Marree Man

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The Marree Man in central Australia. Photograph taken 28 June, 1998.

The Marree Man, or Stuart's Giant, as it was named in anonymous press releases (after John McDouall Stuart), is a geoglyph discovered by air on 26 June 1998. The geoglyph appears to depict an indigenous Australian man, most likely of the Pitjantjatjara tribe, hunting birds or wallabies with a throwing stick. It lies on a plateau at Finnis Springs 60 km west of the township of Marree in central Australia. The figure is 4.2 km high with a circumference of 15–28 km. It is the largest known geoglyph in the world and is estimated to have taken between four and eight weeks to create, but despite this its origins are extremely mysterious, with not a single witness to any part of the massive operation.

It is located just outside of the 200,000 square kilometre Woomera Prohibited Area.

1 The artwork
2 Discovery
- 2.1 Anonymous press releases
- 2.2 Plaque
3 Possible creators
4 Mixed reaction
5 Authenticity of the figure
6 External links

[edit] The artwork

The Marree Man is the largest manmade artwork in the world. The geoglyph depicts a man holding either a throwing stick once used to disperse small flocks of birds, or a boomerang (but see Plaque section below).

The lines of the figure were 20–30 cm in depth at the time of discovery and up to 35 metres in width. It was made with a 2.5 metre wide, eight-tine plough which was attached to a tractor, with the lines needing as many as 14 passes. The tractor would have had to have travelled an estimated 400 km and used up more than 300 litres of fuel. [1]

A local pilot in the region, Brad Thompson, stated that the image had probably been defined by earthmoving machinery going over the lines of the figure at least sixteen times.

To select a suitable site, aerial photography or satellite imagery would have been needed. Using a computer, the figure could have been superimposed over the photograph and adjusted to fit the geography with the corresponding latitude and longtitude coordinates mapped out. Some surveying skills would have been needed to plot the outline, and then with the aid of a hand-held global positioning system stakes could have been placed every hundred metres or so. [2]

The image is gradually eroding through natural processes, but because the climate is extremely dry and barren in the region, the image is still visible. While there is a layer of white chalk material slightly below the red soil, the figure was not defined to this depth. This has led to questions as to why the creators would not have dug a little deeper and made the image both more visible and more permanent.

[edit] Discovery

Trec Smith, a charter pilot flying between Marree and Coober Pedy in the remote north of South Australia spotted the figure from the air on 26 June 1998. The discovery of the geoglyph fascinated Australians due to its size and the mystery surrounding how it came to be there. At the time of the discovery there was only one track entering and one track exiting the site and no footprints or tyre marks were discernable.

Shane Anderson from the William Creek Hotel, located 200 km north-west of the town of Marree claimed the hotel received an anonymous fax describing the location of the artwork, but they ignored it, dismissing the fax as a joke.

[edit] Anonymous press releases

Several anonymous press releases appeared following the discovery, which led to suggestion that the Marree man was created by people from the United States. The releases quoted measurements in miles, yards and inches, instead of the metric system usually used in Australia. They also said "your State of SA", "Queensland Barrier Reef" and mentioned Aborigines "from the local reservations", reservations being a term more commonly associated with the North American Indians. The press releases also mentioned the Great Serpent in Ohio, which is not well known outside of the United States. However, it has been conjectured that these features of the press releases may have been red herrings inserted to provide the illusion of American authorship.

At the site in a small pit was found what appeared to be a satellite photo of the figure, a jar containing a small flag of the United States, and a note which referred to the Branch Davidian cult who were infamous for being attacked in the Waco raid in 1993. These were the only manmade items found at the site when it was discovered. Later, the police did eventually find four wheel drive and truck tracks, along with some used toilet paper.

Artist Christopher Headley says that he sent two letters, one to Colonel Tom Meade, the head of the former U.S.-Australian Joint Defense Facility Nurrungar, to ask about the possibility of making a permanent commemoration of the American presence in Australia. This could have inspired the idea of creating a geoglyph among locals. His original idea was to have a toy spaceman launched by an anvil.

[edit] Plaque

In January 1999, officials were told about a plaque buried 5 metres south of the nose of the figure, by way of a fax which was received via a hotel in Oxford, England. The fax also said that the plaque was intended to have been dug up by a "prominent US media figure" shortly before the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Similar clues were said to be buried near the Cerne Abbas giant near Dorset and the Long Man of Wilmington, Sussex, in England. The plaque has a 3 cm long by 2 cm wide American flag and an imprint of the Olympic rings. It reads:

In honour of the land they once knew. His attainments in these pursuits are extraordinary; a constant source of wonderment and admiration. [3]

The quote on the plaque buried at the figure comes from a book, "The Red Centre", by H.H. Finlayson, in a section describing the hunting of wallabies with throwing sticks and with photographs of hunters without loin cloths and with other details like the "Marree Man" [4]. In the book it can be deduced that the subject is a hunter from the Pitjantjatjara tribe [5].

[edit] Possible creators

American servicemen of the U.S. Army based at the Australian Space Research Institute at Woomera, possibly to leave a lasting memento of their time in Australia. The base was scheduled to close down by the end of the 20th Century.
Australian servicemen, although the Australian Defence Force reported that their personnel were no closer than 200 kilometres to the figure during the time it was created. A unit of three vehicles, one of them carrying a bulldozer were spotted by a couple travelling along the Oodnadatta Track on June 1st.[6]
Workers from the Olympic Dam mine at Roxby Downs (approximately 60 km north of Woomera). These workers would have access to the heavy earthmoving equipment required to create a geoglyph with such precision.
Bardius Goldberg, a Northern Territory artist who lived at Alice Springs, who has been said to have been given $10,000 at the time of the Marree Man's discovery. [7]
Land artist Christopher Headley from Melbourne, who is possibly the only person in Australia who does land art, although usually much smaller.
Robin Cooke, a sculptor who has built a large sculpture park at Alberrie Creek, 30 km west of Marree. [8]
Locals of Marree, for the benefit of tourism

[edit] Mixed reaction

Much of the public and media reaction to the discovery of the figure was of a positive nature. The Advertiser, the State's only daily newspaper, called for the figure to be made permanent by excavating the outline down to the white chalk layer. However the site was closed shortly after discovery when some members of the Dieri tribe, whose lands lie east of Marree [9] complained of harm and exploitation of the Dreamtime. It was called "environmental vandalism" by the Environment minister, Dorothy Kotz, and "graffiti" by the South Australian chief of Aboriginal affairs. While the site has been closed by the South Australian government, joy flights are still allowed over the site, which falls under Federal Government jurisdiction.

[edit] Authenticity of the figure

While the figure is shown nude, if the picture were copied from a 19th-century photograph it has been said that it may have had a loin cloth, and there was also some suggestion that the size of the genitals have been exaggerated. There was also initially some question as to whether the figure is holding a throwing stick or a boomerang, but these issues seem to have been resolved following discovery of the plaque and the origin of the plaque quote and likely source photographs of similar nude hunters. The hand which is not throwing has the correct posture in the normal Aboriginal technique for throwing [10]. The initiation scars placed on the chest have also been said to have been placed perfectly. The figure appears to be an amalgam of the body of a man photographed in the distinctive throwing stance and the head of another man wearing a headband and chignon.