It is August 1977, Star Wars is playing in cinemas, Elvis
has just died and a strange figure is discovered in Carrington Circuit,
Leumeah.
While clearing a council reserve to make way for a
children’s playground, local residents discover lying in the long grass, a
gigantic head carved from solid stone. Standing, it would rise to one and half
metres tall. How did it get there? What
did it mean? Who had made it and when? An inscription at the highest point,
half covered by lichen offers a tantalising clue. It reads 18 B 8.
Conjecture is rife – an ancient monument, a convict carving
from the early days of the colony? Who could tell?
A Melanesian archaeologist from the Australian Museum is invited
to visit the statue to offer an opinion.
 |
|
The stone head as it
is today.
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Some time later an answer finally comes. The statue was hewn
in 1969 when a Water Board worker laying sewerage pipes at nearby Smiths Creek chiselled
the giant face. Unfortunately, still no solution as to what 18 B 8 should mean.
If you know of or are
the sculptor behind this amazing statue please get in touch. We’d love to have
a more complete story of this Campbelltown artefact.
Sources:
Liverpool Leader 24 Aug 1977
Liverpool Leader 24 Aug 1977
Campbelltown a modern history P47 by Jeff McGill Pub CAHS 1999
Written by Michael S
Written by Michael S
