Case file · Apparition / miracle
Weeping Madonna of Rockingham
In 2002 a fibreglass statue of the Virgin owned by Patty Powell of Rockingham, WA, appeared to weep rose-scented oil; thousands came to see it, and Archbishop Barry Hickey witnessed the oil himself.
2002 CE · -32.28, 115.73 · status: explained
The account
Hickey set up a commission in December 2002. Scientists at Murdoch and Curtin universities found no holes and no reservoir; the liquid was vegetable oil, possibly mixed with rose oil.
The sceptical view
In February 2003 Hickey said he could not conclude the substance was of divine origin, and the statue was barred from church property.