YOWIEHUB

YOWIE (pl YOWIES; v YOW, YOWE; fr YOWOUI) n. a tall hairy gentleman of the bush and outback regions of Australia; —— of the suburbs or outer CBD (less common).

First rec. 1805 NSW in colonist Jim Timbers’ (1759-1805; see P. J. Timbers line) diary: ‘Fortune has come at last, for I have found the fame’d yow-wee’.

First inst. in its modern spelling in newspaper journalism as early as 189- :

The YOW-IE

We fled England in search of a better life. Plagued by the he-demon of Herefordshire we ran, ran to distant shores.

Reader, we thank you for your support. Journalism of merit relies on an avid and loyal readership. But this day, 10 Seftember 189-, we watch as the printers crease what will be the Letter’s final issue.

We bid to you adieu, ciaobella, and good luck. God knows we need it.

— The Taree Letter, p.16, 10 Sep. 189-

The following are leading etymnological theories for the term. These hypotheses lack credibility and must be considered folk. In fact, as the reader and I will see, the very invention of such etymnologies for this word is itself a folk tradition. An exercise in vanity.

wowee ‘golly wolly, gee whiz; expression of awe’, said to have been uttered by Thomas ‘Big El’ Wallace on his first (but not last) sighting of a Yowie. There exists no record for this claim beyond hearsay, and the proposed sound change holds no water. The T. Wallace estate does not respond to enquiries.

Yahweh (tr/lit. P. Hebrew YHWH) ‘God, deity of weather and war; oh boy, ouch!’, supposebly attributed to the Yowie by early Samaritan settlers of Western Australia (see Traces of Dust: Influence of Samaritan Migration on Australian English, 1797-1810). The argument is premised on Yowies’ tendency to imbue God-like fervour in unexpecting witnesses, due to their imbiant stature and larger-than-life attitude. Not only does religious logomisia reduce the credibility of this hypothesis, there is a strong historical aversion to pronouncing the name of such beasts – lest they take to reply.

Nay. Uncovering the true etymnology of YOWIE demands a reverence for the immense cultural divide between humanity and yowity. A search for meaning is a search in folly, if we cannot first concede: ‘We do not know, and we do not mean’.

Before asking ‘What is the history of a word?’, we must ask:

‘What is history for a bottom-up society?’

‘What is a word for a being of pure language?’

Then. Then we will have taken the first backward step, on the path to misunderstanding. And not a moment too late.