Chapter Thirty Four.
Sun-Worshippers of Central Australia.
Such has been written about the fabled Australian inland sea, for which European explorers searched, sometimes with fatal results. They had been encouraged by Aboriginal descriptions. Yet these Aboriginal tales had been handed down from earlier generations, by which time the sea had dried up, due probably to a change in the water table.
Yet while it existed, this great sea extended from what is now the Gulf of Carpentaria coast, taking in part of western Queensland and much of the eastern half of the Northern Territory to the west of Alice Springs and perhaps up to half of the Northern Territory on its western flank, extending as far as Ayers Rock.
This would have been the picture during Pleistocene times, but after 12,000 years ago environmental conditions began to change. The lush environment beyond this sea gradually dried, up, so that by the time of the Bronze-Age it is estimated that the width of this sea had been reduced, although it still extended to the Ayers Rock district.
Aboriginal traditions speak of a time when Ayers Rock [Uluru] was situated upon a tree-covered island surrounded by water. Ayers Rock was known to all the early civilisations of the Old World. To the ancient Egyptians a great red rock stood at the centre of Kenti-Amenti, the “Lost Paradise of Mankind”, the Land of the Gods. A full account of these traditions is to be found in my book “Pyramids in the Pacific”.
The former existence of an inland sea extending into the “Red Centre” would help explain a number of mystery rock inscriptions and relics recovered over the years from remote locations scattered over a wide area of the Northern Territory interior.
For example, during August 1961 a family on holiday stopped their vehicle on the roadside next to the Daly River. The children began playing with stones, when one of them picked up a gold Egyptian scarab, an object of worship of the ancient Egyptians. They handed it to their mother who later had it identified by a member of the Rosicrucian Order living in Darwin.
Similarly, another gold scarab was dug up in the front yard of a postman at Darwin about 1978.
Many people driving south on the Stuart Highway, just 3 or 4 miles beyond Barrow Creek, have observed on the left hand side, and some considerable distance off, a rock mass with a remarkable resemblance to a sphinx. Mystery rock scripts have been found in the area, possibly of Phoenician origin.
The region where the Daly River scarab came to light is rich in gold and copper. Were these minerals being mined by Egyptian colonists?
If Egyptians and their allies were able to sail over the inland sea to reach the Ayers Rock area, it would explain apparent Egyptian hieroglyphs said to exist in the Olgas, which lie west of the ‘Rock’.
During August 1999 Heather and I carried out our first archaeological field investigation in Central Australia. In the course of our stay in Alice Springs, we explored many back roads. On one particular road as we passed an open flat area I asked Heather to stop the car, because I had received a sudden urge to explore that paddock.
Heather was safe from the heat in the car, while I did all the sweating, picking up sandstone rocks at random, turning them around in my hand before discarding them. Then I picked up one rock upon which were unmistakable Phoenician letterings.