Frederic Slater facts for kids
Frederic Slater (born around 1880 – died March 10, 1947) was an Australian journalist, poet, and researcher. He was known for his studies on Aboriginal culture and his unique theories about ancient history.
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Frederic Slater: Explorer of Ancient Australia
Who Was Frederic Slater?
In the 1930s, Frederic Slater started a group called the Australian Archaeological and Education Research Society. This group was also known as the Australian Archaeological Society, but it didn't last very long. He was married to Katherine Elizabeth Plowman. They had one son, Ederic Charles James Sutherland Slater, who was born in January 1923.
Studying Aboriginal Culture
Slater spent time studying Aboriginal place names and old archaeological sites. He shared information about Aboriginal languages. For example, he explored the meanings of names like Canberra and Queanbeyan.
The Egypt Connection Theory
One of Slater's most well-known ideas was his claim that Aboriginal Australians originally came from Egypt. He based this idea on carvings found at places like Devil's Rock in Wollombi, and other spots in the Royal National Park and Brunswick Heads. In 1939, he said that a mound south of Brunswick Heads was an ancient Aboriginal place of worship, used long before Europeans arrived. He told the Anthropological Society of New South Wales in Sydney that the carvings were very important. He believed they were ...totems, symbols and ideographs, which show that the ancestors of original Australians migrated from Egypt in the late paleolithic and the neolithic ages. This means he thought they showed that Aboriginal ancestors moved from Egypt during very old times, like the Stone Age.
What is Pseudoarchaeology?
Slater's theory about Aboriginal Australians coming from Egypt is often described as pseudoarchaeology. This term refers to ideas about the past that are not supported by strong scientific evidence. While some people, like Steven Strong, have supported Slater's ideas in recent years, these theories are not accepted by most archaeologists and scientists. Slater also published some of his work in Mankind, which was a magazine published by the Australian Anthropological Society.
