A New Yowie Statue

The Sydney Morning Herald has a new story up on their website about a Yowie returning to Queensland, Australia. It's not the actual cryptid, however, but a famous statue instead.

The old wooden statue has been replaced
with a fiberglass model
(Seo75, wikiepdia)

Queensland's 2 1/2-metre yowie statue, inspired by the reported sightings of the strange creatures, has returned after a three-month absence, taking pride of place in the state's south-east once again.

Yowie sightings claim to have been made in the forests of the Somerset region from 1742 to 1971 and the local community embraced the reports by erecting a life-sized statue.

Somerset Regional Council mayor Graeme Lehmann said a local vineyard owner has dressed up as a yowie, local businesses sell a yowie burger and visitors can buy yowie postcards and pins. 

'When you talk to people involved in the sightings, they're convinced it (yowie) exists . . . one person  in the Kilcoy community has a plaster cast footprind of a yowie,' he said.

Cr Lehnmann said the wooden statue of the mythical creature was taken away from Yowie Park in Kilcoy, almost 90 kilometers south-west of the Sunshine Coast, in January.

The existing structure was showing signs of wear and tear, so the statue was used to create a cast for a new and more durable fiberglass version.

The statue's disappearance sparked a public outcry, according to Cr Lehmann but this week, the new statue was erected, restoring one of the region's key tourist attractions.

'People come from far and wide to find out about the yowie . . . Some people came from Ipswich to see the new yowie installed,' Cr Lehmann said.

'When the yowie went away, there was public outcry until they understood that a copy was being made.

'People were glad to see it back there again because it's a tourism drawcard. It has been embraced by the community for many years.'

The new statue was created by Brisbane-based company NatureWorks, which produces museum-quality life-sized fiberglass animal replicas. 

The new statue being installed
(Sydney Morning Herald)

If you are ever in the Kilcoy area, be sure to check out the new yowie statue!