Discovery of Somerton Man

Date: December 1, 1948 • Location: Somerton Park, Australia

In "one of Australia's most profound mysteries", the body of an unidentified man was found on Somerton beach in Adelaide, a case which remains unsolved.

The Somerton Man is an unidentified man whose body was found on 1 December 1948 on the beach at Somerton Park, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. The case is also known by the Persian phrase tamám shud, meaning "It is over" or "It is finished", which was printed on a scrap of paper found months later in the fob pocket of the man's trousers. The scrap had been torn from the final page of a copy of Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, a poetry book.