Have you seen Big Foot? Life-size cut-out 'walks' from Charnwood garden

Big Foot, Yowie, or Sasquatch – whatever you call him – Australia’s elusive hairy monster might be little more than an urban legend but a family in Canberra’s far north is begging the community to keep an eye out for him.

It turns out Sasquatch actually has a name and lives in Charnwood, but wandered off some time on Saturday night (9 April).

His owner, who prefers to remain nameless, came home on Sunday morning to find ‘Sassy’ gone – but not entirely without a trace. The pot plants that normally hold down the life-size plywood cut-out were spread across the front lawn.

“My assumption was that someone has got on the piss and taken him,” she said.

Sassy was born on a whim, the day after the owner’s sister’s wedding in October 2020.

“We were just looking for something to do after the big day,” she said simply.

“Why not make a Big Foot? Everyone knows he’s the hide-and-seek champion of the world, so we thought we’d put him out the front and give people a reason to smile.”

As for inspiration, the owner said the shape was traced around her own five-foot, eleven-inch body onto a piece of form ply.

“That’s why we joke that he’s got a ghetto booty,” she said.

Sassy was originally painted plain black, and had solar-powered eyes that would light up red at night. Since then, he has received a new coat of paint.

“He’s quite a stand-out. You can’t miss him, that’s for sure,” his owner said.

“He’s probably a two-man carry, so I’m expecting a bunch of kids or just some people out having fun. It’s pretty flattering that someone liked him so much they thought he needed a new home.”

The owner suspects the police wouldn’t necessarily be able to help much, so she has gone hook, line and sinker for a social media and poster campaign to get the beloved icon back in his place. She calls this approach “Sas Watch”.

The posters – going up at the local shops today – read: “Have you seen Big Foot? Don’t worry, no one’s going to believe if you have”.

“He’s probably in someone’s garage, or beer garden, or up in the mountains.”

Sassy isn’t alone in the Charnwood front garden. There is also a “loggy daycare” consisting of a number of wooden logs carved to look like dogs, a wall painted with a yellow submarine, and a desert scene complete with cacti.

“When lockdown started here in the ACT, we decorated the house to make people smile as they walked past with their families,” the home-owner said.

She says the community has grown to love the colour and creativity on display in the front garden.

“People stop and chat to us all the time, and ask us if we take commissions. They want us to decorate their house. They just love that we’re creators and really enjoy getting out there and doing these fun things.”

Since Sassy walked, the owner said the community was “pretty devastated”. If he does happen to find his way back home in the coming days, the owner said she would refrain from “sending the Loch Ness monster out after you”.

“We just want our boy home.”