ABORIGINAL ROCK ART IN AUSTRALIA

Australian Aboriginal art is the oldest unbroken tradition of art in the world. I became more than somewhat obsessed with "Rock Art" while visiting Australia and I am happy to share this incredible art form with you.

The oldest examples of rock art in Western Australia's Pilbara region and the Olary district of South Australia are estimated to be up to around 40,000 years old. The oldest firmly dated evidence of rock art painting in Australia is a charcoal drawing on a small rock fragment found during the excavation of the Narwhal Gabarnmang rock shelter in south-western Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Dated at 28,000 years it is one of the oldest known pieces of rock art on Earth with a confirmed date. 

The oldest reliably dated unambiguous rock art motif in Australia is a large painting of a macropod (from the marsupial family) from a rock shelter in Western Australia's Kimberley region which has been radiometrically dated to approximately 17,300 years old.

Rock art including painting, engraving or carving (petroglyphs) can be found at sites throughout Australia. Examples of rock art have been found that are believed to depict extinct megafauna such as Genyornis and Thylacoleo in the Pleistocene era as well as more recent historical events such as the arrival of European ships.

 

Examples of rock art have been found that are believed to depict extinct megafauna such as Genyornis (Genyornis Newtoni) also known as a Thunderbird (mihirung paringmal which was a large flightless bird that lived in Australia around 50,000 years ago and Thylacoleo, an extinct marsupial of the Pleistocene era. 

"Gwion rock art" (the "Bradshaw rock paintings" also referred to as Giro Giro) were initially named after Joseph Bradshaw who first reported them in 1891 consists of a series of rock paintings on caves in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. A 2020 study puts this art at about 12,000 years old.

Rock art is a rather vague term which denotes prehistoric man-made markings on natural stone. Similar terms include "rock carvings," "rock engravings," "rock inscriptions," "rock drawings" and "rock paintings."

 

I hope you have enjoyed this brief introduction to the Aboriginal Rock Art of Australia. Until we meet again, wishing you wonderful travels and adventures wherever they may take you, Laura

                                                                                                                            

PS Arriving in Australia and landing on the beach was certainly an experience and it was just an introduction to the amazing world we were about to encounter.