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Four centuries of history or a sixty year old hoax?

There is something interesting at the foot of the dunes just north of Ocean Reef marina. Discovered in 1956 by a local farmer, there is a little known rock carving originally thought to be carved by the marooned Dutch sailors from the 1656 VOC shipwreck of the "Vergulde Draeck" (Gilt Dragon). Two years after its discovery, it was destroyed by someone unknown and all that remains today are three letters, but it's still there just above the high water mark.

The carving, "Vergulde Draeck 1656" originally proclaimed to be genuine when first discovered, was investigated by the museum and rock carving specialists who have claimed it is most likely to be a hoax. It raises the question, who carved it? Who destroyed it? And is there any possibility at all, that it was carved from a time when the Dutch VOC sailors from the Gilt Dragon, Goede Hoop and Waeckende Boey who walked along our northern suburb beaches four centuries ago?

Vergulde Draeck Inscription

"West Australian" newspaper, Thursday September 16, 1956

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