returned to the Middle East for further academic studies. Once while he was in Jordan he was arrested and thrown into a Jordanian prison under suspicion of being a Palestinian spy because of his dialect of Arabic. He was later released after more thorough interrogation with an English speaking officer. Priestly Ministry On returning to Sydney, Stockton worked as a chaplain to Sydney University and assisted at various parishes in Sydney including Parramatta, Narabeen, DeeWhy, Mt Druitt, Penrith, Riverstone, Springwood and Lawson. He also worked in far western NSW at Bourke. In 1986 he was involved with founding the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry in Parramatta. Cardinal Gilroy appointed Fr Eugene Stockton as the first Chaplain to Aboriginal Catholics in Sydney, and for this ministry he then adopted a model where the community ran the ministry. Stockton said “It's important to note that the idea of the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry was to get away from the mission idea and for Aboriginal people to run the centres themselves with help from outsiders like myself” further he said “ All over Australia, Aboriginal Catholics have been developing modes of worship and spirituality that are special to them”. Archaeology and Theology With his training in archaeology, Stockton became increasingly interested in Australian aboriginal archaeology together with its spirituality. He pursued archaeological investigations in the Blue Mountains, the north and central coasts and far west of New South Wales. He also investigated areas in the Kimberley of Western Australia and Central Australia. His most important work were six excavations in the Blue Mountains of NSWs where many Aboriginal artefacts were discovered. The excavations at Kings Tableland, Wentworth Falls indicated continuous occupation to as far back as 22,300 BP. Excavations near the Nepean River at the base of the Blue Mountains found artefacts indicating a human presence up to 50,000 years ago. In 2008 Stockton established the Blue Mountain Educational and Research Trust to promote local Blue Mountains research and writing, especially in Aboriginal, religious and spiritual studies. Stockton has written over one hundred and fifty articles and many books on biblical studies, Christianity, theology, archaeological surveys, and Aboriginal spirituality. In his book “Australian Religious Thought”, Wayne Hudson says “Stockton seeks to pioneer an Australian theology, integrating Biblical insights, a reverence for the land and Aboriginal spirituality”. He further says that Stockton's theology is indebted to the theology of Meister Eckhart, to the nondualist theology of Ramon