Vikings in Australia

The World Daily News Report announced the presence of a Viking trade station in Western Australia.

The announcement of a Viking trade station in Western Australia came as a surprise to many, but the spoof was quickly seen through by most. This story, while conceived of as a hoax, fits within a genre of pseudoarchaeology that claims that the Vikings, the Phoenicians and even the Aztecs found Australia. These stories are the subject of The Secret Visitors Project in Australia, examining claims of early visits to Australian shores by various different peoples at different times. The website includes the work of Rex Gilroy who claims that Vikings visited Cairns in Queensland.

The presence of Vikings on far shores is a popular theme, and it has been claimed that the Vikings made it as far as South America, and left runic inscriptions there. It has also been suggested by some that the 'white gods' of the Maya and Aztecs were Vikings, although they are more usually interpreted as caucasians without any national attribution by conspiracy theorists. Needless to say, the evidence that supports these theories is tenuous at best.