Gympie Pyramid

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Gympie Pyramid

Grinding grooves on Rocky Ridge.
Location	63 Gympie Connection Rd, Victory Heights QLD 4570, Australia
Region	Gympie Region
Coordinates	26°10′08″S 152°41′35″E / 26.1690°S 152.6930°E / -26.1690; 152.6930Coordinates: 26°10′08″S 152°41′35″E / 26.1690°S 152.6930°E / -26.1690; 152.6930
Type	Hill
Height	30m AGL

The Gympie Pyramid is a nickname for a site otherwise known as Rocky Ridge, or Djaki Kundu by the Kabi Kabi tribe,^[1] It consists of the rounded eastern end of a sandstone ridge, and is located on the Tin Can Bay road, some 5 kilometres north of the town of Gympie in Queensland, Australia.^[2] It includes the ruins of six or seven low terraces associated with early settlers. Modern scholars have debunked the idea, associated with a variety of popular theories, that assert that the site was constructed by extra-terrestrials, ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, the Mayans or the Chinese built a pyramid on the site.^[3]

History[]

The earliest evidence of use of the site are several large grinding grooves in rocks at the top of the ridge. These suggest the site has been used from before the first English settlers reached the continent.^[4] Multiple scar trees can also be found on the site.^[5]

Descendants of the indigenous (Aborigines) claim this specific area was an ancient sacred site important for their dreaming, and connected with a stellar origin story concerning the seven sisters, or Pleiades.^[1]

The stone walls are thought to be the ruins of a terraced vineyard, built by a Swiss horticulturalist named John William Cauper. Cauper owned the land, then known as MacPherson's paddocks between 1875 and 1890.^[6] In 1884 Cauper wrote an article in the Gympie Times demonstrating his extensive knowledge of vine growing and grafting.^[7] In 1905, the Gympie Times described the area as "the old vineyard"^[8]

The dispute about the rightful ownership between the indigenous tribe and the government is about 40 years old.^{[citation needed]}

Debunking revisionist history[]

Writing in the Omega Science Digest Anthony G. Wheeler discusses several assumptions made by amateur archaeologists over the decades in his article 'In quest of Australia's lost pyramids'.

He writes that Rex Gilroy claims that he discovered the Gympie Pyramid in 1975 and claimed that the "pyramid" was created by Egyptians who had mining operations in Australia centuries ago. In his article on the subject Wheeler writes, "It seems that a terraced hill was claimed to be a pyramid on the basis of a nearby stone wall around a church being of unusual construction, supposed local legends and taboos that warned against intrusion into the pyramid area, the predominance in the area of a cactus of South or Central American origin, a statue (the 'Iron Man' or 'Gympie Ape') of non-Aboriginal manufacture found nearby, and some crude inscriptions on a stone block dug up in the area."^[9]

Wheeler notes that an amateur archaeologist, Marilyn N. Pye, became convinced that the "pyramid" and other features were evidence of ancient settlement in Australia by the Incas of South America. While Pye argues the "pyramid" is of Inca origin, Gavin Menzies states that it is "direct and persuasive evidence of the Chinese visits to Australia" and that "its size, height and shape are typical of Ming Dynasty observation platforms and it would have been wholly logical for the Chinese to build observatories to determine precisely the location of the phenomenal riches they had discovered."^[9]

Wheeler argues that the claims of an extraordinary origin for the pyramid are unfounded, writing, "The facts are (probably) that the Gympie "Golden" pyramid is actually an ordinary hill terraced by early Italian immigrants for viticulture that has been disfigured by erosion and the removal of stone from the retaining walls for use elsewhere ... As for all the supporting statements by the various authorities, all but a few unimportant ones fade away as one after another proves to be a misquote, a falsification or an outright fabrication."^[9]

A 2008 cultural heritage survey was conducted by Archaeo Culture Heritage Services of Brisbane (for the Department of Transport and Main Roads), to investigate the historical cultural heritage of the hill. The report came to the conclusion that there is "no evidence to support claims that the terraces on Rocky Ridge were part of a 'pyramid' built by ancient Egyptian, Phoenician, Extra-terrestrial, Mayan or Chinese visitors."^[10]As of 2021 the Queensland government is extending a new highway construction through the area.^[11]

Claims of stone reuse[]

In 1938 a retaining wall, featuring polygonally cut stone was built at the Surface Hill Uniting Church by relief workers, at a cost of £3000.^[12][13] In the 1980s Marilyn N Pye suggested these stones had been removed from the pyramid. Local historian Dick Gould, Anthony G Wheeler and Dr Elaine Brown have dismissed this claim.^[10] Reverend Stan Geddes has said the church's stone was quarried in the Rocks Road Area.^[9]

Claims for other finds[]

The Gympie Ape is a carved stone statue, discovered in 1966 by Dal Berry while ploughing a paddock close to the Gympie pyramid site. In 1978 Rex Gilroy claimed the statue was verified by unnamed experts as being a 3000-year-old statue of the Egyptian god Thoth.^[6] It is currently on display at the Gympie Gold Mining and Historical Museum.^[14] Wheeler believes it was probably carved by Chinese gold prospectors.^[9]

The so called 'Sun Stone', a crudely shaped obelisk was found in a swampy area near Gympie. The stone is decorated with an inscription of a symbolic sun and two bowing snakes facing away from each other. Claims were made that it was examined by a university and that the examination showed that the inscriptions were made using soft metal tools, not modern tools, and that an archaeologist confirmed that Aboriginal Australians had not made them. However, no such examination has been found and when interviewed, the archaeologist denied that he had even seen the inscriptions. Wheeler reported that the archaeologist also "described how investigation of the stone wall and Gympie Ape statue by a colleague in the Archeology Branch of the Queensland Department of Community Services had produced no support at all for the claimed existence of pyramids in the Gympie area."^[9]

The summit of the pyramid was claimed to have a megalithic stone circle, which early settlers allegedly described as thirteen pillars surrounding a round stone table with a hollow centre. Brett Green released a photograph of the summit which was later debunked by Dr. Elaine Brown, former history officer of Gympie regional council, as being a photograph of Filitosa, a megalithic site in southern Corsica, France.^[6] Green also claimed the Gympie Ape was one of six statues found near the Gympie pyramid. In 2000 he published photographs of five other reptilian statues which had "gone missing". He later confessed to Dr. Brown that the images were fake.^[6]

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