Nostalgia: Yowies

Earlier this year, my parents found my Yowie cabinet in the garage and brought it around to me. Approximately 25 cm tall by 22.5cm wide, this cabinet had pride of place in my childhood. 

I won the cabinet in a competition run by Cadbury. The prize included a large selection from Series 1 and 2 of the Yowie chocolate collection. As far as I know, the cabinet was custom made for the competition. It came with around 50 plastic toys to assemble yourself, but not 50 Yowie chocolates, which was probably a wise decision.

If you are unfamiliar with Yowies, they are a kind of Australian Kinder Surprise. Named for and shaped like the mythical Australian cryptid, the chocolate shell broke open to reveal a plastic egg containing the pieces of an endangered Australian animal. The first 3 series were very high quality and many had moving parts. 

Yowies originally come from Aboriginal legends. They have other names as well. Generally, the description is that of a hairy creature, similar to Bigfoot.

Illustrator and author Geoff Pike once worked as a Jackaroo in Australia and became fascinated by Australian legends and wildlife. Years later, he invented the stories of his Yowie Kingdom, a place for endangered wildlife to be protected by his cuter version of Yowies. Their enemies the Grumpkins represented issues such as pollution and deforestation. Australian/ South African author Bryce Courtney helped launch them and pitch to Cadbury, who developed the chocolate and toy range.

The Yowie also contained facts about the animals. My mini fact sheets are now lost, although the plastic animals remain safely within the cabinet.

There was also a book series and other merchandise, but I was never really interested in the Yowie characters themselves. I enjoyed collecting the endangered animals as the occasional treat. I always looked forward to hopefully getting a new one for my collection.

I remember buying my first Yowie chocolate on a holiday, I got a pelican, which I still have. It was very exciting to put together and the moulding and paint job were very high quality.

Later collections after the breakdown and re-establishment of the company were one piece, and lower quality. Yowies are available again these days although I don’t think they are as popular as when I was a kid.

Yowies were one of the highest quality kids chocolate collectibles. Years later it was exciting to see my old collection and indulge in some nostalgia.