Originally posted by Aloysius the Gaul
Tough - unless they documented being there they still will never be the 1st known European discoverers of Aus.

The gun being 500 years old just puts a limt on when it was made - it could have been left here any time after that, and unless you get some "context" - ie stuff that is found around it such as wreckage, pottery, etc., no-one will ever know anything about how it got there.

And in the end it doesn't mater anyway.

Historically interesting - but breaking alternative news?? Don't think so!

Chinese pirates in the late 19th century were found to be using cannons made three or more centuries before.

In my opinion the government covers up any existance of non-aboriginal peoples here as it is not PC and would destabilise the system that has been set up around their existence.

Why (if there was actual evidence for) earlier visitors to Oz that would cause the 'system to destabilise'? The Vikings made it to North America and that doesn't seem to affected the Native Americans or the 'system'. The Inuits came to North America ten thousand years after the first Americas (that we know of) that doesn't seemed to have de-stablised the system either, lol

Considering that there is almost a continuous land bridge from Asia to Aus, it seems very likely that Aus had been visited many times by other civilizations.

Ships of the Roman era moved pretty slow, say on average about 3.5 knots.

It would have been an epic voyage for a Roman ship to make it to Aus. Maybe it was made by Sinbad, who happened to have some Roman coins.