Marree Man — Marree
Maker unknown · 1998 · Plateau west of Marree, South Australia
Photo: Peter Campbell / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0), as published in Street Art Utopia; full photo.
The Marree Man is a huge outline of an Aboriginal hunter cut into a desert plateau at Finniss Springs, about 60 km west of Marree in South Australia. A charter pilot spotted it from the air on 26 June 1998, and its maker has never been identified. Its lines had almost faded when local business owners regraded it over five days in August 2016, working with the Arabana Aboriginal Corporation. Source Source Source Source Source Checked
Seen Jun 2019: a NASA Landsat 8 image taken on 22 June 2019 shows the regraded outline. Coverage in 2025 reuses that image; no newer view of the site was found. Source Checked
More photos
💡 4 things to know
- Made within about two weeksWikipedia and Live Science say Landsat images show the site untouched on 27 May 1998 and the finished figure on 12 June 1998. Source Source Checked
- Still no makerIn 2018 Dick Smith offered a $5000 reward for information on who made it, after two years of research without significant leads. Source Checked
- Redrawn in 2016Local business owners used accurate GPS coordinates of the original and a construction grader to redraw the figure over five days in August 2016. Source Checked
- Built to lastMarree Hotel co-owner Phil Turner said the 2016 team cut wind grooves that trap water, so the figure would turn green over time. Source Reported
📍 Where it is
Plateau at Finniss Springs, about 60 km west of Marree, South Australia Source Checked
Opens a map at -29.53, 137.4655, the approximate centre of the figure.
🗓️ Sightings
- 199826 Jun
Spotted from the air by a charter pilot · Wikipedia
- 201620 Aug
Faded figure redrawn with a grader · SBS News
- 201825 Jun
Dick Smith offers a $5000 reward for the makers · SBS News
- 201922 Jun
Landsat 8 satellite view · NASA Earth Observatory
- 20254 Nov
Featured in Earth from space · Live Science
Green stamps mark dated photographs (the date given on the photo’s page); amber stamps mark records, events and reports. Publication dates are not photo dates.
🗞️ In the sources
Giant Marree Man in SA makes a comeback
“The 4km long outline, the origins of which remain a mystery, had all but faded from view”
$5000 reward offered to solve South Australia’s Marree Man mystery
“Entrepreneur Dick Smith has offered a $5000 reward for any information to help identify the person behind the renowned Marree Man desert artwork.”
2-mile-tall, naked 'Marree Man' looming over Australian outback is a total mystery — Earth from space
“When the lines were redrawn in 2016, it took workers around 60 hours to complete the task using updated technology.”
A Two-Mile-Tall Man Is Carved Into the Australian Outback — But No One Saw It Happen
“By 2016, the Marree Man’s 10-inch-deep grooves had nearly completely faded into the landscape.”
✅ The facts
- Length
- 2.7 km tall (Wikipedia); 3.5 km (NASA); 4 km (AAP via SBS, 2016); 4.2 km (Sian Powell) Source Source Source Source Conflicting
🔗 Related
All sources & image credits
- Wikipedia
- Live Science — 2-mile-tall, naked 'Marree Man' looming over Australian outback is a total mystery — Earth from space (4 November 2025)
- SBS News — $5000 reward offered to solve South Australia’s Marree Man mystery (25 June 2018)
- NASA Earth Observatory
- SBS News (AAP) — Giant Marree Man in SA makes a comeback (20 August 2016)
- sianpowell.com
- Discover Magazine — A Two-Mile-Tall Man Is Carved Into the Australian Outback — But No One Saw It Happen (5 November 2025)
- Hero image: Peter Campbell / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0), as published in Street Art Utopia; the share image is a 16:9 version of it.
- More photos: Lauren Dauphin, NASA Earth Observatory (Landsat data: USGS) / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain, 2019).
Last checked: 11 November 2026 · How we verify art