Nexus - 0207 - New Times Magazine-pages

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NCIENT CHINESE IN AUSTRALIA Darwin while astronomers accompanying donated the relic to me. After personally And at Darwin in 1879, workmen dug the expedition made observations of the inspecting the site of the discovery and the up an 80mm tall statuette of Shou Lao, the southern skies. strata from which it came, I was convinced Chinese god of longevity, from beneath He was also asked to make offerings to that the relic’s original owner had visited the roots of an ancient banyan tree. the Celestial Spouse, Shao Lin, a Taoist the Australian east coast centuries before Dating from the Ming period, it has goddess who watched over mariners at Captain James Cook. been linked with an expedition believed to S*4- Was the relic discarded by a member of have been made to our shores by Admiral During Cheng Ho's stay near Darwin, Chen Ho's 1405 expedition? Or, perhaps Cheng Ho, on the orders of Emperor Yung some of his men are said to have some earlier Chinese expedition to our Lo. explored.deep inland, and part of his fleet shores? We shall never know. He was also asked to make offerings to the Celestial Spouse, Shao Lin, a Taoist goddess who watched over mariners at sea, Se have been made to our shores by Admiral During Cheng Ho's stay near Darwin, Chen Ho's 1405 expedition? Or, perhaps Cheng Ho, on the orders of Emperor Yung some of his men are said to have some earlier Chinese expedition to our Lo. explored.deep inland, and part of his fleet shores? We shall never know. The fleet consisted of 62 nine-masted is claimed to have carried out the One thing is certain, pre-British/Dutch ships, 140 metres in length and was circumnavigation of Australia before yoyages to Australia is an indisputable accompanied by 28,000 men and their returning to China. fact! families. About 1958 on a cliffside inland from —_Qtherwise, if, we have long been led to Cheng Ho (1385-1440) also possessed Taree, on the NSW north coast, campers believe, that Europeans were first to the magnetic compass on this voyage. found a large weathered, centuries old giscover Australia in the 18th century - Invented by the Chinese in 1090, it was relief carving of Buddha. what then, were kangaroos doing in the not "discovered" in western Europe for Later, in 1980, a young woman Imperial Zoo in Pcking in 338 BC? another 100 years. unearthed a carved stone head of the Rex Gilroy welcomes any information helpful to Cheng Ho sailed from Shanghai in 1405 Chinese goddess Shao Lin, from centuries- | He can be. with orders to visit the islands of south- old sediments on a beachfront hillside near east Asia on diplomatic and trade matters. Milton, on the NSW south coast. He was also instructed to establish a Eventually, hearing of my researches colony in the vicinity of present-day into pre-Dutch Australian exploration, she Exploration Research Centre", PO Box 473, Kootingal NSW 2352 One thing is certain, pre-British/Dutch voyages to Australia is an indisputable fact! NEXUS*65 APRIL-MAY 1992 I —_