Rocky relics. Warddeken ranger Gavin
Phillips (top) photographs artworks as part of
efforts to document them. Rifles and European
clothes (bottom) are some of the features carefully
depicted in the rediscovered paintings.rock wall at Bulurr Berdno there is a
brilliantly composed picture, drawn
more than 70 years ago, of a European
bearing an axe and approaching an
apprehensive rooster. “It is hard to
look at the picture without hearing the
laughter of an audience echoing down
the decades as the tale is told and the
illustration rendered,” Peter said. “The
novel and unusual use of perspective
adds to the idea that this is indeed a
‘rooster’s-eye view’ of an incident of
life and death on the frontier.”
At another site, painted on a rocky
ceiling, is an illustration of a man
wearing unusual headgear, atop a
sti-legged horse. The man is believed
to be explorer Ludwig Leichhardt
who passed through Arnhem Land
en route to Port Essington, in 1845.
Peter says there are at least two sites
displaying interpretations of visits of
Ludwig and David Lindsay (1883),
and the drawings correspond neatly
with entries from the explorers’
diaries. “As we go along looking at
these paintings and compare them
to European records, some areas of
the historical jigsaw come together
nicely,” he says.
“Leichhardt had lost his hat early
in the expedition and was wearing a
canvas bag as a head covering,” Peter
says. “The headwear in this image
does not conform to usual ways
of drawing European hats and the
painting is not far from the route
travelled by the expedition. The artist
has chosen to show the horse, a mare,
urinating – which explains the odd,
sti-legged stance.”
Daryl Wesley, an authority on
contact period rock art at Australian
National University’s natural history
department, says the paintings are not
only culturally and socially signifi-
cant, but also have deep historical
and heritage value. “They are a bridge
between two cultures,” he says. “This
area is one of the leading regions of
the world to show indigenous people
interacting with another culture. It is
a direct indigenous record that does
not rely upon European records. Thepaintings are a unique view of the
Bininj [Aboriginal people of western
Arnhem Land]. It is significant to
them, and it should be to us.”
Indigenous people drifted away
from the Arnhem Land plateau
in the early to mid-20th century,
embracing aspects of European life
in bualo camps, mines and missions
on the lowland and coastal areas and
in townships such as Oenpelli and
Pine Creek. The plateau was almost
deserted until the 1970s and ’80s,
when some older people returned to
their traditional lands.
Some, such as the recently deceased
Lofty Bardayal Nadjamerrek AO,
knew the country from their youth,
but other traditional owners are
now rediscovering the rock-art
galleries and have taken on trying
to preserve them, along with other
land management responsibilities.
According to Terah Guymala, CEOof Warddeken Land Management,
although many rock paintings have
survived thousands of years, the most
recent ‘contact’ paintings are criti-
cally endangered, because the soft,
ephemeral pigments used to create
them are the most fragile.
“We return to these places to clean
the country up so fire and other things
do not damage the paintings,” Terah
says. “Vegetation can rub against the
paintings when the wind blows, and
bualo and pigs can cause damage as
well. These are important places for
our people; they tell the story
from our point of view of what
happened when Aboriginal people
first met white people. I believe these
paintings are very important to the
whole of Australia.” AGS –O 2014 37NEW DISCOVERY
DAVID HANCOCK’s exhibition, Fragile First
Impressions, will be shown at The Gallery,
Canberra Grammar School, 6–13 September.ag0914p037_rock - 37 2014-08-12T11:25:39+10:00