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<< Our Photo Pages >> Wurdi Youang - Stone Row / Alignment in Australia

Submitted by Andy B on Monday, 07 February 2011  Page Views: 17599

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Wurdi Youang Alternative Name: Mt. Rothwell, Mount Rothwell Site
Country: Australia
NOTE: This site is 55.626 km away from the location you searched for.

Type: Stone Row / Alignment
Nearest Town: Geelong  Nearest Village: Little River
Latitude: 37.895149S  Longitude: 144.466250E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
2

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Wurdi Youang
Wurdi Youang submitted by Andy B : Part of the Wurdi Youang stone arrangment in Victoria, Australia Photo by Ray Norris Creative Commons Licence (Vote or comment on this photo)
The Wurdi Youang site is one of a number of stone arrangements known in the state of Victoria that were built by Aboriginal people before European settlement. It is on land traditionally owned by the Wathaurong Aboriginal people and may be an initiation site.

Its construction date is unknown, and could be anywhere in the range c. 25000BC to about 1835AD. All records of its use have disappeared. Archaeoastronomical surveys indicate that it was related to observations of the changing setting position of the sun on the western horizon. Inventory of the remains: The Wurdi Youang Aboriginal stone arrangement, also known as Wada Wurrung and the Rothwell Archaeological site, consists of a roughly egg-shaped circle, about 50m in diameter, of about 100 basalt stones. The stones range from small rocks about 20cm in diameter to standing stones about 1m high—some of which appear to be supported with ‘trigger stones’—with an estimated total mass of about 23 tonnes.

The three largest stones in the circle are placed together at the western end, from which a number of small outlying stones indicate the setting position of the Sun at the solstices and at the Equinox, to an accuracy of a few degrees. The straight segments on the north-east and south-east sides of the ring also indicate the sun’s setting points at the two solstices when viewed from the eastern apex of the ring.

History of the site: The area has been occupied by the Wathaurong hunter-gatherer Aboriginal people from about 25000 BC until their culture was badly damaged in about 1835. However the Wautharong and their culture survived and continues to this day. The area has been farmed by European settlers, although the Wurdi Youang site itself has been untouched.

Geographical position: Near the village of ‘Little River’, between Geelong and Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

More information: ICOMOS–IAU Thematic Study on Astronomical Heritage

IMPORTANT NOTE: The coordinates given are of the cultural centre nearby. The Aboriginal custodians of the Wurdi Youang stone arrangement have requested that the exact coordinates are not made public. The arrangement is now on private Aboriginal owned land and trespassing/damage have increased as the popularity of the site has increased.

Note: Wurdi Youang rocks could prove Aborigines were first astronomers
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Wurdi Youang
Wurdi Youang submitted by rbatham : Stone Row/Alignment in Australia (Vote or comment on this photo)

Wurdi Youang
Wurdi Youang submitted by rbatham : Stone Row/Alignment in Australia http://www2.astronomicalheritage.net/index.php/show-entity?identity=15&idsubentity=1 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.

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"Wurdi Youang" | Login/Create an Account | 9 News and Comments
  
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Re: Wurdi Youang by rbatham on Sunday, 28 May 2017
(User Info | Send a Message)
http://www2.astronomicalheritage.net/index.php/show-entity?identity=15&idsubentity=1
[ Reply to This ]

Letter from Aboriginal custodians of Wurdi Youang to Wikipedia by Andy B on Thursday, 26 January 2017
(User Info | Send a Message)
To Whom it May Concern, Wikipedia
Dear Sir/Madam,
Re: Wurdi Youang Stone Arrangement Coordinates on Wikipedia
It has come to our attention that there is a discussion occurring online in relation to displaying the exact coordinates of a sensitive Aboriginal Stone Arrangement, Wurdi Youang, in Victoria, Australia, on your site. As traditional custodians of the site, which is on private land, we urge Wikipedia to remove any exact coordinates to the site from your page. We have experienced trespassers and site damage already and wish for the exact location to be concealed in order to reduce the likelihood of further trespass and damage to this site.

It is of great importance that the stones and area are not disturbed, as they not only represent cultural history and heritage to our people, ongoing investigation by
academia and our own mob is being hampered by trespassers interfering with the site.
Wurdi Youang is of great significance to the Wathaurong people and we wish to keep it intact, protected and sacred.
Yours sincerely,
Rod Jackson
Chief Executive Officer
WATHAURONG ABORIGINAL CO-OPERATIVE LTD
http://profiles.arts.monash.edu.au/duane-hamacher/files/2016/10/Letter-to-Wikipedia-re-Wurdi-coordinates.pdf
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Wurdi Youang: an Australian Aboriginal stone arrangement with possible solar indicati by Andy B on Thursday, 21 May 2015
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Wurdi Youang: an Australian Aboriginal stone arrangement with possible solar indications by Ray P. Norris, Cilla Norris, Duane W. Hamacher and Reg Abrahams

Wurdi Youang is an egg-shaped Aboriginal stone arrangement in Victoria, Australia. Here we present a new survey of the site, and show that its major axis is aligned within a few degrees of east-west. We confirm a previous hypothesis that it contains alignments to the position on the horizon of the setting sun at the equinox and the solstices, and show that two independent sets of indicators are aligned in these directions. We show that these alignments are unlikely to have arisen by chance, and instead the builders of this stone arrangement appear to have deliberately aligned the site on astronomically significant positions.

http://www.academia.edu/2064394/Wurdi_Youang_an_Australian_Aboriginal_stone_arrangement_with_possible_solar_indications
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Reach for the Stars - Aboriginal Astronomy, BBC World Service programme by Andy B on Wednesday, 12 October 2011
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Reach for the Stars - Aboriginal Astronomy was produced by Robert Cockburn and broadcast by Discovery for BBC World Service. Listen to the radio documentary via iplayer
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00kdr09

or download the podcast.
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/discovery/discovery_20111003-2000a.mp3
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Aboriginal Stonehenge: Stargazing in ancient Australia by Andy B on Wednesday, 12 October 2011
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An egg-shaped ring of standing stones in Australia could prove to be older than Britain's Stonehenge - and it may show that ancient Aboriginal cultures had a deep understanding of the movements of the stars.

Fifty metres wide and containing more than 100 basalt boulders, the site of Wurdi Youang in Victoria was noted by European settlers two centuries ago, and charted by archaeologists in 1977, but only now is its purpose being rediscovered.

It is thought the site was built by the Wadda Wurrung people - the traditional inhabitants of the area. All understanding of the rocks' significance was lost, however, when traditional language and practices were banned at the beginning of the 20th Century.

Now a team of archaeologists, astronomers and Aboriginal advisers is reclaiming that knowledge.
The emu in the sky rock carving and constellation This photo of the emu in the sky, above an aboriginal rock carving, was sent to every school in Australia

They have discovered that waist-high boulders at the tip of the egg-shaped point along the ring to the position on the horizon where the sun sets at the summer and winter solstice - the longest and shortest day of the year.

The axis from top to bottom points towards the equinox - when the length of day equals night.

At Stonehenge, the sun aligns instead with gaps in the stones on these key dates in the solar calendar.

The probability that the layout of Wurdi Youang is a coincidence is minuscule, argues Ray Norris, a British astrophysicist at Australia's national science agency, who is leading the investigation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15098959
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Aboriginal Rock Engraving Sites around Sydney by Andy B on Monday, 07 February 2011
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Clickable map of sites around Sydney
http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/rnorris/SydneyRockArt/index.html

Aboriginal Astronomy
When the British first occupied Australia in 1788, many of the Aboriginal people that they drove from their land probably knew the Southern sky better than the most accomplished British navigators. But nobody thought to ask.
http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/AboriginalAstronomy/index.html
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Wurdi Youang rocks could prove Aborigines were first astronomers by Andy B on Monday, 07 February 2011
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CSIRO astro-physicist Professor Ray Norris said the precise alignment of the stones proved it was constructed to map the sun.

"This can't be done by guesswork, it required very careful measurements. If it goes back, let's say, 10,000 years, that predates the Egyptians, the Pyramids, Stonehenge, all that stuff," Professor Norris said.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/ancient-aboriginal-eyes-were-on-the-skies/story-fn5jhw50-1226000523978

They claim the "location is a closely guarded secret." although the IAU report says it is "situated in rural agricultural land, with unadvertised public access to the stone configuration."

[ Reply to This ]

Re: Wurdi Youang by Andy B on Monday, 07 February 2011
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More information and photos on the links below

The Wurdi Youang stone arrangement in Victoria was built by the Wathaurung people before European settlement, but all records of its use have now disappeared. This egg-shaped ring of stones, about 50m in diameter, has its major axis almost exactly East-West. At its Western end, at the highest point of the circle, are three prominent waist-high stones. Morieson (2003) pointed out that some outlying stones to the West of the circle, as viewed from these three stones, seem to indicate the setting positions of the Sun at the equinoxes and solstices. Norris et al (2008) have confirmed these alignments and have shown that the straight sides of the circle also indicate the solstices.

However, a sceptic might still raise some doubts. First, the outliers are only accurate to a few degrees - could these alignments have occurred by chance? Second, although the stones of the circle are large and immovable, the outliers are small and could have been moved. Third, besides the outliers indicating the solstices and equinox, there is an additional outlier whose significance is unclear. While these doubts may seem contrived, they have to be answered, and the best way to do so would be to find another site with similar astronomical alignments. Other stone arrangements in Victoria also indicate the cardinal points, from which we may conclude that the local Aboriginal people knew these directions with some precision, presumably by observing celestial bodies. But are there other sites which point to the position of the solstices? The search continues.

http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/AboriginalAstronomy/Examples/WurdiYouang.htm

Wurdi Youang, Australia. Portal to the Heritage of Astronomy, UNESCO.

The Wurdi Youang site is one of a number of stone arrangements known in the state of Victoria that were built by Aboriginal people before European settlement. It is on land traditionally owned by the Wathaurong Aboriginal people and may be an initiation site. Its construction date is unknown, and could be anywhere in the range c. 25000 BC to about 1835 AD. All records of its use have disappeared. Archaeoastronomical surveys indicate that it was related to observations of the changing setting position of the sun on the western horizon.

Rocky ways to secrets of skies

IT LOOKS like a simple ring of carefully laid out stones, but an egg-shaped Aboriginal stone arrangement outside Geelong is being talked about by some as Victoria's own Stonehenge.

While there are few records to explain its use, and little information about its age, it was thought to be an indigenous initiation site. But in recent years clues have emerged to suggest it could be an example of some of Australia's earliest astronomy.

After repeated observations, Victorian cultural historian John Morieson found that, viewed from three prominent stones, some smaller outlying stones seemed to indicate the position of the setting sun during equinoxes and solstices.
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These observations were confirmed by CSIRO astrophysicist and Aboriginal astronomy researcher Ray Norris, who found the overall design of the circle also appeared to point towards the solstices.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/rocky-ways-to-secrets-of-skies-20080801-3omb.html
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