Yowie is a confectionery and publishing brand originating in Australia in 1995 by Cadbury and Kidcorp. It was one of the top selling chocolates in Australia in the late 1990s and early 2000s, selling over a million units a week. After a break of nearly a decade, Yowie relaunched in 2014 for US markets. History Yowie began as the brainchild of English-born advertising man, illustrator and author Geoff Pike and South African-Australian advertising director and novelist Bryce Courtenay. After serving in the navy, Pike jumped ship in Australia, finding work as a jackaroo on remote cattle stations. He became enchanted by Australia's outback and its unique wildlife, and devoted his free time to nursing injured and orphaned animals back to health. Many decades later, after a successful career in advertising, Pike drew on these early bush experiences and his love of wild places to create the Yowie Kingdom, a fictional magical realm free of the destructive influence of humanity, where threatened wildlife finds a safe haven. Inspired by Australian folklore, Pike borrowed the mythical man-like creature the Yowie, reputed to roam the Australian bush. To watch over the fictional Yowie Kingdom and its animals and plants, Pike created six Yowie characters, each related to a well-known Australian animal, and each one guardian of key wild habitats: Boof the Bottlebrush Yowie, cousin of the bandicoot, protector of rainforests and mountains Crag the Mangrove Yowie: cousin of the Saltwater crocodile, protector of swamps and wetlands Ditty the Lillipilli Yowie: cousin of the wombat, protector of woodlands and meadows Nap the Honeygum Yowie: cousin of the koala, protector of forests and bushland Rumble the Redgum Yowie: cousin of the red kangaroo, protector of deserts and plains Squish the Fiddlewood Yowie: cousin of the platypus, protector of rivers and streams Additional characters included animal companions for each of the six Yowie and Balthizar the Bunyip, ruler of the Yowie Kingdom. To represent the threats facing the world's natural habitats and threatened species, Pike created the Grumkin, careless creatures constantly seeking to destroy the harmony of the Yowie Kingdom. The Grumkins were: Munch (careless building, enemy of Rumble), Blob (pollution, enemy of Crag), Ooz (also pollution, enemy of Squish), Spark (careless firelighting, enemy of Nap), Slob (littering, enemy of Ditty) and Chomp the Tiger Toothed Tree Chomper (deforestation, enemy of Boof). Continuing with the development of the Yowie concept and characters, Pike enlisted the aid