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Ancient Egypt Magazine -- Volume Three Issue Three -- November/December 2002 Editor's Column A recent visit to Australia provided yet more evidence
for the world-wide interest provoked by Egyptology. There are various
opportunities available to study the subject on the world’s largest island.
Within the state of New South Wales alone there are 600 members of the Rundle
Foundation, the Macquarie University based organisation which provides lectures
and other activities to meet the thirst for knowledge about ancient Egypt. Other societies exist in Australia’s far-flung
population centres and other universities provide courses too. The University of
Sydney is home to the Nicholson Collection. Australia may not be able to boast a
collection to compare with the Louvre, the British Museum, the Metropolitan or
any of the other world-class collections. However, it is making a major contribution to the success
of the subject by excavating and publishing, particularly through the Australian
Centre for Egyptology, also based at Macquarie. Visitors to the Art Gallery in
Sydney will also discover an impressive frieze of Hatshepsut adorning the outer
wall, in the company of other historical notables, along with two female
sphinxes, reminiscent of the French ‘Egyptianising’ phase, on the other side
of the access road. However, one of the most curious Egyptological
connections came about through a visit to Jenolan Caves, known as Binoomea, or
‘dark places’ by the Aboriginal Australians. Lying to the south-west of
Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains, the caves are a popular tourist destination
which still demands a certain amount of determination to visit. Jenolan Caves
were discovered in the 19th century by a victim of a bushranger who tracked his
assailant on horseback, over death defying mountain routes through the bush, in
a land which was then still unexplored by European settlers. The bushranger had
taken refuge within the caves. A massive entrance way of rock marked the access
to the secure site. The settler and the troopers who accompanied him were to be
the first of many awe-struck visitors to Jenolan. The site consists of a massive complex of limestone caves
filled with the features typical of such underground landscapes, although on a
cyclopean scale. Venturing into them today, even with the benefits of paths,
ladders and electric lighting, still conveys absolutely the sense of entering
the ‘bowels of the earth’; the caves seem to be the ossified remains of a
giant’s internal organs. Within the columns, canopies and shawls formed by
millions of years of crystallisation, tinier features appear. The first
Europeans to name and map the caves frequently used allusions with which they
were familiar, largely classical and biblical, and tending to the romantic, as
was the fashion of the time. Thus, they include the Temple of Baal, the Cerberus
cave and the Orient cave. The fantastic features within them include
‘Gabriel’s Wing’, ‘Lot’s Wife’ (a pillar, of course), ‘The Pillar
of Hercules’ and ‘Queen Esther’s Chamber’. The Orient Cave includes
sections for Persia, India – and Egypt, the last with an Egyptian colonnade. At the entrance to the Egyptian section, the remnants of
what must once have been a stunning set of draperies in rock, known as shawls,
no longer hide the eerie formation behind which gives the impression of a
sarcophagus-like figure. Its name is ‘Cleopatra’s Couch’. Sadly, over-enthusiasm in blasting a new entrance for the increasing numbers of visitors early in the 20th century resulted in the destruction of much of the shawl formation but more impressive shawl features in undamaged caves aid in imagining its original glory. By far the most entertaining link with Egypt, however, was provided by a living being – the unmistakable white-bodied, black-headed sacred ibis, which lives along the inlets on the edge of the ocean throughout New South Wales. They also frequent the parks in the centre of Sydney. There I spotted one behaving in extremely un-godlike although astute manner, by using its narrow curved beak to poke about in a rubbish bin in search of leftovers from lunchtime visitors. Miriam A Bibby Back to Ancient Egypt Magazine - Volume 3 Issue 3 contents
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