Tim the Yowie Man

Tim the Yowie Man is an Australian writer, author and cryptonaturalist^[4] who was born in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.^[5]

Tim the Yowie Man
Born	Timothy Bull Australia
Occupation	Cryptonaturalist
Children	2 daughters^[1]^[2]^[3]
Website	Yowieman.com Tim the Yowie Man on Twitter

Life and career

Born Timothy Bull,^[6] TYM has changed his name by deed poll.^[7] He is an Australian National University graduate.^[8]

Tim the Yowie Man claims to have seen a “yowie”, an entity from Australian folklore that supposedly resides in the nation’s outback. He saw it while bushwalking at Mount Franklin in the Brindabella National Park in 1994.^[4][9][8] Since then, Tim the Yowie Man has investigated yowie sightings^[10][9] and other paranormal phenomena across Australia and internationally.^[11] He also writes regular columns various newspapers^{[12][13][14][11]} including The Canberra Times^[15] and The Sydney Morning Herald.

In 2004, Tim the Yowie Man won a legal case against Cadbury, a popular British confectionery company.^[16][17] Cadbury had claimed that his moniker was too similar to their range of Yowie confectionery.^[6] In deciding the case, a Trade Mark Oppositions Hearing Officer ruled that she was "satisfied that a substantial portion of the Australian public would know of the dictionary meaning of yowie and be able to distinguish between use of the term in this sense, and use of the term by (Cadbury)."^[17]

In 2012, artist Barbara van der Linden painted Tim's portrait as part of her Faces of Canberra series, for exhibition during Canberra's centenary year in 2013.^[18] He continues to live in Canberra with his family.

He has acted as a location and historical advisor for international television programs on unusual phenomena and has featured in documentaries about Australian and international mysteries.^{[citation needed][when?]} He was even an informant for foreign press when Survivor was filming in the Australian outback.^[19] He is a member of the Australian Society of Travel Writers,^[20][4] and has hosted a national travel radio show and is a ghost-tour guide.^[4] He also has his own YouTube channel that covers mysteries, cryptids, and urban legends.^[21]

Publications

• Haunted and Mysterious Australia - Bunyips, yowies, phantoms and other strange phenomena, New Holland, 2006, ISBN 978-1741108279
• The Adventures of Tim the Yowie Man, cryptonaturalist, Sydney: Random House Australia, 2001, ISBN 174051078X
• It's Alive!, Canberra: National Museum of Australia, 2003, ISBN 187694422-6 (Contributed to.)
• In the Spirit of Banjo, Canberra: Pendragon Publishing and Design Australia, 2014, ISBN 978-0-9925061-2-4

Short films / documentaries

• The Roaring Bunyip with Tim the Yowie man. (Documentary. Carillion Pictures 2013)
• TYM The Series - Haunted Tales of Burnima Homestead. (Documentary. Austography 2017)
• TYM The Series - The Mysteries of Lake George. (Documentary. Austography 2017)
• TYM The Series - The Great Aussie Pie Challenge. (Documentary. Austography 2017)

References

1. Tim the Yowie Man (29 August 2014). "Tim the Yowie Man: Winter of discontent". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media.
2. Tim the Yowie Man (29 March 2013). . Hunter Valley News. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014.
3. Doherty, Megan (1 November 2012). . The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 1 November 2012.
4. "Who is TYM?". TIM the YOWIE MAN. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
5. "Just Who Is Tim The Yowie Man". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. 12 March 2000.
6. "Yowie Man, chocolate maker go head-to-head". ABC News Australia. ABC Canberra. 14 September 2004. from the original on 12 October 2013.
7. "Hard hats going Green". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. 7 August 2007.
8. Dapin, Mark (2009). Strange country : travels in a very different Australia. Sydney: Macmillan Australia. pp. 198–199. ISBN 978-1-74198-243-5. OCLC 911394973.
9. "The real X-Files - Leopards, panthers and yowies". PerthNow. 4 June 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
10. Man, Tim the Yowie (23 May 2014). "Tim the Yowie Man: Spinning a yarn". Traveller. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
11. "Tim the Yowie Man". Australian Geographic. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
12. "Break by the lake". Hunter Valley News. 29 March 2013. from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
13. "Tim the Yowie Man". Traveller. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
14. . 9 October 2014. Archived from the original on 9 October 2014. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
15. Times, The Canberra. "Tim the Yowie Man's Profile | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT". www.canberratimes.com.au. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
16. "Tim the Yowie Man licks chocolate giant in court". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. 15 December 2004.
17. "Yowie, he's no choc bar!". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. AAP. 14 December 2004. from the original on 29 August 2010.
18. Doherty, Megan (1 November 2012). "Artist renders Yowie Man deep in mystery". The Canberra Times. from the original on 1 November 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
19. Rutenberg, Jim (3 December 2000). "Marketing a Mystery; Outback Confidential". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
20. , Australian Society of Travel Writers, archived from the original on 19 October 2014
21. "Tim The Yowie Man - The Series - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 5 July 2021.