Travelling from the other side of the planet to study the Australian Standing Stones, Dutch university student Rixt Bijker will be spending two months based at the University of New England and in Glen Innes.

Ms Bijker and her friend Vanessa Wiggenraad both from Groningen University in the northern part of the Netherlands were lucky enough in that their lecturer in Cultural Geography had an association with the University of New England's Jim Walmsley.

"We were really lucky, last year we told our lecturer that we were interested in travelling to Australia to do research for our Masters thesis. By coincidence he had been to a conference at James Cook University in Cairns where he had met Jim Walmsley," Ms Bijker said.

"Once I knew that I would be able to come to this part of Australia I had a look at what features there were in this region, I noticed the Standing Stones and Celtic Country at the Lonely Planet web site and thought that I might be able to study this," she said.

Studying cultural geography she will be looking at the importance of the Standing Stones and Celtic Country to both the people of Glen Innes and to others who come to visit.

"I am interested to find out how Celtic Country came into being and to see if it is something that people really identify or whether it is mostly tourism driven. I would like to try and understand how residents relate with Celtic Country," she said.

While in Glen Innes Ms Bijker will be interviewing people such as Wendy Fahey, John Tregurtha, Colin Lute, Steve Toms, and Lex Ritchie as well as speaking to members of the public.

While Ms Bijker will be studying Celtic Country and the Australian Standing Stones her associate Ms Wiggenraad is focusing on Uralla and the legend of Thunderbolt.

"I would like see if Thunderbolt is something that people identify with and see as culturally important or if it is just for tourism," she said.

Ms Bijker can be contacted at Rixtb@yahoo.com or phone 6773 5692.