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Poster session on Australian aboriginal rock art, completed for a library science course Subject headings: Aboriginal Australians; Aboriginal Australians--Folklore; Arts, Aboriginal Australian; Australia--Ayers Rock-Mount Olga National Park (N.T.); Australia--Burrup Peninsula (W.A.); Australia--Kakadu National Park (N.T.); Australia--Kimberley (W.A.); Australia--Murujuga National Park (W.A.); Australia--Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park (N.T.); Cave paintings--Australia--Kimberley (W.A.); Petroglyphs--Australia--Dampier (W.A.); Petroglyphs--Australia--Pilbara (W.A.); Rock paintings--Australia--Kakadu National Park (N.T.); Rock paintings--Australia--Kimberley (W.A.); World Heritage areas--Australia; Antiquities, Prehistoric; Archaeology; Art--History; Bibliography; History; Humanities; Library science; Poster presentations
Citation preview
Galleries of the Outback
The Rock Art of Australian Aborigines
AcknowledgementsThe 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
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
Noted Rock Art SitesNew South WalesSydney area . . . southeast
Northern Territory
Kakadu . . . far north
Uluru/Kata-Tjuta . . . Central
Queensland
Cape York . . . Northeast
Western Australia
Murujuga . . . west coast
Kimberley Ranges . . . northwest
Engraved Art . . . Petroglyphs
Exposed rock
Subtractive process:
Chiseling
Pounding
Abrading
Scratching
Pigmented Art . . . Pictographs
Protected rock
Additive process:
Drawing
Painting
Prints
Stencils
Freehand
Art StylesNon-figurative
Linear or geometric
Includes animal tracks
Simple figurative
Outline or silhouette
Recognizable icons
Recognizable species
Art Styles
Complex figurative
Composition of figures or depiction of action
Wandjina style (Kimberley)X-ray style (Kakadu)
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
Ancestral SpiritsNabulwinjbulwinj, a dangerous spirit at Nourlangie in Kakadu, eats females after killing them by striking them with a yam.
Rites of Passage
The Climbing Men site of Murujuga may depict young men climbing a tree during an initiation ceremony.
Continuing Traditions
The past is kept alive through art, dance, song, ritual, and oral traditions.
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
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.
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
About This PresentationThis 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
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