Rex & Heather Gilroy -"The Temple of Nim"Newsletter - 2008

"The Temple of Nim" Newsletter of Blue Mountains UFO Research Club
Vol. 4 Issue No 5. May 2008

Rex and Heather Gilroy-Australia's Top UFO and 'Unexplained' Mysteries Research Team.
Photos & Newsletter copyright (c) Rex Gilroy 2008

Inside

* Results of the 2008 Gilroy New Zealand Moa Search
* Vikings in the Pacific – New Discoveries from New Zealand.
* An Uruan Megalithic Astronomical Temple at Lake Taupo, North Island, New Zealand.

Blue Mountains UFO Research Club News.

Our next meeting will be held on Saturday 17th May 2008 at the Gilroy residence, 12 Kamillaroi Road, South Katoomba, from 2pm onwards. We are situated on the corner of Kamillaroi Road and Ficus Street, and as we always say, park in Ficus Street where there is safer parking. Please no smoking on the premises.

All Welcome

Lets all hear of any personal experiences involving UFO's or the 'unexplained'. Bring a plate of food to share for afternoon tea. Our meetings are usually held on the third Saturday of each month. Looking forward to seeing you all again on May 17th.....

Program for the 17th May meeting.

* Report by Rex Gilroy on UFO sightings over Bilpin district and Burragorang Valley.
* More serialised video footage of the Gilroys recent New Zealand investigations.
* Showing of the plaster casts of the Giant Moa [Dinornis giganteus] feet impressions, found recently in the Te Urewera National Park, North Island of New Zealand by Rex and Heather Gilroy.
* DVD documentaries on UFOlogy and archaeology.
* Latest report of Blue Mountains UFO activity.

As usual, weather permitting, there will be a Skywatch out on our favourite viewing site at nearby Narrow Neck Peninsula, so bring along your binoculars, cameras, and winter woolies for an enjoyable time.

More surprises, and of course your valuable reports.
Any UFO and other reports by members - don't be afraid to speak up and share your information, we are all interested.

So hope to see a big roll-up at our next meeting [of both members and UFOs!].

* Plus anything else that has turned up in the meantime...

Results of the 2008 Gilroy New Zealand Moa Search
By Rex Gilroy
Copyright © Rex Gilroy 2008

Rex Gilroy holding one of the larger Moa Casts
Photo © Rex Gilroy.

The following is a complete account of Rex and Heather Gilroy’s March/April 2008 North Island investigation for evidence of living Moas, principally the Small Scrub Moa, Anomalopteryx didyformis. We were, however, to make perhaps an even more startling discovery, adding a second Moa species to the list of living ‘extinct’ New Zealand ratites.

Another field expedition to New Zealand is planned, hopefully in 2009, during which sites in the South Island will also be investigated.The official scientific view is that the Moas, which were anywhere between 3-4 metres down to 90cm in height, have been extinct for at least the last 600 years. Having tramped the rugged, often vast and inaccessible mountainous and coastal forestlands of these islands on frequent expeditions since 1980, we have never been able to accept this proposition.

After 20 years of field researches, during our 2000 expedition on Friday 17th march our efforts were finally rewarded. We had begun a search in the Te Urewera National Park inland from Hawkes’ Bay on the eastern side of North Island. Finding an old disused track we followed this up a forest-covered mountainside. Below us, down a steep forest-covered slope was a gully. The track at this point was about 2m wide with a 1.5m bank above, beyond which lay more dense forest covering a lengthy terrace.

The wilderness of the Urewera National Park, inland from
Napier [east coastal North Island], where the Gilroys
have found evidence of a Little Bush Moa colony.
Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2008

It was here that we found the indistinct impressions of large bird footprints, which appeared to emerge from the gully, cross the track and scramble up the bank into the forest beyond. Climbing the bank I soon found further indistinct large, three-toed footprints in the forest floor. We sketched, measured and photographed the best examples, but due to the indistinct nature of the footprints the photos failed to reveal any details, as we were to discover later. One footprint measured 17cm in length from tip of middle toe to heel, by 10cm wide across the two outer toes.

We were confident that we had stumbled upon the regular feeding ground of a small colony of Moas. However, our time had run out and we had to return to Australia. In September 2001 we returned, this time armed with a bucket, casting plaster and water. Our hunch paid off, reaching the site we found further scratch marks crossing the bush track and up the bank.

While many were indistinct due to bracken and leafmould, I found three clear enough for casting. Each of these impressions were of different sizes. The smallest impression was 12cm long from middle toe to heel, by 8.5cm wide across the outer toes. It resembled the second largest footprint, which measured 14cm long by 13.5cm wide. The largest specimen was 24cm long by 17.5cm wide and appeared to have longer and more slender toes than the other two specimens, whose toes appeared broader.

The Urewera forests, in the vicinity of the discovery of Little Bush Moa
tracks near a suspected colony location, found by Rex and Heather Gilroy.
Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2006.

Even taking distortion into account, it appeared certain to us that we had found the tracks of three Small Scrub Moas [Anomalopteryx didyformis], whose female was taller at around 1.5 metres, the male reaching 1 metre in height. These initial finds included two nearby ‘nesting spots’. One being the hollowed out trunk of a huge fallen, rotting Kauri tree, the other a small area of crushed foliage within 2 metres of the bush track. The signs were that two Moas had nested here the night before our visit. No feathers or droppings were found here.

The evidence gathered suggests to us even today, that a small population of Anomalopteryx Moas inhabits the dense forest floor of the nearby gully. For a full, detailed account of our findings and a history of the Moas, we direct the reader to our book: “Out of the Dreamtime – The Search for Australasia’s Unknown Animals” [URU Publications 2006].

Rex Gilroy on the lookout for living moas deep
in the Urewera National Park.
Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2006.

Due to lack of funds Heather and I had not been able to return to New Zealand until now [ie March 2008]. Funding this latest search has been difficult for us but the results have more than made up for all the hardships. Before proceeding to the latest discoveries, it is necessary to present a generalised sketch of Moa evolutionary history.

A detailed study by New Zealand palaeontologists over recent years has now reduced the number of fossil and sub-fossil species known to scientists to just 11 species, and there is much speculation on how many other as yet unknown species might have existed prior to the known forms and which had become extinct by more than 2.5 million years ago.

The Moas evolved over a period from about 85 million years ago, from an ancestor that roamed the ancient southern continent of Gondwanaland, of which New Zealand was once a part.

The first birds evolved from reptiles around the close of the Jurassic period, 140 million years ago. All these ancestral birds were capable to flight, but there eventually evolved a number of species which abandoned the ability to fly in favour of a ground-dwelling existence. This example of reversed evolution developed towards the close of the Cretaceous period, [135-65 million years ago], and coincided with the worldwide extinction of the dinosaurs. Some of these flightless birds were giant voracious predators of other ground-dwelling animals, while other, developing in a predator –free environment, became primarily herbivorous.

Appearing among the later at a relatively early stage was a group known as the ratites which today consist of both living and extinct species. The living species are the Ostrich [Africa], Emu [Australia], Cassowary [Australia and New Guinea], Rhea [South America] and Kiwi [New Zealand]. Mystery surrounds persistent native claims emanating from the New Guinea interior of a 4m or so tall, giant Emu-like flightless bird, which the tribespeople claim inhabits the high mountain jungles.

The common Gondwanaland ancestor of all these species became isolated as this great supercontinent gradually broke up and moved apart, as a result of the process of plate tectonics [ie continental drift] during the Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, covering about 100 million years; thus the flora and fauna separated on various landmasses which became Africa, South America, Madagascar, Australia and New Zealand evolved in different directions according to their environments.

On our latest Moa search we arrived in the Te Urewera National Park on Sunday 16th march 2008. Reaching the location of the 2001 finds took us quite some time and involved a lengthy drive in our hire car along a densely-forested dirt road, before we reached a point at the base of the mountain near the forest track that led up the slope.

The earlier location of the Moa feet impressions was overgrown and abandoned, and even the embankment here where the birds had emerged from the gully below to cross the track and clamber up into the forest showed no signs of recent use. However, a further climb up the track of about 60 metres resulted in the discovery of an apparent new “Moa trail”. To the left [east side] were traces of foliage having been broken and trampled on a seemingly regular basis.

The ground on the mountainside track here was hard so that there were no feet impressions. It was when a small clearing directly across on the western side of the track was investigated that we found unmistakable evidence of Moa activity. Clearly embedded in a patch of soft, leafmould-covered soil we found two Moa feet impressions pointing east in the direction of the track and the forest beyond. These impressions measured 38cm in length from rear of heel to tip of centre toe, by 46cm width across the two outer toes, being 1.5cm in depth.

The bird had left other feet impressions in the clearing, and casts were made of a couple of these also but the rest were mostly indistinct due to debris covering the ground.Behind these feet impressions we found a number of scuff marks where the ground had been disturbed by feet, not only those just described, but also much larger impressions. It was behind these indistinct specimens that we came across first, one and then another, huge feet impressions in soil on the edge of the forest from where these birds had emerged to walk in their easterly direction, across the track into the forest on that side.

From the numbers of indistinct impressions and measurements of the two distinct giant-size footprints, we could see that two birds were involved which we judged the tracks to be a few days old.

The first of the giant-size feet impressions found measured 52cm in length from rear of heel to centre toe tip, the two outer toes being 30cm in length, and 47cm width across the outstretched toes. The second, slightly larger footprint measured 51cm in length from rear of heel to centre toe tip, the two outer toes being 34cm in length by 53cm width across the outstretched toes.

Both footprints were up to 3cm in soil depth. Even allowing for some size distortion, these were the tracks of undoubted Giant Moas. It appeared that the birds are now using a new trail blazed through the mountainside forest situated 60 metres above the former route discovered by us back in 2001.

Yet these feet impressions were far larger than those of the male and female small Scrub Moa [Anomalopteryx didyformis] found here in 2001, for the two huge footprints by their sheer size could only have been made by creatures standing up to 4 metres in height with their necks extended upwards. Only one known species identified from sub-fossil remains could possibly fit this image, the giant moa [Dinornis giganteus], the smaller footprints being those of the smaller male of the species.

Dinornis giganteus is argued by New Zealand scientists to have become extinct due to Polynesian depredations around 600 years ago. Its remains occur in both the North and South Islands. Having photographed the footprints after measuring and drawing them, we had to return to the car where we had accidentally left the plaster, a plastic bucket and bottles of water.

During the Pleistocene period, Madagascar was inhabited by giant flightless birds of the Aepyornis genus, of which four species are recognised; A. maximus which reached a height of 10ft [3.5m]; A. medius no complete skeletons of which have been found; A. Hildebrandt which reached about 5ft judging from incomplete skeletons [ie about 1.53m] and A. gracilia which may have been about the same height. Although smaller than the New Zealand Giant Moa, Dinornis giganteus, the 3.5m tall Aepyornis egg measures 14 inches [40cm] in length by almost 9 inches [23cm] in width by 1/8th of an inch thick. The largest Giant Moa egg found by W.S.Mantell in 1852 measured 10 ½ inches [26.5cm] in length by 8 inches [20.3cm] in width. Aepyornis maximus weighed about 950lbs., whereas the Giant Moa [Dinornis giganteus] weighed at least 200kg. Human depredations and climatic changes at the close of the Pleistocene doomed the Aepyornis giants, the last one probably dying out around several hundred years ago.Illustration from “The Age of Monsters” by J. Augusta and Z. Burian; Paul Hamlyn London 1966.

Returning to the car to collect these items and carrying all this equipment took some time. It was by now 5pm and I had to hurry if I was to cast the feet. So leaving Heather at the car I headed off back up the mountain. Reaching the site I quickly removed my backpack containing bottles of water, then grabbing the nearest stick, I broke open bag after bag of plaster, mixing it with water and stirring. Even as I was doing this, the sun was sinking and the surrounding forest was getting darker.

I ran out of water, but still had a large bottle of lemonade for other purposes, but this was now sacrificed to prepare the smaller footprint cast, which was the last one done. We now call this one the ‘lemonade print’. I also had a torch with me and completed my work either holding it in my mouth or between my legs as I poured the plaster. It was to be the night of the full moon and it was not far off rising as I quickly packed up and returned to Heather far below down the bottom of the track.

Lake Waikaremoana, Te Urawera National Park, which stands surrounded by densely-forested mountains.
In this wilderness the Gilroys are finding evidence of living ‘extinct’ small Scrub Moa [2001]
and in 2008 evidence of the Giant Moa. Any mystery creature could
easily avoid human detection in these wilds.
Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2008.

We waited for a time, then after about ½ an hour I let Heather again remain with the car while I set off back up the dark mountainside track, expecting to find the casts all dry enough to lift. It was an eerie experience working my way in torchlight up that track, and finally reaching the location with my video camera and 35mm SLR camera slung over my shoulder I took photos of the casts. However, just by touching each cast first I realised they were nowhere near dry.

Worn out by the steep climb I sat down for a rest and it was now that I was to have the most eerie experience I have ever had in New Zealand. The full moon was rising through the trees amid clouds. Seated there beside the smaller of the two foot casts, some distance off to the east along a ridge that extends out through the forest along the mountainside, I heard a strange guttural ‘humph, humph, humph’, sound that rose to a loud cry.

Rex Gilroy on the shore of a remote corner of Lake Waikaremoana in search of living Moas.
Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2008.

This eerie sound was repeated at short intervals [Heather afterwards said she could hear it from the road below]. I soon realised that the strange sound was approaching in my direction. I estimated that it could not be more than about 60 metres from me and I could now hear the definite sounds of ferns and other forest debris breaking underfoot. Whatever was making these sounds was walking on two legs! The Giant Moa? This was my immediate thought, because whatever was making the walking sounds gave the impression of being large.

Momentarily I could see a dim shape through the moonlit illuminated forest, but no real outline could be detected. I had already reached for my cameras and had both primed ready for “the photo chance of a lifetime” but then the creature stopped, then appeared to walk way eastwards again, emitting the “humph, humph, humph” sound that once more rose to the eerie call. This sound died away into the distance.

If only the creature had emerged I would have at least been able to get a flash photo or two of it, or even night vision video if I was quick enough, but whatever it was I shall never know with any certainty. It is doubtful however, that it was some camper, as nobody in their right mind would tramp these wilds in the dark of night without a torch. Perhaps it was a Large Moa, perhaps even the maker of the giant-size footprint.

I returned to Heather to relate my extraordinary experience in the moonlight. We then drove out of that forestland, but returned to pick up the casts the next morning, by which time they had dried.

.

We are certain that the feet impressions are those of a male and female giant moa [Dinornis giganteus], the male of which stood somewhat shorter that the 4 metres tall females. It is interesting that we have found evidence of a small population of living Dinornis giganteus Moas in this North Island mountainous region, for scientific opinion is that the species was relatively rare in the North Island and was mostly found in the eastern lowland areas of the South island.

Yet we have gathered reported sightings of Dinornis giganteus-Size Moas from Fiordland regions over the years, so that the ‘official’ opinion cannot be taken as the final word on the species distribution, or supposed extinction.

This largest of all Moa species [they weighted up to 250 kg] is the first image to appear in people’s minds whenever the name ‘Moa’ is mentioned. They symbolise a family of flightless birds [Ratites] virtually hunted to extinction by Stone-Age people. To find living groups of any Moa species in the remotest depths of the New Zealand wilderness regions is the “Holy Grail” of New Zealand Cryptozoologists. Yet this achievement has been granted to the Gilroys from Katoomba, New South Wales, Australia!

Where exactly we have turned up our evidence for living Small Scrub Moas, and now the equally ‘extinct’ Giant Moa in the Ureweras remains our secret for logical reasons. Can you imagine what could happen to any remnant colony of any living Moa, should the general public find out the location? It would not be long at all before the forest would be ‘alive’ with idiots, armed with rifles and hunting dogs intent upon ‘getting’ a Moa in the hope of financial reward and quick, short-lived fame in the media.

Human greed would replace conservation! It is better to leave these birds alone in their remote environment, so that they might breed up, free of any human interference.

Rex Gilroy holds casts of a giant Moa female and smaller male feet impressions
found at the Te Urewera wilderness site.
Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2008

There was to be one more moa footprint find during our latest New Zealand search, but this was made elsewhere, on the mist shrouded slopes of Mt Egmont, Whanganui National Park on Wednesday 2nd April 2008. The weather had turned cold and wet, but leaving Heather with our hire car, I set off from the carpark up a forest track from where I entered dank, darkened forest terrain.

For years I had heard stories of Small Scrub Moas seen by trampers who camped and explored this region. Eventually I returned to the track and bumped into an English husband and wife couple loaded with camping gear. In the swirling mist I chanced to tell them what I was searching for, and they responded with the news that they had just seen many bird feet impressions on a ridge overlooking a deep gully and on an offshoot remote track on the opposite side to where I had been searching.

Rex Gilroy with casts of a large [female] Giant Moa [Dinornis giganteus]
and smaller male example from the Te Urewera site.
Male Moas were smaller than the female birds.
Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2008.

Finding this track I saw many bird feet impressions in the muddy ground. I was wet by now of course, but a quick inspection uncovered a couple of large tracks. They appeared to differ from those of the Small Scrub Moa and were much larger, measuring 30cm in length from heel to centre toe tip by 41cm width across the outstretched toes.The bird that left these tracks belongs to a small population that has lived a secretive existence within this dense wilderness, with only rare sightings by those who attempt to fight their way through this maze of closely packed foliage and tangles of vines.

Might it be possible that the resident of the Mt Egmont forested slopes is Dinornis struthoides, the smallest of the Dinornis group of Large Moas at about 120 kg weight? Otherwise, there is also a good chance that the impressions were made by the 30 kg weight Anomalopteryx didyformis and would therefore be those of a female.

Heather Gilroy holds a cast of a female Giant Moa [D. giganteus]
track. It measures 52cm length from rear of heel to mid toe tip, by
47cm width across the outstretched toes. Even allowing for
distortion in the forest soil the owner of this impression
was a bid bird! Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2008.

The great “Moa Mystery” continues, and our discoveries certainly demonstrate to us that two, perhaps three species at least, continue to survive in small numbers in remote corners of the New Zealand wilderness. The search for living Moas in the New Zealand wilderness is an exciting one, and we look forward to our return to those islands in 2009. Who knows what discoveries may yet await us there!

A cast of one of the smaller male Dinornis giganteus tracks found by the Gilroys.
It measures 38cm in length from rear of heel to centre toe tip by
45cm width across the outstretched outer toes.
Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2008.

Rex and Heather Gilroy, Directors, Australian Unknown Animals Research Centre, PO Box 202, Katoomba, NSW 2780 Australia.
Phone 61 2 4782 3441. Email: Details on Main page .

Skeleton of the Little Bush Moa, Anomalopteryx didiformis. Note the bird’s stance, with the neck bent low in the manner of the emu and other Ratites. The head was only raised when feeding upon foliage. Sketch Auckland War Memorial Museum, New Zealand. Artist’s impression of the Little Bush Moa. Officially extinct at least 600 years, the Gilroys’ have found evidence of a colony of these birds deep in the Urewera National Park, North Island in New Zealand. Sketch Auckland War Memorial Museum, New Zealand.

Vikings in the Pacific – New Discoveries from New Zealand.
by Rex Gilroy
Copyright © Rex Gilroy 2008

Of all the mediaeval European adventurers who sailed Australasian waters, even penetrating into the West Pacific region centuries before the arrival of the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch or British mariners, none can compare with the Vikings.

These Scandinavian seafarers first came to prominence in the writings of monks in 789 AD, when three shiploads of Danes attacked the abbey on Lindisfarne Island, off the Northumberland coast. Thereafter they get bad press. Yet it must be remembered that as time progressed, the Viking world produced great scholars and rulers, created universities, made great voyages of exploration which resulted in settlements in North America, with voyages into South American waters it is lately argued. It was Swedish Vikings who brought law and parliament to the Russians – the “Land of Rus”.

It was Swedish Vikings trading along the Great Russian Rivers, who met Arab traders, who directed them to cross overland to the Persian Gulf, from where, by a direct Indian Ocean route they could trade in silk, spices and other valuable commodities with the peoples of India and Ceylon [ancient Lanka]. The Arabs spoke of other lands further south, including the fabled “Lost Paradise” and its riches. These 12th century Arab contacts soon led Swedish adventurers overland, and constructing their famous longships on the Gulf, many of which were of considerable size, with their women, they sailed for India, then further south.

Just how far these bold adventurers sailed remains largely a mystery to historians, yet there are tantalising hints and relics which suggest that, not only did many of these expeditions reach Australia, the Melanesian islands and New Zealand, but that they established far-flung colonies where they farmed and mined for precious metals, gemstones and dived for pearls for generations, which they traded back to Asia and Europe.

Only through long-term colonisation could certain traditions and other cultural traits pointing to Viking contacts have become implanted in Melanesian society.

For example, traditions of “White Gods” arriving on the shores of Melanesian lands in sailing vessels made of serpent skins, or in vessels shaped like serpents are still commonplace. According to natives of the Port Moresby region, Papua New Guinea, “White Gods” once arrived on the coast in serpent-skinned sailing vessels to live among their ancestors. In 1972 a bronze Norman-style Viking helmet was dug up by chance at a highland mission station. It was handed on to a university academic and promptly disappeared!

Solomon Island tribes once constructed a form of massive 100-seater war canoe which they called the ‘Mon’, which bore a single high mast and sail, high prow and stern posts with serpent head embellishments, rowed by natives dressed in wooden Viking-like Norman-style helmets, with round wooden shields hung over the sides to keep the water out in choppy seas. Whole fleets of these huge 30 metre or more length craft were used by the islanders, on head-hunting and women-kidnapping raids, well into the 19th century when European military and missionaries destroyed the culture of the natives.

The islanders said that these vessels were copied from those of the “White Gods from the West” who came among their ancestors in the dim past. The Cook Islanders included many natives with pale-skinned racial features, blue eyes and red hair, give them they said, by a race of “White Gods” who sailed there in “great sailed canoes shaped like serpents” and who “came from a land where, for half the year the trees were without leaves, and the people could walk on the water”.

“White gods” arriving on the northern Australian coast is a feature of some tribal legends, such as among Arnhem Land Aborigines in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, who believe in the ‘Murrinbungo’ or “Water Lubras” who, like the old Scandinavian Lorelei, entice tribesmen into the water of swamps and rivers with their beautiful looks and singing, only to drag them under and drown them in contempt of all men! The tribesmen also believe in the “Seven Sisters”, [the Pleiades constellation], who in the manner of the Valkyrie of Old Norse tradition, carry off Aboriginal warriors slain in battle to the “Sky World”, the Aboriginal Valhalla.

The natives of the New Island and New Britain Island groups once worshipped a god called ‘Gutan’. He is depicted in artworks as being clothed in a loincloth, with a long beard and Norman-like helmet. He pushed back the doors of darkness each morning. He is associated with a race of “White Gods” who arrived in those islands in the dim past in “serpent canoes”. Interestingly, the ‘Mon’ and other large vessels of the former islanders were ‘clinker’-built, that is, with overlapping planks held together with wooden nails in the manner of the old Scandinavian Longships.

In the Trobriand Islands many ceremonial wooden artefacts bear images of a Norse-style Swastika, a symbol say the islanders, passed on to them by the “White Gods from the West”.

For the past 36 years of our marriage, my wife Heather and I have researched a ghostly trail of evidence, pointing to ancient Scandinavian knowledge of, and cross-ocean voyages to our part of the world. In September 1989 we experienced a big breakthrough in our investigations, with apparent 12th century Swedish Viking type rock inscriptions, found in dense bushland overlooking the Hawkesbury River near Richmond, in Sydney’s west.

Carved in a form of ‘shorthand’ upon a large rock slab and on a rock shoal beneath, they are believed to state: “Men in two longships”. The second set “Mul [or Molnir] sails his ship by the sun. The ships and their crews have journeyed up river to the south [that is, the adjoining Nepean River] and returned. This is Yarr’s ship”. The third set, carved on the shoal beneath the slab reads: “Ti sails his ship for Odin”.

Traces of possible 12th century settlement may exist in the nearby Riverstone district, where Scandinavian “farmers’ inscriptions” are coming to light. There is an interesting point emerging from these Australian Viking scripts paralleled by others already discovered by us in New Zealand’s South Island, and that is that they appear to be “mixed scripts” in the manner of mixed Egypto-Phoenician, Egypto-Libyan, Celto-Phoenician etc.

As with these more ancient scripts, it is obvious that they developed over generations of racial intermixture, in this case between more than one Scandinavian people, and outsiders from other parts of Europe, such as the British Isles. In 1997 I discovered a 12th century Hungarian ‘Viking’ inscription carved upon a large boulder at Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty, in New Zealand’s North Island. Viking expeditions often accepted anyone outside their own circle who was willing to man the oars.

Therefore, the presence of mixed ‘Viking’ scripts on rock faces in our part of the world would imply that there had once existed colonies of mixed nationalities, principally Scandinavians and other Europeans, who in the course of generations of mixture, had developed among other new cultural features, locally-produced mixed scripts.

Evidence of long-term settlement of New Zealand by ancient European cultures parallels similar finds made in Australia, where besides Celts [who apparently settled North Island in Bronze-Age times], traces of Scottish voyages of colonisation have been found.

During the Gilroys 1997 investigation in the South Island, we uncovered remains of an ancient settlement at Milford Sound. Scandinavian runic rock inscriptions found thereabouts identified the colonists as Swedes, who established a colony here and elsewhere in the Milford region during the 12th century. The stone ruins we uncovered parallel others found elsewhere in the South, and North islands.

The Milford Sound inscriptions were engraved in a mixed script upon four large boulders within close proximity to one-another. The first one translated read: “Three ships of Nosa. One ship, that of Umi, sailed west”. The Second inscription translated simply stated: “Our god is Odin”. The third inscription read: “Our god is Odin. Our ship of Rus named the Coiled Serpent”.

The fourth inscription however continues to capture our interest. It stated: “With seven ships Saemund in his ship the Sun’s Banner, has sailed here. Seven with Igo and David”. We ponder, has this rock inscription any link to the search mounted about 1120, by the Swedish writer-explorer, Saemund the Learned, for the fabled “lost Paradise”, which was believed to lie in the southernmost region of the world?

The story goes that Saemund, fired by tales of an earlier expedition sent by King Olaf of Norway [1069-1093] into the Indian Ocean, which resulted in the longships reaching the “lost paradise”, organised an expedition himself to seek riches in our part of the world. After crossing Rus on the great rivers to sail from the Persian Gulf to India, his chronicle gives a good description of India, Lanka and the Malayan-Indonesian Islands. Sighting the “Southern Paradise”, he and his followers spend time searching for precious metals, gemstones and pearls.

Saemund describes the paradise land as one of excessive heat and flies, so we assume he has landed somewhere in northern Australia, where exactly is not known. He describes what could have been an Aboriginal initiation ceremony and seeing various strange animals. The explorers sail on through what appears to be Torres Strait, describing mysterious island lands. Finding a long deep inlet amid high mountains they establish a settlement. Are they in Milford Sound? From here vessels led by Saemund eventually sail further south to see “floating islands of ice”. The cold forces them to turn back at this point.

Saemund eventually sailed home to Sweden, having been away for ten years with his fleet, returning with riches and many adventures which he wrote down. Saemund the Learned may yet have more to reveal to us. During our March 2008 New Zealand expedition, while examining mysterious stone ruins in a Bay of Islands forest, I came across three large stones bearing inscriptions carved in 12th century Swedish script.

The first set discovered depicted two horses and two longships. It was discovered in the dense forest undergrowth at the top of a steep gully. Exploring further down the forest-covered slope I came across a large stone bearing runic script in five lines. It was later translated to read: “The wind blew us into the bay. The weather was hot. We all arrived safely and well, led by our chieftain Saemund. Skraelings* were fought in a bay to the south” [*Skraelings’ was a Viking world for natives. It has been found in North American rock inscriptions and in ancient written accounts of American landfalls by Scandinavians. Here it surely refers to contact with hostile Polynesians].

The ‘Skraelings’ inscription, revealing a Bay of Islands landing by
Scandinavians who were attacked by hostile Polynesians.
Photo copyright © Rex Gilroy 2008.

The question is: does this inscription refer to the very same Saemund of the Milford Sound inscriptions?

These inscriptions had all been carved on volcanic basalt rocks, as was the third inscription found, which I discovered some distance from the others, projecting from the forest soil almost obscured by dead fern fronds and leaves. It was the small image of a Longship at the top of this pillar-like stone which first attracted my eagle eye. Before long I had removed it from the ground where it was half buried, and after chalking in the inscription that I found coated it on one side in seven rows, I drew and measured it in the usual manner. However, when I began trying to photograph it my flash would not work properly and overcast weather now darkened the forest.

There was a bush track on the edge of the summit of the gully about 30 metres uphill from where I was, so in an effort to get the stone into the open to photograph the inscription, I first carried all my equipment and backpack up through the tangles of vines and foliage, then leaving it on the track I then returned to the stone, and with some difficulty, lifted and carried this tone uphill, its weight forcing me to stop every several metres of so, until I reached the summit. I emerged from the forest to drop the heavy monster on the dirt, then rested while watching the clouds for a trace of sunlight.

Eventually, perhaps half an hour later, the sun made an appearance, and for the few minutes it was visible I snapped away. These photos, and the video footage I had already shot of it in the forest, made up for all the hardship, which included returning it downhill to where it had originally been found.

The translation would later reveal more interesting information: “We are men and women of Rus who arrived in ships with cattle and horses and fowls. We cry out for Odin’s blessing. Odin strengthen us”.

These inscriptions relate to a colonisation attempt in which livestock would have been acquired in India and other Asian ports along the way and transported here in large vessels for this purpose. remains of stone walls among which Heather and I found a number of ancient Celtic rock inscriptions, and a large stone head of their Sun-God, Bel. It would appear that, around 3,000 years ago, Celtic colonists had been well established on the Bay of Islands, their long-abandoned settlement obviously later discovered and utilised by 12th century Scandinavians.

Northwards from the Bay of Islands, on Cape Reinga, which is New Zealand’s northernmost spit of land, from where in clear weather a distant view of the Three Kings Islands might be had, an isolated beach may hold further evidence of Viking colonisation; for it was here during our investigations in March 2008 that I found, hidden inside as enclosure formed by collapsed boulders near the waterfront, the unmistakable image of the god Thor, standing in his longship holding his hammer, Molnir, in his right had. Below him was the image of another longship with lines projecting from it depicting oars.

Perhaps this set of carvings was made by Scandinavians who, unless they were already exploring the coastline, had just arrived on these shores, and finding a safe inlet here had spent time ashore, during which some artist had engraved these now fading images.
When I found these engravings our time and daylight, was running out, so that if there are any further engravings left by these “Vikings of the Sunrise”, they will have to wait for our return visit, hopefully in 2009.

I call the Scandinavians “Vikings of the Sunrise”, for it was part of their adventurous spirit to conquer the world’s oceans, forever seeking out new lands to colonise. That they found the Americans long before Columbus is fact; and therefore, as the evidence clearly shows, penetrating Australian-New Zealand seas made no difference to these most daring of all ancient mariners.

An Uruan Megalithic Astronomical Temple At Lake Taupo, North Island, New Zealand
by Rex Gilroy
Copyright © Rex Gilroy 2008

On the third day after our arrival in Auckland on Monday 17th March, one of the highlights of our recent 2008 New Zealand investigation, was the discovery that Heather and I made, of an apparent overlooked megalithic astronomical temple, which stands in a park overlooking Lake Taupo on the side of the highway just south of Taupo township. The stones that make up this structure cover an area of 65.18m [217 ft] by 48.59m [161 ft] within which is a megalithic stone circle.

Unfortunately time did not permit us to carry out a more detailed, day-long measurement of the site, so this must wait until 2009 when we expect to return to New Zealand. However, we did discover Uruan script carved on two of the large stones, as well as identify two large, badly weathered heads of the Sun-God, Nim, and Ara, the Moon-Goddess.

The stones cover a major section of the park and are apparently regularly kept clear of grass by City Council lawnmowers. It is good that the general public have not damaged these stones or graffitied them like people in Australia do to our own historic sites!
One large stone bore the message “Upon this flat prepared ground observe the Sun’s movement”, while the second stone displayed on one side the letters for “Observe here the Sun”.

There was a lone glyph close by depicting the Sun’s course, and on the opposite side of the stone were two small circles, one larger than the other. The larger one was the Sun, the smaller one the Moon. These glyphs identified the site as an astronomical structure where the Sun and Moon were observed and worshipped.

Lake Taupo lay a few hundred metres to the west of the park and its overlooked megalithic site. The east side of the structure forms a north-south stone alignment, which is thought to point south to a distant cleft in the mountains, perhaps making this site part of a ley line or marking the position of some heavenly body at a certain time of the year, who can say. Towards the south end of the alignment one of the stones is an altar, and there is a second altar marking the centre of the megalithic circle.

The placing of the stones suggests that ceremonial processions may have entered the site from the north-west corner of the observatory-temple, constructed in a square formation, as in many Australian megalithic monuments. What is the significance of these north-west entrances?

The east-west side of the monument forms an alignment of stones marking the east-west path of the Sun and Moon, while there are a number of other small alignments and stone markers within the precincts of the great square whose import has still to be worked out on a future return visit here.

The lake Taupo megalithic astronomical site undoubtedly served religious as well as astronomical purposes, and from a previous search around the shores of this vast lake we know that many other Uruan rock inscriptions exist hereabouts, of not only astronomical observations, but also engravings of “Bird-Men”, for the Australian ‘Bird-Man’ cult was carried here by Uruan colonists in the dim past.

Time ran out and as we were dure elsewhere by nightfall we had to reluctantly leave this site for now. The Taupo megalithic astronomical temple is undoubtedly of great age, perhaps up to 10,000 years old going by the rate of weathering of the granite stones of which this site is composed using Australian estimates.

Perhaps our next visit will reveal more surprises at this site, which locals and tourists walk through and picnic at, unaware of the great historical importance of these weathering megaliths.

UFOS – Cylinder Giants Over The Blue Mountains
by Rex Gilroy.
Copyright © Rex Gilroy 2008

There may be another UFO ‘flap’ on the way. At 2.30pm on Thursday 15th May 2008 a silvery ‘saucer’-like craft was seen by people at Leura as it flew high over the Grose Valley to the north of the town, heading east.

At 3.22pm on Monday afternoon 5th May as Heather and I were passing through Blaxland in the train returning to Katoomba from a couple of days at Morisset, we saw over towards Bilpin to the north, a giant black cylindrical craft moving about a kilometre above the mountains heading from west to east. It passed swiftly out of sight as the train moved on.

Then, on Tuesday 6th May, what may have been the same craft was seen by me again on Glen Raphael Road, Narrow Neck Plateau, about 3pm as it moved east-west over Burragorang Valley. It passed swiftly over the valley to disappear over the Kanangra Boyd National Park on the valley’s far western side.

At 2.30am on Saturday night, 10th May at a point south from Cedar Road junction with Cliff Drive south Katoomba, I saw, while on a night walk, a green-glowing craft with a ‘teardrop’ shape. Its centre glowed.

It emitted a long white ‘tail’ as if flew horizontally, slowing down for about a minute as it passed over Jamieson Valley, before picking up speed as it disappeared over Narrow Neck Plateau heading west.

Announcing the release of the Gilroy’s latest publication

We look forward to seeing another big roll-up at this and our next meeting which will be on our usual day – 3rd Saturday of the month [21st June]. There should be some good Skywatches ahead of us up here at Katoomba, weather permitting.

Meanwhile, there’s a lot happening “up there” at present so,

Watch the Skies!

Rex and Heather

Rex & Heather Gilroy -"The Temple of Nim"Newsletter-2008
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