Top Image: Computer image of Australia’s Stonehenge Site , Mullumbimby NSW by Richard Patterson

My son Evan and I have written extensively about the site Frederic Slater, President of the Australian Archaeological Education and Research Society, proposed was “Australia’s Stonehenge,” which we refer to as the Standing Stones site, and a complementary site we have named “Adam’s Garden.” What hasn’t been made clear, and nor is it still fully understood, is that these sites form part of a much larger complex.

There is more to this than the two sites mentioned, but owing to pressing issues of privacy and our justifiable concern regarding vandalism, we can offer little in specifics regarding geography, distances and location. Despite what can’t be revealed at this time, we believe that when combining these two sites, plus others in the close vicinity, there are some general points that are as ancient as they are elemental.

Undeniably, there is evidence at four sites that is indicative of exotic technology well beyond the embrace of any Original* rock and stick tool-kit. It goes way back, whether tens or hundreds of thousands of years is a moot point, but the antiquity and sophistication in evidence asks questions most academics do not have the capacity to reply to or appreciate.

Reconstruction of Standing Stones Site.

Found both at the Standing Stones site and Adam’s Garden are artificially shaped and marked rocks that chronicle, according to both Slater and many Original Elders and Custodians of Lore, the First Language either spoken or recorded by modern humans. This language of rock angles, alignments, markings, letters, hand signs, numbers, body parts, animals, etc. is as cryptic as it is divine.

Where Did the Sandstone Rocks Come From?

Before attempting any translation, we must first address some pragmatic considerations which we were originally unable to throw any light upon. When first examining the Standing Stones, a fact highlighted in Slater’s correspondence was of prime interest. Nearly all the marked and shaped stones found on both the larger and smaller mound were sandstone, and as observed by Slater, the nearest sizeable deposit of sandstone was over 20 kilometers away.

In what only exacerbates the difficulties, we found fine and coarse grained sandstone, which logically means some of the sandstone brought onto this site came from much further inland than the fine grained rock. But how did this happen, from where and who was involved? These questions were never fully answered.

Rainbow Valley sandstone bluffs and cliffs - Northern Territory, Australian Outback.

That was before our first sighting of Adam’s Garden, a 175-meter stretch of creek-bank containing tens of thousands of rocks of every conceivable type. Surrounded by mangrove and sand, this exotic collection of rocks contains shapes, angles and markings that are artificial and was the location from which the rocks at the Standing Stones were transported.

The jetty was made entirely out of sandstone rocks and is not only both fine and coarse grained, but also varies greatly in coloring. Just as it is at the Standing Stones, there are many rocks shaped into pyramids at Adams’ Garden, and what only cements this connection is the marking on one rock which contains an engraving, which in the First Language means “guide to truth.”

This place has a jetty/wharf, the 9 meter by 5 meter construction of sandstone is higher than the surrounding shore, and was the place where ships unloaded their cargo. We believe the 175-meter spread of tens of thousands of rocks was part of a rock-wall built along the section of what was originally the shore-line.

Around 500 odd years ago, a tsunami hit this part of the east coast, and most likely knocked the walls over then the backwash dragged the fallen rocks back into the water. This would explain why there are rocks spread about 8-10 meters into the creek and only two meters up the slope past the creek bank.

From here, marked and shaped rocks along with many other goods and sacred objects were sent out from the coast to the Standing Stones site, and other places of importance.

Artificially shaped rock.

Moving Thousands of Cubic Meters of Fill

However, there is a second much larger problem in logistics still unresolved on-site before grappling with meanings and nuances. Some of the rocks used on both mounds weigh up to 50 kilograms, and certainly would be very difficult to move without a wheel , but not impossible. Although it is worth bearing in mind that the much bigger and heavier rocks were not disc-ploughed into the slope, but taken to the dairy shed for safe-keeping. Alas, in what only compounds the difficulties, these larger engraved tablets were either stolen or recovered just after the Second World War.

Those issues aside, there is enough still on site to call into question any notion of this exotic material (sandstone) being carried by hand. The second, extremely sacred mound is made of clay, white and red sand, and thousands upon thousands of sandstone rocks. So foreign is this 70 meter by 10 meter mound, a large section of the mound was gouged out to use as road fill for the surrounding flat farms.

The local black soil gets very boggy when wet and this mound of dry material is extremely porous, which means that tires don’t get bogged in the wet. The smaller mound is quite simply not part of the surrounding geology and was transported onto site. What adds to the problems, if relying on traditional European historical accounts, is that there is no less than 3,500 cubic meters of fill that make up this artificial formation.

How did a people who supposedly knew nothing of the wheel, metal blade, ocean-going ships, large scale quarrying or slave labor, manage to move such tonnage and put all this together? No-one is claiming that this site is European. In fact, it is widely agreed and reported in the press that this mound was the only known sacred site in Australia where ‘Clever-fellas’ and ‘Kadaitcha’ came from all “parts of Australia before the coming of the white race” to sing, dance and engage in activities that transcend.

One of the mounds of sandstone rocks in the area.

Now it Gets Heavier

As much as it is remotely feasible for nomadic Original men and women to lug rocks weighing up to 50 kilograms from the coast some considerable distance inland, the whole scenario gets very complicated when trying to understand how igneous rocks weighing over five hundred kilograms were moved and positioned into two Original rock arrangements found at Adam’s Garden. I still remember Adam and I managing to find positions to place our hands on one massive sandstone boulder, between us we did manage to move it perhaps a centimeter, but moving it further was beyond belief, and our combined efforts.

Just behind the sandstone jetty is a road of perhaps 2 meters in width and no less than 210 meters in length, which snakes around the southern section of the hill that rises over 35 meters. There are thousands of rocks, all igneous, both above and below the road that were either cleared from the road or positioned in support. I remember recently standing on the road with a colleague Jim Nutter, who when playing the role of ‘Devil’s Advocate,’ suggested this was all the result of an old bulldozer clearing a track down to the mangroves.

Rather than debate possibilities, I pointed out to Jim four rocks, all of some weight, and all carefully stacked on top of each other, and asked him what blade was capable of that balanced arrangement. He then moderated by one degree, agreeing that this was ancient and people from way back were involved in placing these particular rocks, but hastened to add that maybe much later the dozer came down in repairing the older construction.

Diagram of Adam's Garden Standing.

Nearby, there are numerous sandstone slabs, some weighing tons, standing in Mullumbimby, which came from somewhere nearby, which were repositioned within the town and parks to be used as a feature or bearer of a plaque. Their origin through official channels is unknown, but not by us, we are confident that all imported rocks, whether weighing one kilogram or a ton, were originally shipped to and unloaded at the jetty which forms part of Adams’ Garden.

One unknown in this equation, the manner of transportation of these heavy rocks and the exotic fill at the smaller mound at the Standing Stones site, is destined at this stage to remain hypothetical. We have no Dreaming Story or Elder’s guidance, nor any account in Frederic Slater’s translation to draw upon, so, without any reference relating to how all these rocks and fill got to locations so far from the coast, we will leave this as unknown.

The Teachers Have All Gone?

Frederic Slater was, in 1939, convinced he was in contact with the very last source knowledgeable in the First Language. When corresponding with his on-site colleague, Slater advised him that “you are working in a much higher cult which I doubt is understood by present day aborigines (sic) even in remote parts. The teachers have all gone.” Slater was without peer in the state of NSW in deciphering Original script and anything Egyptian, and was often employed by Councils and Governments in these endeavors. As such, direct contact with people who can understand and speak, sign, gesture and use the rocks that make up the very first language humans spoke, seem lost.

However, in this proclamation of absence, this is one of the very few times Slater was mistaken. We know of, and have spoken to, one of the custodians of the First Language (Karno Walker) who was with us when investigating the mounds and surrounding archaeology.

Nevertheless, minor understandings aside, Slater was ‘on song’ in so many observations, none more so when offering an explanation as to why ancient Egyptians were so motivated to sail such great distances.

Stern-mounted steering oar of an Egyptian riverboat.

Often when we have been presenting the quantity and quality of archaeology and oral accounts substantiating an Egyptian presence in Australia, some critics have relented minimally in granting potential visiting rights, but are still clouded by materialistic concepts of civilization and progress. Knowing that pyramids, chariots, cities and columns were built in Egypt and no permanent structure, wheel, factory or metal was assumed to be made in pre-Cook Australia, they see this interaction in terms of a master/slave relationship.

We have always maintained that the ancient Egyptians came as mystical apprentices bound in awe and servitude to their Original mentors. What did surprise, is that over 70 years before we made this apparently radical statement, Slater was no less forthright in allocating a precedence and pedestal. “There is no mistaking that the Aborigines … gave not only to the Egyptians their knowledge and foundation of hieroglyphs and their philosophy, but formulated the basis of all knowledge in the beginning, now and to come.

Returning for thousands of years to Australia in pilgrimage and pursuit of spiritual excellence is a claim we have made often. However, proposing that in Australia was recorded the “basis of all knowledge” is a bold assertion to make and one we had never entertained, until reading Slater’s comments. After examining all his work, we can readily understand why he would make such a sensational claim.

In fact, once reading his extensive and impressive hand written notes, we realized Slater was obligated to place the First Australians at the center and beginning of anything esoteric, spiritual, intellectual or democratic. Slater insisted that the “mound” that the 185 Standing Stones originally stood upon was “the oldest form of temple in the world.” Consistent to that noble purpose and goal, Slater noted that “within this temple you will find … the basis of all knowledge, all science, all history and all forms of writing.” In ascribing a sequence and precedence, Slater was in no doubt that the Original people were from the first Homo sapien sapiens stock spanning back “hundreds of thousands of years before.”

Skull of the fossil Homo sapiens sapiens from the Epipaleolithic of Combe Capelle.

Equally, Slater was also convinced that all languages, not just ancient Egyptian, have their genesis in Australia. When comparing the ancient Celtic tongue of Ogham, he was confident that “you will find the basis of that language on the mound.” This ancient connection through language never ceased and continues to this very day, thus explaining why “the language which we speak today is not Anglo-Saxon, but just Aboriginal.”

But it is not just language, this connection runs into every part of today and the days to come.

Note: The term ‘Original’ is used instead of ‘Aboriginal’, which means ‘away from origin’, since this term is not believed to be accurate in describing the indigenous inhabitants of Australia.