Lost Australian Colonies of the Bronze Age God-Kings - Part One

I dedicate this series to my wife and fellow researcher, Heather, whose constant dedicated assistance in every aspect of our work together, is for me a continual inspiration. Without here support it is doubtful that many of our greatest archaeological discoveries would have been possible.

Lost Australian Colonies of the Bronze Age God-Kings Part 3

By Rex Gilroy
Copyright (c) Rex Gilroy 2003

[This three-part series contains material from “Pyramids of Destiny – Lost Pacific Colonies of the Bronze-Age God Kings” by Rex and Heather Gilroy; Copyright © URU Publications 2003].

From all the evidence so far presented in this series, there can be little doubt that Australia was explored, colonised and mined on a grand scale throughout the Bronze-Age, and on into the Iron-Age, by the ancient Egyptians and their allies, principally the Phoenicians, Celts and Libyans, dating back to Old Kingdom times [2780-2100 BC].

My book, “Pyramids in the Pacific – The Unwritten History of Australia” [URU Publications 2000] presented a mass of evidence demonstrating that mining colonies were not only established in coastal districts, but that the miners sailed deep inland, following coastal river systems in their search for precious metals and gemstones, including as we have seen, the Murray-Darling system, which via offshoots such as the Macquarie, Namoi-Peel and Gwydir Rivers, brought their ships deep into the Central West and New England districts of New South Wales, from where vast amounts of mineral-bearing ores would be extracted for centuries to come. The limitations of space did not permit an even broader picture of the true extent of these mining operations and only a few major colonies could be described.

Lost Australian Colonies of the Bronze Age God-Kings Part 3 cont...

Our new book now in preparation, “Pyramids of Destiny – Lost Pacific Colonies of the Bronze-Age God-Kings” will not only reveal these colonies in full, but much new evidence, including recently-discovered pyramids and other megalithic remains, such as the crumbling ruins of ancient cities. This new book will also concern the modern-day investigations of these lost relics of our hidden history by the Gilroys, and our many adventures experienced in our searches throughout the Australian and New Zealand wilds, as we turn up relics and ruins about which conservative university-based historians would prefer the public knew nothing about!

From Tasmania to the eastern Victorian mainland, and on up the east coast to Cape York, there stand today crumbling remains of Bronze-Age mining operations. Indeed, traces of ancient mining operations occur in every Australian State.
Remains of extensive mining in antiquity is to be found in New Guinea, the Solomons and other Melanesian Islands, as well as certain islands of our Great Barrier Reef, and across the Tasman Sea in New Zealand.

Untold millions of tonnes of gold, copper, tin, silver and other mineral-bearing ores were extracted and removed by these ancient miners, in what can only be described as the greatest mining operation in human history. Where did all this wealth go? There is only one clear answer, and that is that it was shipped back to the Red Sea ports.

The mass of evidence being uncovered demonstrates that the Egyptians, with the aid of their Phoenician, Libyan and [from around 1500 BC onwards] Celtic associates, established an extended Egyptian empire, an Australian-Pacific empire that was far larger than that of the Middle-East! So many thousands of people were settled in these Australian, Melanesian and New Zealand colonies that the establishment of local ruling classes became necessary, explaining the many rock inscriptions bearing the names of rulers unknown to the records of ancient Egypt.

In the previous episodes of this series I have revealed remains of extensive mining colonies and the names of their rulers uncovered by Heather and I on the Atherton Tableland and at Cooktown; and then there was the Sarina evidence, a massive wharf constructed of ancient mine rubble among other megalithic remains, all of which suggest that the area was once the site of a huge settlement of at least 3,000 inhabitants.

Further south lies the Proserpine district where remains of yet another great mining colony are beginning to emerge. Since 1975 Heather and I have been researching the Gympie district, which despite the vandalism of the ‘Gympie Pyramid’, there still remains plenty of evidence to show that here was the seat of government of a powerful ruler, Pharaoh Nat-ta-wa [as revealed from rock inscriptions in a mixed Egypto-Phoenician script found throughout that district], about whom more will be written in a future “Hard Evidence” article.

While the Queensland evidence is impressive, the New South Wales coastal districts are beginning to reveal megalithic and other remains of ancient colonisation to rival those so far uncovered up north. In August 2002 at Taree Heather and I uncovered ancient copper mining operations near a hilltop megalithic temple site from which we recovered a relief head carving of the Phoenician Sun-God Baal, on the back of which was the inscription: “Baal of the Canaanites”. This carving lay beside a crude stone altar, and a few metres away I also recovered a stone slab bearing the Canaanite Phoenician message: “For Baal of the Canaanites, at the Temple of the White Sun, all gather”.

Evidence is mounting of a huge mining colony whose coastal headquarters was at Gosford, from where operations extended north to the Newcastle-Hunter district, and south as far as bases on the far south coast of NSW. The minerals from the scattered mining settlements were probably transported to the main base at Gosford for sorting and shipment back to the Red Sea ports. Our work in the Newcastle area is only just beginning. In August 2001 Heather and I happened to picnic at a waterfront location at Raymond Terrace on the north side of Newcastle. As I explored nearby ancient sand hills I chanced to spot a lump of stone lying half-exposed in the sand, upon which there appeared to be strange markings. Picking it up I discovered the markings to be fading Egyptian glyphs.

The glyphs included an image of Horus with surmounting sun-disc, a crown, the sign for water and other recognisable symbols.

The inscription was engraved upon both sides of the stone and read:

“It is recorded that magical ceremonies have been preformed to the divine royal body of the god of the two crowns,
the loving Horus by day at his abode, his shrine in his temple by the water on this island land”.

From a high point it could be seen that the surrounding area had indeed once been an island prior to the eventual receding of the nearby inlet waters. No traces of a temple could be found, this possibly having long ago fallen away beneath the water, or perhaps its remains have been buried deep beneath recent land development. There can be little doubt that further remains of a large Newcastle coastal base settlement have yet to be uncovered.

From here the Hunter River winds westward beyond Singleton to eventually become the Goulburn River, which in turn continues on until it ends in swampland some 40 or so kilometres north of Mudgee in the NSW Central West, a rich gold, copper and tin-bearing region. It was at a site in dense riverside bushland hereabouts in November 1997 that Heather and I stumbled upon the extensive remains of ancient stoneworks, the outlines of apparent huts, through which the trunks of 400 to 600 year old gum trees grew, attesting to their pre-European age. I happened to turn over a large slab of rock to find finely-engraved Phoenician letterings.

The inscription was later translated to read:

“I, I-ba-ta have found the gold of Ra.
At the temple of the Radiant Sun I have given a certain portion to the temple’s smelter”.

It is not unlikely that from the Mudgee region, the ancient miners from the Hunter district eventually made contact with colonists who had penetrated the Macquarie river into the Dubbo-Bathurst-Oberon districts after sailing up the Murray-Darling River system.

The great Gosford mineral sorting house was accessed via Broken Bay-Brisbane Waters. At nearby Kariong about 1900 two young campers stumbled upon the now-famous hieroglyphic site. The hieroglyphs and associated cartouches date from the Egyptian Old Kingdom period [of Egypt] – 2780 to 2100 BC – and much controversy surrounds them. They are not accepted by any university-based historians, for to do so would mean the entire re-writing of Australia’s history [and we couldn’t have that, could we!].

When I first saw these inscriptions in 1996 with biblical archaeologist, Dr Allan Roberts, I immediately realised what no one else had, namely, that these inscriptions and their cartouches were a record of Australian-based Pharaohs who had ruled over this continent from this, and possibly another seat of government further north. In our forthcoming book, Pyramids of Destiny – Lost Pacific Colonies of the Bronze-Age God-Kings”, it will be shown that Australia was at one time divided into two or more kingdoms.

Much nonsense has already been published claiming the location of the glyphs was a Pharaohnic burial site, among other things. Yet my translation reveals that the remains of most of these local Pharaohs were transported by vessel up the nearby Hawkesbury River for burial “in tombs of stone”. In recent months Heather and I have uncovered at a clifftop site overlooking the Hawkesbury River, at what must remain a highly confidential location, a cartouche containing the glyphs for Ma-tept-Ra” with an associated inscription in Egypto-Phoenician script.

It stated: “On this mountain observe the cartouche of Ma-tept-Ra, the husband, a Son of the Sun, buried at this place”.

When we stumbled upon this find the daylight was going fast. However, I was able to make one more find as we left. Projecting from the ground I found an ironstone slab later measured at 27.5cm tall by 16cm width and 5cm thick. It bore the image of a face [left profile] with an eye from which a tear was depicted. An inscription in Phoenician on both sides of the slab later translated to read: “Ki mourns at the tomb on this land to which he has come to make offerings to Ra the Sun here. In the rays of the Sun’s heat he has come to this flat ground. Inscribed by the priest Na-I”.

During March 2003 in dense bushland overlooking the Broken Bay area accompanied by American Archaeologist, Tom Walter, and another fellow enthusiast, Ken Davidson, I uncovered the remains of a temple to the Egyptian god Set, the god who in Egyptian mythology was elected to rule over the southern paradise land of Khenti-amenti, and who was depicted as a pouched, kangaroo-like ‘monster’. Carved upon a vertical cliffside at the base of which was a collapsed sandstone floor, we beheld an image of the god, a ‘monster’ with two tall ears, a horn projecting from his round face, which bore a large round eye and slit for a mouth. The lower half of his body was carved in the Aboriginal fashion, with back legs extending outwards from the body, and the tail curving outwards from the rear end, Egypto-Phoenician glyphs beneath the horn stated “Temple of the Eye of Set”.

I later returned to this site to discover, half-buried in nearby dirt, a 26cm tall by 16cm width and 4.5cm thick ironstone slab bearing the right side image of a face with eye and mouth, and Phoenician letterings above and towards the base of the image which were afterwards translated to state: “On behalf of our King Sa-I, to our god Set. Here an offering is made in thanks to Ya-ta-wa, commander of his ships, for a safe voyage to this land. All give thanks. Inscribed by Pa”.

Countless numbers of people are enthralled by the Kariong Hieroglyphs. Yet these are really limited in information, when compared with the many hundreds of Bronze-Age [2000-1400 BC] rock inscriptions in Egypto-Phoenician, Phoenician, Libyan and Celto-Phoenician being uncovered by Heather and I and our team throughout the whole Brisbane Waters-Central Coast district, and which tell of the daily lives of the colony’s inhabitants; of the arrival of ships with more colonists, the prayers of fishermen for good catches [fishermen haven’t changed much since then!], information on the growing of crops to feed the population and many other aspects.

Yet the Gosford colony was but the coastal entrance to a much more extensive operation, for evidence is growing to show that a vast network of farming communities was established along the Hawkesbury River in the Windsor-Richmond districts and southwards into the adjoining Nepean River to the Penrith area and further south into the Mulgoa district. Recently I have uncovered evidence of an extensive farming community that extended from the Nepean eastwards to Campbelltown on the Georges River.

From Botany Bay along the Georges River, a number of Phoenician rock inscriptions have been uncovered by our investigations in recent years, including numbers from a site on Prospect Creek at Lansvale near its mouth with the river, which refer to ancient farming activities thereabouts. These finds suggest Botany Bay may yet turn up evidence of colonisation and Sydney Harbour could hardly have been overlooked by these people.

The evidence is that, the Gosford colony was of such magnitude that a massive network of farms was needed to grow food for the populations of miner-colonists.

In 1989 Heather and I uncovered remains o fa megalithic structure outside Bowral, just south of Mittagong. Nearby I found a large granite block with a sandstone coating on both sides. On one of these surfaces I found a Celtic Bronze-Age ogham inscription stating: “To Phoenician Baal this shrine is dedicated by Hu. We are sailors from Ham who worship the Sun”. We retrieved this stone with some difficulty and it now rests in our collection of inscribed stones at Katoomba. Just as well, for within a few years town council workers bulldozed the site for a park.

The block, which measures 70cm tall by 55cm width and 17.5cm thick, is important evidence pointing to major mining operations in the Bowral-Mittagong-Southern Highlands region in antiquity, because of the faded inscription that for some reason I failed to notice on the stone’s back. That was until October 2003, when one morning the sun’s shadow revealed the faded symbols of a circular Phoenician inscription as I chanced to notice from a couple of metres away.

Several hours later I had the translation: “To Baal son of El*, give praise. Na-ta-wa our ruler who arrived in the ship “White Light of the Sun”, ordered this stone erected. Crews of the gathered gold ships make offerings of thanks to the Sun, on this ground of Baal our god, before the stone, observed by the priests of El who awake early to greet the Sun”. [*El was the supreme being of the Phoenicians]. Yet the inscription refers to Na-ta-wa. If this was the same Pharaoh mentioned in the Gympie Pyramid inscriptions described earlier, then his power surely extended to the Gosford colony.

It is now certain that the ancient miners had penetrated down the Nepean River into the Nattai [in those times navigable] into the Mittagong area, where they found tin, copper and gold in nearby Joadja Valley and west of Bowral. Livestock such as oxen for drawing cart loads of ore from mining sites, as well as mules, used for extracting ores from difficult-to-get-at places, and camels or horses for deeper inland exploration, would surely have been transported here to aid in the mining operations. And here was the major reason of the establishment of the Gosford colony!

Beginning in April 2003 Heather and I, together with our new Southern Highland field assistant, (name witheld-we will call her mary) , uncovered remains of a hilltop Baal temple site in dense bushland, deep in mountainous terrain at the southern edge of the Burragorang region in the Joadja Valley. Hereabouts we came upon a massive ancient open-cut mining operation which had involved the excavation of the entire length of a hillside, from which a considerable amount of gold had been recovered.

There was no confusing this site with any 19th century European gold mining operation and no evidence of 19th century or later European presence is to be found here. What we did find were a number of Phoenician rock inscriptions at various points alongside or above the mining operations.

One of these inscriptions states:

“Mines dedicated to Baal”.

And there can be no doubt as to what was mined here, as another inscription states:

“Beneath Baal’s Eye, the serpent Baal our god. At these mines in the mountains is gathered his gold”.

At another mining site I uncovered this inscription:

“This mine belongs to Wa-ha-la, son of Lamo the Elder”.

There is much more being uncovered throughout this district, to be revealed in full when “Pyramids of Destiny” is published. While our researches continue in the Bowral-Mittagong-Southern Highlands region, Heather and I are also dividing our time with another major discovery, in the form of yet another extensive mining colony, established at a highly confidential NSW South Coastal site.

During August 2001 while exploring dense forestland “near Wollongong” we came upon first one, and then close by another, four-sided pyramidal stone structures. The structures are composed of large rocks of varying sizes. As it was late afternoon time did not permit further study, and it was not until November that year that we were able to begin mounting a full investigation of the site. Fighting our way through jungle-covered rocky terrain to reach the site was not easy and snakes were a concern.

Yet the risks [as on this occasion] that we take are always well worth the effort, as our mounting discoveries continue to demonstrate. Finally reaching the remote location we soon realised these were no ordinary crumbling stone pyramids. Both structures were measured at 66m in height, the base of each of their four sides [which face the four cardinal points of the compass] was 99m. Both were found to have flat summits for ceremonial purposes. Placed one behind the other on an east-west alignment, we found distinct differences between each pyramid.

The westernmost structure was constructed from the bare ground, whereas the eastern structure has been erected upon a 13m tall base of crude stonework, which at its eastern end was an obvious assembly area measuring 99m length by 66m width. Time and jungle growth had done its work on the summit of the western pyramid, so that little trace of structural stonework survives here. However, the eastern pyramid summit is in better preservation, being capped by two stone platforms, one inside, and rising above the other. The height of each platform is about 40cm, the outer platform being 15m in length [east-west] by 10.1m width [north-south], the inner platform being 1.8m in from the base platform edge and measuring 8.5m length by 3.8m width.

Realising that we were going to need help we called upon our trusted south coast field assistants Alan and Anji Westrip, with whom we were soon to make further significant discoveries hereabouts. At the south-east end of the base platform of the eastern pyramid I found remains of a 5m length width shrine platform that once projected outwards from the summit, but which was now falling away. On its eastern side was a small altar stone, presumably for the receiving of offerings.

To the west of the shrine on the edge of the base platform I uncovered another small altar stone bearing the Phoenician inscription:

“Shrine of the Sun Baal our god”.

Then, a couple of metres away, at the base of the inner platform close to its south-west corner, I discovered another small altar stone, atop which was the Phoenician inscription: “Baal the Sun”.

Towards the right side of the altar’s flat top was a slab which also bore an inscription. This message was later translated to read: “People by day assemble here, watched by Baal’s Eye, upon the pyramid before this altar”. When removed, I found this slab had covered a small, shallow libation depression.

Later, while exploring though the dense forest covering of the pyramid’s eastern base platform, I uncovered a large stone bearing further Phoenician letterings. This inscription was later found to state: “Baal the Sun our god watches over the rituals performed upon the temple pyramid to our god at this enclosure, the god’s home”.

Together with Alan and Anji we explored the surrounding rubble-strewn jungle floor to find that a nearby high forest-covered plateau on the northern side of the pyramids bore the remains of ancient quarrying. It was from here that the massive amounts of stone was obtained for the construction of the pyramids, and also other stoneworks [now largely fallen away with time] nearby.

While searching below the eastern pyramid platform I discovered, buried by rubble and jungle foliage, remains of a high wall of crude stone blocks. This wall appeared to extend from near the plateau quarry along the eastern side of the pyramid, then make a sharp turn west to a point almost to the south-west corner of the western pyramid, before turning south for about 70m then east for at least 120m, then turning south to end at the base of tall cliffs. It dawned on us that here was the remains of a walled harbour and wharf. A small hillock, hidden by jungle on the eastern edge of the south side of the wharf towards the cliffs, I later realised to be a collapsed pyramidal stone beacon.

At the northern base of this collapsed beacon I later uncovered a massive basalt slab, measuring 1.4m length by 62cm width by 20cm thick, bearing a message in Bronze-Age Celtic ogham: “To the Mother of Heroes, Byanu, Mother of Bel*, to them both light a fire. Light a fire and sacrifice. Gather on this ground to pour libations on this altar”. [*Bel was the Celtic Sun-God].

Subsequent return investigations have continued to reveal further surprises. Scattered stoneworks, the remains of ancient dwellings, occur further to the west of the pyramids and wharf. Early in 2003 I explored the quarry plateau to the north to uncover extensive remains of stone walls and ancient hut outlines, often with centuries-old gum trees growing up through the rubble. These are definitely not the remains of any 19th century European settlement. More field work awaits us on the plateau, and also beyond the cliffs to the south where further settlement remains are suspected, as they are also further to the west.

Here was an important harbour-front colony, largely constructed by Phoenician and Celtic miner-coloniests. Egyptians had to have been involved, as from grave markers and other stone Egyptian inscriptions found over a wide area of the district. Here triremes loaded with minerals mined further down the coast would have docked, amid the harbourside activities of workers. Warehouses containing the grain harvested on the outlying farms stood alongside those containing other commodities, and also minerals for sorting prior to their shipment home to the Red Sea ports.

Yet the ocean has long ago receded and this former harbour front colony with its crumbled harbour walls and wharf now stand some kilometres inland; dry land over which ships from the land of the Nile once sailed. Our researches hereabouts have barely begun and I believe much more still awaits us in the vicinity of this ancient colony.

We believe the exact location of this site is far too important for average Australians to be trusted with its preservation. Pyramids and similar structures seldom last very long once treasure-hunting vandals learn their locations. The Gympie Pyramid is the best evidence of what human greed is capable of! By keeping the location of this site a secret the preservation of the pyramids and other structures thereabouts will be assured, and we can also continue our researches there unhindered by the fear of vandalism.

It seems certain that the mining operations for which this colony was established were carried on further down the coast. The Tuross River, which flows westward from Bodalla, was the scene in 2001, of a number of rock inscription finds, including one riverside location where numbers of stone grave markers inscribed in Phoenician, Celto-Phoenician and Egypto-Phoenician messages, were uncovered by myself, Heather and the Westrips.

Other inscriptions identified one area as a village at which grain was grown to feed the populace, while others referred to the gold, copper and tin mined further inland in what is now the Wadbilliga National Park. We anticipate further exciting finds will turn up in this area in the course of future fieldwork.

From what has been revealed in this three-part series alone, it is certain that Australia was mined on a massive scale in Bronze-Age times, and by seemingly countless thousands of workers, for the rulers of kingdoms whose size would have rivaled the territories of Egypt and Phoenicia. Power disputes, even wars were inevitable, fought over the vast wealth in minerals and gemstones that lay buried here.

Here at our “Australian Pre-Cook Discovery Research Centre” at Katoomba information concerning mystery relics of our ‘hidden history’ continues to flow in while Heather and I try to find room in our ever-growing collection of rock inscriptions and other relics uncovered during our fieldwork.

We are also proud members of the Truth Hunters Research Group based at Sarina Qld., operated by founder Val Osborn and fellow researchers Gilbert Deem and Wayne Freemantle, and who continue to do a splendid job, unearthing long-lost Bronze-Age mining sites and other evidence, which while continually dismissed by desk-glued university-based ‘experts’ as nonsense, nevertheless must inevitably one day, together with what the Gilroys are uncovering elsewhere, re-write the history, not only of Australian, but also Pacific region discovery and exploration.

Rex and Heather Gilroy can be contacted at PO Box 202, Katoomba 2780 NSW.
Phone: 02 4782 3441; email: randhgilroy@optusnet.com.au.
Catch their websites through google and type in Rex Gilroy.

References:
“Pyramids in the Pacific-The Unwritten History of Australia” by Rex Gilroy, URU Publications 2000.
“The God-Kings and the Titans” by James Bailey, Hodder and Stoughton 1973.
“The Children of the Sun” by W.J.Perry, Metheuen & Co. Ltd. 1923.