Location: Springbrook, Queensland
Event: Footprint Cast
Date: 1998
Source: Andre' Clayden
"There was a footprint found by a local property owner who loves the bush. He called me to come and have a look at it, but I didn’t place much importance on it, and went a couple of days later. When I got there, we found 9 footprints. I took a plaster cast of the best one. The creature was going up hill after a long period of rain, so they were pretty good prints.
We sent the cast to the States to have it derma-ridge tested to identify if there was a lost primate that related to the Yowie. They didn’t have much luck, as the plaster I had used was porous, so there were no derma-ridges present. I had also used it as a bit of a talking point at the homestead so it had been handled by a lot of people, before I sent it to the States. They still said they were interested in seeing the cast, and took a gel mould of it. Their report, it was a five-toed primate of some sort.
The neighbour had heard strange noises out of the bush that he couldn’t recognise ? he described it as a blood-curdling scream.
We put out sand traps to gather footprints ? a normal practice for hunters to help identify the natural pattern of movement of the local animals. There was a large indent in the sand trap about 48 cms long and 28 cms wide. But unfortunately other animals had also been across the sand trap and had ruined the print. It was a lot bigger than the other print we had cast earlier on. The sand trap was about 1.5 metres across so we worked out with a foot that size the creature could easily have made only one print in the sand.
This is a very common area for sightings, Dean Harrison has been here a few times, and I know he has heard vocalizations, but I’m not sure if he has seen anything. The other thing we may do, is try to collect some hair samples. We’ll put Gaffa tape around trees etc. where they may lean, and hopefully we might collect something".
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