The Marree Man: Image of an Aboriginal in the Australian Bush
Located 16 meters below sea level in the desert of southern Australia, Lake Eyre is one of the largest salt lakes in the world. According to the light, it shines like a sparkling snowfield in the desert. In 1998, the 4.5 km long image of an Aboriginal man, the Marree Man, was discovered at this location. This representation is only revealed at an altitude of 1,000 meters. Thousands of planes have already flown over this area, so why was this image not discovered until late?
A silhouette on a 6 meter wide furrow
North of Adelaide, near Lake Eyre, located in the desert, was discovered in 1998 the immense representation of an Australian Aboriginal named the Marree Man. This clearly drawn and perfectly proportioned silhouette has a length of 4.5 km and a perimeter of 15 km. It was discovered by Ray Goss, a businessman from a nearby town, who had been informed of it by an anonymous fax.
The Marree Man silhouette is drawn, or more exactly dug, by means of a 6 meter wide furrow, which cannot be identified at ground level. It is indeed much too big and too wide. But, at 1,000 meters above sea level, the dark outlines appear clearly, the pale beige of the desert forming a perfect contrast. For Goss, the drawing represents a man armed with a spear.
Extraterrestrial artists
Opinions as to the origin of this design differ. The mysterious Marree Man has attracted the attention of media around the world and generated a whole series of speculations. Explanations range from the joke of natives, eager to attract an international audience to breathe new life into tourism, to paranormal which assume that the authors of the image are of extraterrestrial origin.
A third theory
Between 1953 and 1963, the British carried out atomic experiments in the South Australian desert. These tests irradiated huge areas of the country and damaged the health of many Aborigines. At the time, Aborigines were not considered citizens of the country and were treated as outcasts or animals. It was not until 1960 that they rightly access social benefits. They do not get the right to vote until two years later. In 1967, they finally access all their rights as citizens. Since then, the Australian government has provided native people with about 14 million Australian dollars for damages suffered as a result of tests conducted at the time.
Today, the government plans to set up a depot for dangerous and toxic products in this region. In a statement, the Aborigines say: “They baptized our land Terra nullius. But it is not a desert intended to accommodate mines and a landfill for uranium and nuclear products. It is our homeland. The first wave of invasion forced us to abandon our pasture economy and made us refugees in our own country. And, despite the immense genocide, we managed to keep in touch with our land. And today, it is threatened by the largest uranium mine in the world: Roxby Downs and the planned nuclear landfill at Billa Katalina, in the valley of Lake Eyre.”
Also, this silhouette in the ground leads more and more to think that it was a means of drawing international attention to the problem, to prevent the opening of this nuclear landfill and outright spoliation from the earth to its inhabitants.
The theory of the silhouette of extraterrestrial origin persists however resolutely. But the mystery remains as to who drew this strange image.
