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.
|
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
Wow, brings back memories.. we lived around the corner in Carrington Crt and remember the day that this was found... was such a buzz.
ReplyDeletethanks for posting :)
Hi There, I was there when this was uncovered... Sonny Burton was a bricklayer who had the job of building a wall for the playground... when he and his sons dug the footings trench they hit the massive boulder... Sonny went down to his mate Henry the plumbers house on O'Sullivan road and asked him for some help/manpower etc.. We went back and found that they had started to dig under one side of the boulder and noticed the nose and eye... it had a massive split in the rock when found which is why there are two sections today. When we were digging it out we heard screams coming from the direction of the creek, a few adults (my dad Henry) with us kids in tow started heading down there when a couple of young boys came out of the bush to say their mate had fallen while climbing a tree and was now stuck.. we raced down and found him hanging upside down with his ankle caught it the V of a branch... Dad lifted him out just enough (he was quite high up) and he was able to free himself... a few tears and quick brush off and the three boys headed off home... we went back to the head and finished freeing it and stood it upright for the first time to see how large it was... we all stood around saying how strange it was but no one at that point mentioned anything to do with a waterboard guy.. I have no idea where that part of the story came from... everyone there when it was dug up knew it had been buried face down for many many years... I have no idea where those numbers came from, they were not on it when it was dug up. I was there... in Aug 77 I would have been almost 8 years old... but I remember the whole thing like it was yesterday because it was very strange and exciting for the locals. I also went past it every school day as the bus route went around the circuit to school. Hope this helps :)
ReplyDelete