1.
Galleries of the Outback
The Rock Art of Australian Aborigines

2.
Acknowledgements
The author gratefully acknowledges the traditional owners and
custodians of the land and art:
of Uluru-Kata Tjuta
and
of Kakadu
and
of the Kimberley
and of Murujuga

3.
Australian Prehistory
Rocks began forming 4.5 billion
years ago
Indigenous people arrived during
period of low sea level, possibly
65,000 years ago
Some rock art dates from the
Pleistocene period, about 40,000
years ago

4.
Noted Rock Art Sites
New South Wales
Sydney area . . . southeast
Northern Territory
Kakadu . . . far north
Uluru/Kata-Tjuta . . . Central
Queensland
Cape York . . . Northeast
Western Australia
Murujuga . . . west coast
Kimberley Ranges . . . northwest

5.
Engraved Art . . . Petroglyphs
Exposed rock
Subtractive process:
Chiseling
Pounding
Abrading
Scratching

6.
Pigmented Art . . . Pictographs
Protected rock
Additive process:
Drawing
Painting
Prints
Stencils
Freehand

7.
Art Styles
Non-figurative
Linear or geometric
Includes animal tracks
Simple figurative
Outline or silhouette
Recognizable icons
Recognizable species

8.
Art Styles
Complex figurative
Composition of figures or depiction of action
Wandjina style (Kimberley)
X-ray style (Kakadu)

9.
Art and Symbolism
Aboriginal art represents:
• Religion, law, and moral systems
• Past, present, and future
• Creation period when ancestral beings
created the world as it is now
• Relationship between people, plants,
animals, and land’s physical features

10.
Ancestral Spirits
Nabulwinjbulwinj, a dangerous spirit at Nourlangie in
Kakadu, eats females after killing them by striking
them with a yam.

11.
Rites of Passage
The Climbing Men site of Murujuga may depict young
men climbing a tree during an initiation ceremony.

12.
Continuing Traditions
The past is kept alive
through art, dance, song,
ritual, and oral traditions.

13.
Reference Issues
• Ethnocentric viewpoint of some
reference books
• Confusing terminology, not clearly
defined, e.g. prehistory and
contemporary
• Interdisciplinary nature of topic,
requiring variety of search terms in
multiple subject areas and in other
disciplinary groups

14.
Print Sources
“Aboriginal Australia.” Turner, Jane, ed. The Dictionary of Art. New
York: Grove’s Dictionaries. 1996 ed.
Berghaus, Gunter, ed. New Perspectives on Prehistoric Art.
Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 2004.
Chippindale, Christopher and Paul S.C. Tacon, eds. The Archaeology
of Rock-Art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Flood, Josephine. The Riches of Ancient Australia: An Indispensable
Guide for Exploring Prehistoric Australia. St. Lucia, Queensland:
University of Queensland Press, 1990.
Morphy, Howard. Aboriginal Art. London: Phaidon Press Limited,
1998.
Morwood, M.J. Visions from the Past: The Archaeology of Australian
Aboriginal Art. Washington : Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002.

15.
Web Sites
Rock Art in the Dampier Archipelago
Rock Art in Kakadu National Park
Rock Art in the Kimberley
Rock Art in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park
Rock Art Research

16.
About This Presentation
This poster session was created for a
graduate library class entitled Humanities
Resources and Services. The assignment
required:
• The selection of an interdisciplinary topic
• A brief overview of the subject
• A discussion of reference issues
encountered in print and web sources

17.
Map of Australia, photograph of stenciling courtesy of Dreamstime
Photograph of Wandjina licensed for use by Superstock
Photograph of sand for background texture courtesy of Morguefile
Photograph of author by Nic Green
All other photographs by Lea Walker
Australian Dreaming template and graphic design by Lea Walker
Credits
Lea Walker
© 1981-2013
All rights reserved