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Australia is no stranger to bizarre conspiracy theories, with even some politicians expressing interest in far-fetched plots and covert plans. Here are 10 fascinating theories from the land of stunning landscapes and unique stories.
10. The Tragic Port Arthur Massacre
In 1996, Martin Bryant carried out a devastating shooting at Tasmania’s Port Arthur Historic Site, killing 35 people and injuring 21 others. After an overnight standoff, he was captured and is currently serving a 1,035-year prison sentence with no chance of parole.
Following the tragedy, Australia implemented strict gun control laws, prohibiting semiautomatic and self-loading rifles and shotguns, tightening firearms licensing, and eliminating over 60,000 guns via a buy-back initiative. Conspiracy theorists argue that Bryant, who was untrained and mentally unstable, couldn’t have carried out such a massacre alone. They claim it was the work of a professional hitman, with Bryant framed by the government to justify stricter gun control.
Bryant’s extraordinarily long sentence and his initial eight months in solitary confinement are cited as proof that authorities wanted to silence him. However, it’s more plausible that solitary was for his safety, given his killing of several children at close range. Child killers often face harsh treatment in prison. Any inconsistencies in the evidence are likely due to the chaotic nature of the investigation, and there’s no question that Bryant was apprehended at the scene.
9. The Iconic Perth Bell Tower
The Perth Bell Tower, a notable yet somewhat unremarkable landmark in Perth, Western Australia, houses 12 bells from St Martin-in-the-Fields—the only royal bells ever to leave England.
Conspiracy theorist Ellis C. Taylor suggests that the bell tower was designed by a Freemason to symbolize the phallus of the Egyptian deity Osiris. He asserts that the location is recognized by the Nyungar Aboriginal people as an energy vortex and that Freemasons have been utilizing public funds to harness this energy through esoteric architectural designs.
The tower is allegedly a phallic representation of Osiris, linked to the Masonic deity Jabulon, while the adjacent water pool symbolizes the goddess Isis’s womb. Taylor claims that the year 2000 ushered in the Age of Horus, Osiris and Isis’s son, who resurrected his father after finding his body in the Underworld. Freemasons are said to have a global strategy to reconstruct Osiris’s body using monuments, with Perth symbolizing the Underworld. Key sites in this plan include the Pyramids of Giza (Osiris’s body), the London Eye (his head), and the Sydney Opera House, whose sail-like design may symbolize semen (or seamen).
8. The Hilton Hotel Bombing
In 1978, a bomb detonated in a garbage truck outside Sydney’s Hilton Hotel, killing three people, including a police officer, and injuring 10 others. The attack coincided with a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), prompting the swift relocation of leaders to Bowral in a large-scale operation involving military forces and a decoy train.
Suspicion quickly turned to the Hindu extremist group Ananda Marga, which was pressuring the Indian government to release their spiritual leader, Pabhat Ranian Sarkar, a convicted murderer. The group had been implicated in the 1977 attacks targeting an Indian diplomat and an airline employee. Three Australian members of Ananda Marga were tied to the bombing after being arrested for a separate plot to assassinate Australian neo-Nazi Robert Cameron.
The men were identified by Richard Seary, a former heroin addict turned police informant. Reports claimed the men declared, “You must be ready to die for your beliefs,” and “We will never be stopped. Ananda Marga will purify the world.” In 1985, the three were pardoned, released, and compensated $100,000 each after it was revealed Seary had been paid by police to fabricate connections between the sect and the bombing.
Conspiracy theorists argue that the bombing was a failed publicity stunt orchestrated by ASIO, the military, and NSW police. ASIO had faced criticism from the Whitlam government for being “disorganized, understaffed, and misdirected.” The theory suggests that ASIO planned to locate the bomb before it exploded, using the incident to justify expanding its authority.
7. The Schapelle Corby Case
In 2004, Schapelle Corby, an Australian woman, was detained at Bali’s Denpasar Airport after Indonesian customs found 4.1 kilograms (9 lb) of marijuana in her bodyboard bag. She claimed innocence, with her defense alleging a plot involving drug smugglers and Australian baggage handlers. Sentenced to 20 years, she was paroled after nine years but had to remain in Indonesia. The Expendable Project alleges that Corby was betrayed as part of a complex scheme involving Australian and Indonesian authorities, police, media, and Qantas.
They highlight the improbability of the marijuana passing undetected through Sydney and Brisbane Airports, noting Corby’s lack of drug use and motive. The group asserts that Australian police and baggage handlers were part of a large-scale drug smuggling operation, which the government concealed to avoid political fallout and preserve relations with Indonesia.
6. The Occult Architecture of Canberra
In 1913, a competition was held to design the new Australian capital, Canberra. The winning design by American Walter Burley Griffin featured a geometric layout harmonizing with the Molonglo River’s hills and plains. However, Griffin’s ties to esoteric groups have fueled theories that the city’s plan is imbued with occult symbolism, drawing from geomancy, theosophy, Kabbalah, and Freemasonry.
The double ring around Capitol Hill is believed to signify a sacred temple, while Parliament House’s layout allegedly mirrors the Illuminati’s all-seeing eye pyramid. Interpretations of the design vary widely, including connections to Stonehenge, the cosmic egg, reptilian overlords, an inverted Petrine Cross, and Nazi plans by Heinrich Himmler symbolizing the Spear of Destiny. According to geomancer Steven Guth, the site is also linked to underground limestone caves, caverns, and sinkholes tied to Aboriginal art and witch coven legends.
5. Aboriginal Freemasonry
In 1886, Jesuit missionaries traveled to the Daly River region in northern Australia to introduce Christianity to the local Aboriginal tribes. However, the tribes had already experienced the darker side of European influence through plantations, miners, fishermen, opium, tobacco, alcohol, disease, and violence, leading to a distorted understanding of Christianity.
They mistakenly believed the cross symbolized a punishment they would face if they displeased the missionaries. They even created a ritual called Tyaboi, mimicking what they thought was a Christian practice of human sacrifice, which deeply shocked the Jesuits. Father Kristen, an Austrian Jesuit, theorized that certain frontier whites, particularly in government and law enforcement, were part of a global conspiracy to corrupt the tribes and recruit them into Freemasonry.
He drew strange parallels between Aboriginal languages and Hebrew and connected the tribe name Malak Malak to ancient Canaanite rituals of human sacrifice to the god Moloch. Father Kristen ultimately concluded that the Aboriginals had originated Freemasonry and exported it to Europe centuries earlier.
4. Sydney Siege False Flag Incident
At approximately 2:00 AM, when Monis fired at a hostage, law enforcement breached the premises, resulting in the gunman's death and inadvertently causing the death of another hostage due to ricocheting bullet fragments. Skeptics question the official narrative portraying Monis as a lone extremist.
Monis, a Shia Muslim, inexplicably demanded an ISIS flag associated with Sunni extremism, despite his history of moderate, pro-Western, and anti-Iranian views, which starkly contrasted his abrupt shift to radical terrorism. Some theorists suggest Monis was a government operative in disguise, pointing to discrepancies in his beard's appearance. (Admittedly, sudden graying and erratic behavior might be linked.) Others argue the siege was exploited by authorities to legitimize Australia's role in combating ISIS and to bolster police powers. As often happens, some even pointed fingers at the Jewish community.
3. Pine Gap Facility
Often referred to as Australia's version of Area 51, this US-operated installation near Alice Springs employs nearly 1,000 personnel, primarily from the CIA and the National Reconnaissance Office. Officially, it serves as a ground station for a global satellite network that intercepts telephone, radio, and data communications. Initially established to monitor Soviet missile tests, it now focuses on nations like North Korea and supplies critical intelligence for drone strike operations.
Since the 1970s, the area has also been a hotspot for UFO sightings. Witnesses have described beams of light shooting from the facility's radomes into the sky. In 1975, an object resembling a radome was reportedly seen lifting off and vanishing. Additionally, there have been accounts of unidentified objects emerging from a hidden entrance in the nearby hillside.
These sightings have sparked numerous theories about the facility's activities, such as testing Nazi antigravity devices derived from extraterrestrial technology, conducting Tesla-inspired experiments for energy generation or weapon development, constructing an underground sanctuary for elites in anticipation of economic collapse, or housing an extensive database containing financial, political, military, and personal information on Western citizens. Some even suggest the facility operates across multiple dimensions and serves as a portal for transporting troops to clandestine Martian military outposts. Quite the imagination!
2. The Mysterious Vanishing of Harold Holt
Prime Minister Harold Holt's disappearance during a swim in 1967 fueled numerous conspiracy theories. Some speculate that the Vietnam War's turmoil drove him to suicide or to stage his death to escape with a lover. Others allege he was assassinated using a slow-acting poison slipped into his drink en route to the beach.
The most bizarre theory came from British journalist Anthony Grey, who alleged that Holt had been a Chinese double agent since the 1930s. Grey asserted that a codebreaker analyzed Holt's personal letters from 1952 to 1962, uncovering a hidden tabular code in the word counts and punctuation marks of descriptions involving menus, theater programs, and horse races. This code supposedly conveyed 'yes' or 'no' responses to his Chinese handlers.
Another alleged communication method involved the quantity and variety of fruits and flowers in his room, which were said to represent Western military vessels—pineapples for battleships, bananas for submarines, and oranges for battleships. Grey claimed Holt's cover was exposed by Australian intelligence, leading to his extraction by a Chinese submarine. Holt's widow, Zara, dismissed the theory, stating, 'Harry? A Chinese submarine? He didn’t even enjoy Chinese food.'
1. The Case of Set Van Nguyen
On December 14, 2001, microbiologist Dr. Set Van Nguyen was discovered deceased after being trapped in the airlock of a walk-in refrigerator at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization's animal diseases facility in Geelong, Victoria. A nitrogen leak had depleted the oxygen levels, leading to his death. The incident was attributed to poor safety protocols, with the only warning about the leak being a note on a whiteboard and a Post-it stating 'low airflow.'
Conspiracy theorists were quick to suspect foul play. The facility was where Dr. Ron Jackson and Dr. Ian Ramshaw had genetically engineered a highly lethal strain of mousepox. In the preceding weeks, four other experts in infectious diseases and biological agents had died in the US and England, with five more from the US, UK, and Russia meeting unexplained deaths the following year. The prevailing theory suggests these scientists were eliminated by US military or intelligence operatives to conceal a covert biological weapons program.
