“Only recognisable from the air, the colossal geoglyph measures 4.2 kilometres from head to toe…”
The Mysterious Marree Man By Louise Clarke
I wonder what went through charter pilot Trec Smith’s mind went he came across the enormous figure of a man etched into a remote and empty plateau on the banks of Kati Thanda - Lake Eyre, in northern South Australia while on his way to the opal mining town of Coober Pedy. Only recognisable from the air, the colossal geoglyph measures 4.2 kilometres from head to toe making it the largest in the world and represents the tall, naked, perfectly proportioned figure of an Indigenous hunter ready to launch a stick at unseen prey. ‘Marree Man’, as the figure has become known had seemingly appeared overnight in June
54 Supernal SupernalMagazine Magazine
1998 and to date; the origin of this staggering land glyph remains a mystery. Despite the planning, precision and sheer hubris required creating it, nobody has ever come forward to claim authorship of this work and apparently no-one witnessed its creation. By the time we went to inspect the site ourselves via air charter in late 2015, the Marree Man had almost been completely reclaimed by the surrounding desert. We stopped for lunch at the far-flung William Creek Hotel and as the plane was being refuelled, we spoke to Trevor Wright about the mysterious Marree Man. Apparently around the time of its creation, local pub owners received anonymous press releases referring to ‘Stuart’s Giant’, suggesting the glyph was created by
people from the United States. A small memorial tablet was found 5 meters south of the figure’s nose which bore an American flag and an imprint of the Olympic rings. Upon it, the inscribed words read, “In honour of the land they once knew. His attainments in these pursuits are extraordinary; a constant source of wonderment and admiration.” Very interestingly, by December 1998 it had been noted that the outline of the Marree Man matched perfectly, in reverse, the outline of the Artemision Zeus bronze found at the bottom of the Adriatic Sea in 1928. In the end South Australian artist Bardius Goldberg was considered the most likely perpetrator because he had told friends he had been commissioned - and was paid $10 000 - to create an artwork visible from space.
