Somewhere in the red dusty expanse of South Australia, a 2-mile-tall naked man is etched into the earth. He’s holding what might be a boomerang, or maybe a throwing stick, staring blankly across the desert. Locals call him the Marree Man, and nearly three decades later, no one knows who put him there—or why.
The Marree Man first appeared in 1998, carved into the Finniss Springs plateau about 37 miles west of the tiny town of Marree. According to NASA’s Earth Observatory, the geoglyph spans roughly 2.2 miles from head to toe and covers about 17 miles in total perimeter. Pilots spotted it first, then a fax arrived at local hotels claiming responsibility under the name “Stuart’s Giant.” That fax was anonymous, full of American slang, and included coordinates so precise that whoever made it had access to serious mapping technology.
Experts believe the figure was drawn using earth-moving machinery guided by early GPS—no small feat in the late ’90s. It appeared sometime between May 27 and June 12, 1998, based on satellite images from the time. When workers later re-traced the lines in 2016, they found 250 bamboo stakes that had likely served as the original markers.
Someone Drew a Massive Naked Guy in the Australian Desert
Theories about who created it are as scattered as the Outback itself. Some point to Adelaide artist Bardius Goldberg, whose friends claimed he hinted at being behind it before his death in 2002. Others suspect American military personnel stationed nearby. A small plaque bearing a U.S. flag was found close to the figure’s head, fueling speculation that it might have been a prank or an art experiment that got out of hand.
By the mid-2010s, wind erosion had nearly erased the carving. Locals decided to save it, using commercial diggers and GPS tools to recut the outline. They even added grooves to collect water, encouraging vegetation to grow along the edges and make the lines last longer.
Today, the Marree Man can be seen from space. He’s a giant, naked mystery watched by satellites and conspiracy theorists alike. Explorer Dick Smith once offered $5,000 Australian dollars for information about who made it. No one ever came forward.
Maybe it was art. Maybe it was ego. Maybe it was just someone with too much time, machinery, and desert. Whatever it was, the Outback hasn’t been the same since he showed up.
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