Hegelgasse 8 Vienna 1010 - tel:01 2933673
Mysteries
Stolen baby
On August 17, 1980, Lindy Chamberlain, the wife of
a Church minister, told authorities that a dingo took her baby
Azaria from their campsite near Uluru. Curiously, the
Australian public was more inclined to place faith in the
character of a wild dog rather than in a minister's wife and as a
consequence, Lindy was convicted of murder. Some years later, her
conviction was quashed yet still, some Australians are adamant
that the dingo was innocent.
Dropbears
Dropbears are an evil species of koala that fall from
trees and attack humans. The evil strain of koala don't actually
exist. The story was created to fool Americans.
Yowies
Like the Nth American big foot, the yowie emits a vile
odour and screams offensively. Numerous sightings of Yowies have
turned out to be escaped mental patients or hermits in jungle
attire.
Lost Prime Minister
In 1967, Harold Holt, the Prime Minister of
Australia went for a swim at the beach and was never seen again.
Theories about his disappearance include kidnapping by a Russian
submarine, eaten by a shark or being carried away by the tide.
Bunyips
Bunyips haunt rivers, swamps, creeks and billabongs.
Their main goal in life is to cause nocturnal terror by eating
people or animals in their vicinity. They are renowned for their
terrifying bellowing cries in the night and have been known to
frighten Aborigines to the point where they would not approach
any water source where a Bunyip might be waiting to devour them.
Some scientists believe the Bunyip was a real animal, the
diprotodon, extinct <>for some 20,000
years.
Megafauna
20-30 thousand years ago, Australia was home to
Megafauna; giant species of marsupials including a wombat the
size of a rhino, meat eating kangaroos, kangaroos three meat tall
and lizards 7 meters long. It is not known exactly what happened
to them. One theory is that were hunted to extinction by
Aborigines or that the Aborigines use of fire destroyed their
habitat. Another theory is their habitat was destroyed by the
progressive drying of Australia.
The Bradshaws
The Australian Kimberley is home to a mysterious form
of rock art known as the Bradshaws. The art is dispersed
in around 100 000 sites spread over 50 000 sq. km. Although the
art's pigment can't be dated, a fossilised wasp nest covering one
of the paintings has been dated at 17,000 + years old. This makes
the art at least four times older than the pyramids.
The
Bradshaws depict people with straight hair and poney tails. One
painting even depicts a boat, with a rudder, and 29 people on
board. Unlike other Aboriginal art, it is not known what purpose
the Bradshaw paintings served. Graham Walsh, the foremost expert
on them, has suggested that they might be a form of
iconography(picture writing) painted by a now extinct Asiastic
race.
Marree man
In 1998, a huge engraving of a Aboriginal warrior appeared
in the Australian outback. It was 4km long, held a throwing
stick, was bearded and had a penis which was estimated to be 200m
in length. The markings appeared to have been made by a tractor
pulling some sort of plough which created furrows 10m wide in the
difficult terrain. To this day, the artist is a mystery.
Phar lap
Phar
Lap was Australia's greatest race horse winning 37 of his 51
starts. After handicappers saddled him with enough weight to stop
a train, his owner took him overseas to race in America. He
easily won his first race but then died in mysterious
circumstances.
Mungo man
In 1974, scientists discovered the Mungo man - a
primate who was ritually buried 40-60,000 years ago with his
hands covering his penis. ANU's John Curtin School of Medical
Research found that the skeleton's genetic material contained
a small section of mitochondrial DNA. It was analysed and
compared to the genetic material from nearly 3,500 people;
including Neanderthals, Asians, ancient Aborigines, and
present-day Aborigines. It was found that Mungo Man's DNA lacked
a gene that was common to all the other samples. Consequently,
unlike every other known person on the planet, or unearthed
skeleton, Mungo man can not be traced to humans that left Africa
any time in the last 200,000 years.
Mungo Man's unique DNA has been used to challenge the 'out of Africa' theory of human evolution.
