Postcards from the outside: European-contact rock art imagery and occupation on the southern Arnhem Land plateau, Jawoyn lands

Gunn, Robert George; David, Bruno; Whear, Ray L.; James, Daniel; Petchey, Fiona; Chalmin, Émilie; Castets, Géraldine; Barker, Bryce; Geneste, Jean‐Michel; Delannoy, Jean‐Jacques

doi:10.22459/ta47.11.2017.09

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Most of the Painted Hands appear at a few key sites within these larger areas. As argued by May et al (2017b) and Gunn et al (2017a), historical rock art in Arnhem Land tends to cluster at key sites in the landscape. This is also true for the Painted Hands, with Madjedbebe, Nanguluwur, Minjnymirnjdawabu and Awunbarna having a significantly higher number of individual Painted Hands than anywhere else.…”

Section: Distributionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Survival, Social Cohesion and Rock Art: The Painted Hands of Western Arnhem Land, Australia

May¹,

Taylor²,

Frieman³

et al. 2020

CAJ

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This paper explores the complex story of a particular style of rock art in western Arnhem Land known as ‘Painted Hands’. Using new evidence from recent fieldwork, we present a definition for their style, distribution and place in the stylistic chronologies of this region. We argue these motifs played an important cultural role in Aboriginal society during the period of European settlement in the region. We explore the complex messages embedded in the design features of the Painted Hands, arguing that they are more than simply hand stencils or markers of individuality. We suggest that these figures represent stylized and intensely encoded motifs with the power to communicate a high level of personal, clan and ceremonial identity at a time when all aspects of Aboriginal cultural identity were under threat.

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Section: Distributionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Survival, Social Cohesion and Rock Art: The Painted Hands of Western Arnhem Land, Australia

May¹,

Taylor²,

Frieman³

et al. 2020

CAJ

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“…(1990: 448) have suggested that the spine detail and post‐contact origin of the two barramundis is evidence of recent artistic influences moving south from Arnhem land, possibly associated with the increased movement of musterers between cattle stations. More recent evidence of similar superimposition patterns involving X‐ray art from southern Arnhem land further suggest that X‐ray art moved south from northern Arnhem Land within the past 400 years (Gunn et al ., 2017: 172).…”

Section: Yiwarlarlay Site Complexmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(2016) argued that a spray‐spotted snake motif in Beswick Reserve was produced by Dalabon people who were displaced from their traditional lands by colonial mining activities in the early 1900s. In northern Jawoyn Country, paintings with sprayed spots have different ancestral associations that are powerful and restricted (Brady et al ., 2018: 549; Cooper, 1992; Gunn et al ., 2017: 170).…”

Section: Yiwarlarlay Site Complexmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Superimpositional analysis at Yingalarri 3 demonstrates that the paintings containing the sprayed spots and X‐ray internal decorations local to Arnhem Land appeared at Yingalarri during the pastoral era. While the artistic connection between Arnhem Land and Wardaman rock art has been made in the past (see David et al ., 1990: 448; Gunn et al ., 2017: 172; Lewis & McCausland, 1987; Mulvaney, 1969: 268), it has not been explored in detail before now. In the context of historical and anthropological information, the presence of sprayed spots and X‐ray designs at Yingalarri show that the forced movement of Aboriginal station workers during the early 1900s led to the development of new inter‐regional relationships between Aboriginal language groups, which possibly resulted in the sharing of cultural information and designs.…”

Section: Conclusion: Wardaman Resistance Through Rock Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Resistance and remembering through rock art: Contact‐period rock art in Wardaman country, Northern Australia

Kelly

2021

Archaeology in Oceania

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Although notions of resistance are not new in rock art research concerning cross‐cultural colonial encounters, this study shows how multiple dimensions of Indigenous resistance can be explored through a multidisciplinary analysis of rock art in northern Australia. The study explores the intersections between introduced “Western” and pre‐existing “traditional” motifs in rock art near Yingalarri waterhole in Wardaman Country, Northern Territory, analysing the visual conventions and superimpositions with an eye towards Wardaman epistemological engagements with rock art and experiences of colonial occupation. These intersections reveal further dimensions of Wardaman responses to colonial occupation, including the negotiation of shifting inter‐regional relationships and engagements with Country as well as the continued emphasis on inherited artistic practices. The study also explores the continuing role that rock art, and its interpretation, plays in Indigenous colonial resistance. Wardaman discussions of introduced motifs documented during the 1988–1991 Earthwatch project brought the paintings out of the past, giving them contemporary significance via kinship connections and narratives of survival that challenge colonial efforts to erase Indigenous experiences of early colonial contact and occupation. The paper contributes to archaeological understandings of inter‐regional connections between northern Australian rock art regions and rock art production and discussion as a means for Aboriginal resistance and remembrance after the arrival of Europeans.

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“…May et al 2010May et al , 2013a. We would argue that their purpose was largely an educational oneinforming other members of your clan group, as well as visitors or neighbours, about the activities of these newcomers and your interaction with them (see Frieman and May 2020;Gunn et al 2017). While many of the rock paintings from Djulirri are simple outline figures, others are detailed with evidence of both crew and cargo (Figure 9).…”

Section: Contact Rock Art As An Educational Toolmentioning

confidence: 99%

The missing Macassans: Indigenous sovereignty, rock art and the archaeology of absence

May

Wesley

Goldhahn

et al. 2021

Australian Archaeology

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The contact period rock art of northern Australia provides unprecedented insights into Aboriginal cross-cultural experiences during the last few hundred years. Northwest Arnhem Land, Australia, has an extensive rock art assemblage and a complicated history of interactions between Aboriginal communities and island South East Asians (Macassans), colonists, explorers, missionaries, buffalo shooters, and more. This contact period rock art offers a unique opportunity to explore a variety of questions relating to cross-cultural interactions and artistic responses to new people, objects and ideas. In this paper we argue that a dichotomy exists in the number of European and south-east Asian themed rock art motifs. We suggest that there is an underlying theme in the proliferation of European related imagery relating to threats to Indigenous sovereignty. Our findings suggest that rock art illustrates the Aboriginal community's responses to both groups and their experience of the existential threat posed by European intruders. The apparent lack of rock art relating to south-east Asian interactions, although perplexing, may in fact provide circumstantial evidence for a very different type of interaction between some northern Australian and southeast Asian communities.

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Postcards from the outside: European-contact rock art imagery and occupation on the southern Arnhem Land plateau, Jawoyn lands

Cited by 9 publications

References 11 publications

Survival, Social Cohesion and Rock Art: The Painted Hands of Western Arnhem Land, Australia

Survival, Social Cohesion and Rock Art: The Painted Hands of Western Arnhem Land, Australia

Resistance and remembering through rock art: Contact‐period rock art in Wardaman country, Northern Australia

The missing Macassans: Indigenous sovereignty, rock art and the archaeology of absence

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