Land of the Jimbra As with the 'hairy man' traditions of
Aboriginal eastern Australia, the old tribes of the western half
of the continent, as we have seen, likewise possessed many
different names for the Yowie, confusing these primitive ape-
like creatures with other, and often larger, giant hominid
forms. The Western Australian tribes called one of these giant
races the 'Ninya', describing them as a white-skinned, 3-4m tall
people, who emerged from Australia's centre long before the
appearance of the first Aborigines. They also speak of a race of
normal-sized, hairy, big-browed people with receding foreheads;
a race of tool-making, fire-making beings reminiscent of Homo
erectus, and who territory extends far eastward into the other
states; and of tool-making, fire-making giants, either related
with those of eastern Australia, or else representatives of
other people entirely. And then there are the 'little people',
the pygmy folk of the far north, of whom many Aborigines appear
sometimes to be as much afraid