful flavour of his meal, as he chewed and swallowed every morsel of the fish'.
Buckley the Kilcoy Yowie