11

The history of Arnhem Land rock art research: A multicultural, multilingual and multidisciplinary pursuit

Paul S.C. Taçon

Introduction

Arnhem Land rock art, including that of Kakadu National Park, has been known to the outside world since the early 1800s but it was not until the 1940s that it became a subject of serious investigation (e.g. see McCarthy 1955, 1960; Rose 1942). Eight key research themes developed over time with different approaches, questions and subjects of concern. These themes, from an initial one of discovery and reporting to the most recent employing digital technology, structure this paper. However, the focus is on the multicultural investigation of Arnhem Land rock art and the ways in which this has shaped the history and course of research, including the testing and adoption of many pioneering approaches to rock art recording, interpretation, dating, conservation, management and tourism. Over 100 non-Indigenous individuals from 12 countries have contributed to our understanding of Arnhem Land rock art, with Australians, Brits, Czechs and Canadians, in particular, advancing knowledge. But there has always equally been a strong interest from Aboriginal Australians in better understanding, promoting and protecting their rock art heritage with over 100 key individuals from across Arnhem Land and beyond actively participating in Arnhem Land research. Consequently, Indigenous and non-Indigenous research perspectives have been intertwined for over 70 years, resulting in a deservedly rich and enriched rock art research history.

The history of Australian rock art research has been outlined in various forums, with Layton (1992) providing detail for different periods of time scattered across a number of book chapters and Taçon (2001) undertaking a focused review. Aspects of the history of Arnhem Land rock art research can be found in the background chapters of various PhD theses, such as Gunn (2016), Hayward (2016), Johnston (2018), Jones (2017), Marshall (2020), Taçon (1989) and Wesley (2014), including discussion of the varying styles and stylistic chronologies that have been proposed (e.g. Brandl 1973; Chaloupka 1993; Chippindale and Taçon 1998; David et al. 2013; Jones et al. 2016; Lewis 1988; Taçon and Brockwell 1995; Taçon and Chippindale 2008; various papers in David, Taçon, Geneste et al. 2017). The chronology continues to be refined (e.g. Jones et al. 2020; May, Taylor et al. 2020; Taçon et al. 2020). Marshall’s (2020) PhD thesis is particularly important for the rock art conservation history of Arnhem Land (see also Haritos’s 2006 Honours thesis on rock art management). Recently, a comprehensive Arnhem Land rock art research history was also published (David, Taçon, Gunn et al. 2017). All of these studies essentially take a timeline approach, focusing on what was achieved over time. However, in this paper the rise of rock art research themes over time is explored to highlight the strong collaborations and friendships that were formed between Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers, as well as to show that this led to pioneering developments that not only advanced Arnhem Land and Australian rock art research but also benefited the study of rock art worldwide.

Over 20,000 rock art sites have been reported and/or recorded in varying ways across Arnhem Land since the early 1800s. Each year hundreds of previously undocumented sites are located by various teams. The region is especially famous for its painted and stencilled rock art imagery, sometimes in huge rock-shelter complexes in many overlapping styles (e.g. for Djulirri see May et al. 2010; Taçon, Langley et al. 2010; Taçon, May et al. 2010; for Mt. Gilruth see Chaloupka 1993; Haskovec 1992; and for Nawarla Gabarnmang see David et al. 2011; David, Taçon, Geneste et al. 2017; David et al. 2013; Gunn et al. 2012), as well as what is reputed to be Australia’s oldest dated archaeological site with rock art, Madjedbebe (see Clarkson et al. 2017).

Summaries of the western Arnhem Land rock art can be found in May et al. (2015) and May and Taçon (2014), while detailed accounts are in Brandl (1973), Chaloupka (1993), Lewis (1988) and Taçon (1989). It is beyond the scope of this paper to list the entire literature on Arnhem Land rock art, let alone describe it, but comprehensive databases of Australian rock art publications can be found in Australian Heritage Commission (1990) and Marymor (2018, 2019). Instead, the focus is on the people who undertook the research, the earliest discoveries and reports on rock art and the development of rock art tourism.

Arnhem Land researchers

An early attempt to list which non-Indigenous researchers worked in Kakadu National Park can be found in May et al. (2015) but until now there has not been a comprehensive list of the key players in greater Arnhem Land rock art research. In the short lists or research summaries that do exist, Aboriginal individuals who participated are rarely named. In the two tables below the names, countries of origin, specialties and periods when they were most active are listed for non-Indigenous and Indigenous people, as well as Indigenous–non-Indigenous collaborations.

Non-Indigenous people who contributed to Arnhem Land rock art research are listed in Table 11.1. In summary, 78 Australians (55 male and 23 female) and 29 individuals from 11 other countries (21 male and eight female) were identified, for a total of 107 non-Indigenous individuals. In terms of people from outside Australia contributing to knowledge about the rock art of Arnhem Land, most were from the United Kingdom (eight), then Canada (five) and Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) (five). George Chaloupka, originally from Czechoslovakia, and Paul Taçon, originally from Canada, were most active, 44 years (1967–2011) and 40 years (1981–ongoing), respectively. There were also a lot of students and volunteers working with a range of people from the 1980s to the present who are not listed in the table. Paddy Cahill has not been included as, although he investigated some rock-shelters with art, possibly as early as the 1880s and certainly since 1909 (see below), he did not publish descriptions of what he saw unlike others who ‘discovered’ sites in the 1800s and early 1900s. However, he did direct various people to sites who then published accounts.

Table 11.1: Non-Aboriginal people in Arnhem Land rock art research.

Name	Country	Primary approaches	Period most active
W. Arndt	Australia	Recording, analysis & ethnography	1960s
Charles Barrett	Australia	Recording, Wessel Islands	1939
Herbert Basedow	Australia	Recording	1900s–1920s
Annie Clarke	Australia	Survey, recording & analysis	1995–1996, 2018–present
John Clarke	Australia	Pigment analysis & conservation	1986–1989
Peter Cooke	Australia	Survey, recording, ethnography & management	2007–present
David Cooper	Australia	Ethnography & management	Late 1980s – early 1990s
Phil Crews	Australia	Parks Australia survey, recording & management	1990s
Isabelle Dangas	Australia	Conservation	1989
Charles Dashwood	Australia	Reporting discovery	1895
Bruno David	Australia	Survey, recording, analysis	2009–present
Graham Davidson	Australia	Recording	1976
Max Davidson	Australia	Tourism	1986–2017
Janet Davill	Australia	Survey & recording	2008–present
Phil Davill	Australia	Survey & recording	2008–present
Leigh Douglas	Australia	Survey & recording	2008–2012
Alfred J. Dyer	Australia	Reporting discovery & some ethnography	Late 1920s & early 1930s
Robert Edwards	Australia	Recording & analysis	1964–mid-1970s
A.P. Elkin	Australia	Recording & ethnography	1949–1952
Ursula K. Frederick	Australia	Survey, recording & analysis	1995–1996, 2018–present
Fay Gale	Australia	Tourism & management	1982–1983
Murray Garde	Australia	Survey, recording, analysis & ethnography	1990s–present
Dan Gillespie	Australia	Conservation & management	1980s
Pina Giuliani	Australia	Survey, recording, archiving	1980s–2015
Robert (ben) Gunn	Australia	Survey, recording, ethnography, management, analysis & digital applications	1987–present
Nicholas Hall	Australia	Recording, analysis & conservation	2006–2018
Judith Hammond	Australia	Master of Arts thesis	2016
Helen Haritos	Australia	Management	2005–2006
Fred Hunter	Australia	Reporting discovery	1960s
Jillian Huntley	Australia	Pigment analysis	2018–present
Phil Hughes	Australia	Conservation	1980s
Gary Jackson	Australia	Recording & ethnography	Early 1990s – present
Daniel James	Australia	Survey, recording & analysis	2009–2016
Iain Johnston	Australia	Survey, recording & analysis	2012–present
Tristen Jones	Australia	Survey, recording, analysis & dating	2008–present
Bill Harney	Australia	Reporting	1957
John Hayward	Australia	Survey, recording & analysis	2012–present
Dave Lambert	Australia	Conservation	1997–1999
Darrel Lewis	Australia	Survey, recording & analysis	1970s & 1980s
Dave Lindner	Australia	Management	2008
N.W.G. Macintosh	Australia	Recording	1949–1977
Fred McCarthy	Australia	Survey & recording	1940s–1950s
Jo McDonald	Australia	Survey & recording	1986
Fiona McKeague	Australia	Survey & recording, rock art tourism research	2008–present
Kim McKenzie	Australia	Film	1982, 2002–2013
Dehne McLaughlin	Australia	Survey & recording	Late 1970s – early 1980s
Melissa Marshall	Australia	Survey, recording, analysis & conservation	1990s–present
Elsie Masson	Australia	Reporting discovery	1913
Sally K. May	Australia	Survey, recording, analysis, digital applications & ethnography	1998–present
Emily Miller	Australia	Survey, recording & analysis	2016–present
Charles Mountford	Australia	Survey & recording	1948, 1949
Neil North	Australia	Pigment analysis	1986–1988
Gabrielle O’Loughlin	Australia	Parks Australia survey, recording, management	2000s–present
Adrian Parker	Australia	Recording & analysis	Early 2000s
Alistair Paterson	Australia	Recording & analysis	2008
Axel Poignant	Australia	Reporting discovery & ethnography	1953
Andy Ralph	Australia	Tourism	1990s–2015
Marie Reay	Australia	Recording	1960s
Leo J. Rivett	Australia	Photogrammetry	1984
David Andrew Roberts	Australia	Recording & analysis	Early 2000s
Colin Simpson	Australia	Reporting	1948
Claire Smith	Australia	Recording, analysis & ethnography	1990s–present
W. Baldwin Spencer	Australia	Reporting discovery	1912
Allan Stewart	Australia	Tourism	1960s
Hilary Sullivan	Australia	Parks Australia survey, recording, tourism, conservation & management	1980s & 1990s
Andrew Thorn	Australia	Conservation	1992–1993
Norman Tindale	Australia	Recording	1920s
David Turner	Australia	Recording	1969
Georgia Vallance	Australia	Survey, recording & management	2010–present
Mark Viney	Australia	Survey & recording	1978
Carl Warburton	Australia	Reporting	1919
Alan Watchman	Australia	Dating, conservation	1980s
Ray Whear	Australia	Survey & recording	1990s–present
David Welch	Australia	Survey & recording	1980s–present
Daryl Wesley	Australia	Survey, recording & analysis	1990s–present
Trent Wilkinson	Australia	Management	2008–present
Meredith Wilson	Australia	Survey, recording & analysis	1996
Duncan Wright	Australia	Survey, recording & analysis	2012–2018
Megan Berry	Canada	Master of Liberal Arts thesis	2011
Liam Brady	Canada	Survey, recording, analysis & ethnography	2016–present
Laura Jacobs	Canada	Pigment analysis	2018
Erle Nelson	Canada	Dating	1990s
Paul S.C. Taçon	Canada	Survey, recording, analysis, dating, ethnography, conservation, digital applications	1981–present
Eric Brandl	Czechoslovakia	Survey, recording, analysis, ethnography	1960s & 1970s
George Chaloupka	Czechoslovakia	Survey, recording, analysis, dating, ethnography	1967–2011
Ivan Haskovec	Czechoslovakia	Parks Australia survey, recording, analysis, tourism, conservation & management	1980s & 1990s
Jan Jelinek	Czechoslovakia	Survey, recording & analysis	1969–1973
Stanislav Novotny	Czechoslovakia	Survey, recording & analysis	1969
Jean-Jacques Delannoy	France	Recording, analysis & digital applications	2009–present
Jean-Michel Geneste	France	Recording & analysis	2009–present
Sabine Hoeng	Germany	Curation of Chaloupka collection at MAGNT & survey	2009–2017
Ludwig Leichhardt	Germany	Reporting discovery	1846
Agnes Schultz	Germany	Recording	1954–1955
Harry Allen	New Zealand	Survey & recording	1970s
Knut Dahl	Norway	Reporting discovery	1894
Andrea Jalandoni	Philippines	Photogrammetry, 3D, digital applications	2016–present
Ines Domingo Sanz	Spain	Survey, recording, analysis, digital applications	2008–present
Joakim Goldhahn	Sweden	Survey, recording & analysis	2013–present
Christopher Chippindale	United Kingdom	Survey, recording, analysis & dating	1990–2010
Matthew Flinders	United Kingdom	Reporting discovery	1803
John Lewis	United Kingdom	Reporting discovery	1874
Judy Opitz	United Kingdom	Tourism study	2001–2008
Frederick Rose	United Kingdom	Recording	1938–1939, 1941
Harry Stockdale	United Kingdom	Reporting discovery	1891
William Westall	United Kingdom	Painting	1803
Peter Worsley	United Kingdom	Recording	1953
Peggy Grove	USA	Recording & analysis	Late 1990s
Grand total = 107

Note: MAGNT = Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.

Source: Author’s summary.

As can be seen in Table 11.2, 99 Indigenous individuals (78 male and 21 female), one family (Yantarrnga), a ranger group (Njanjma), an Aboriginal Association (Jawoyn Association Aboriginal Corporation), an art centre (Injalak Arts) and a land management rock art group (Warddeken) could be named with information about who they collaborated with and when. Chaloupka (1993:249) listed another five individuals and two families but without any information and many more have participated in group activities, such as Kakadu National Park research and management programs, the activities of the Warddeken Land Management rock art group, Injalak Arts artist engagements with rock art and the Jawoyn Association’s Jawoyn Rock Art and Heritage Project. Additionally, hundreds of local Aboriginal community members, such as local Aboriginal school groups, Elders, rangers and sometimes recently deceased site managers or owners (in the local Aboriginal sense) participated in some projects but were not named in publications because of a combination of factors including appropriate local protocols. They come from right across Arnhem Land and other parts of the Territory’s ‘Top End’. Moreover, three Aboriginal individuals from New South Wales undertook research and co-authored or significantly contributed to publications (Wayne Brennan, Sue McPherson and Toni Wickey). Local Indigenous woman and Parks Australia employee Mary Blyth was more active than anyone, working with rock art over a period of 31 years, from 1984 to 2014. She knew and interacted with all of the major non-Aboriginal players who worked on Kakadu National Park rock art since the park’s declaration on 5 April 1979.

Table 11.2: Aboriginal people in Arnhem Land rock art research.

Name	Language & Country	Primarily with	Period
Jimmy (Fabian) Ah Toy	Kundjeyhmi, Djuwarr (Deaf Adder Gorge)	I. Haskovec, H. Sullivan & P. Taçon	1985–1986
Mick Alderson	Mayali, Jim Jim Creek	G. Chaloupka, E. Nelson, C. Chippindale & P. Taçon	1980s & 1990s
Larry Atkinson	Jawoyn	R. Gunn, R. Whear, L. Douglas	2008–2012
Thomas Balmana	Kunwinjku	G. Chaloupka	1970s
Peter Balmanidbal	Kundjeyhmi, Mirarr country	G. Chaloupka	1960s and 1970s
Balumba (Old Sam)	Anindilyakwa, Wuramara local group, Bikerton Island	D. Turner	1969
Sandy Barraway	Jawoyn, Southern Kakadu Stage 3	P. Taçon, R. Gunn	1980s & 1990s
Big Bill Birriyabirriya	Kuninjku, Lower Liverpool River	M. Garde & P. Taçon	2003–2004
Mary Blyth	Iwaidja, Murganella	Parks Australia	1984–2014
Peter Bolgay	Jawoyn	R. Gunn	2000s–2010s
Queenie Brennan	Dalabon	I. Haskovec & H. Sullivan	1985
Wayne Brennan	Gamilaraay, Gamilaraay country (NSW)	P. Taçon & S. May	2008–present
Nipper Brown	Jawoyn, Southern Kakadu Stage 3	R. Gunn, P. Taçon	1980s
Jacky Bunkarniyal	Dangbon/Rembarrnga/Kune, Cadell River	E. Brandl, S. Novotny	1970s
David Canari (Nadulwinj)	Kundjeyhmi, Djuwarr (Deaf Adder Gorge)	P. Taçon, C. Chippindale	1980s & 1990s
Victor Cooper	Minitja, north Kakadu	Parks Australia, S. May, own tourism business	1993–present
Djimongurr (Old Nym)	Kundjeyhmi, Warddjak clan country	A. Stewart	1963–1965
Hector Djorlom	Mawng, Born country	G. Chaloupka	1960s & 1970s
Ivan Milliken Donborr	Burarra, East of Maningrida	M. Garde, P. Taçon	1993 & 1994
Sarah Flora	Jawoyn	R. Gunn	2010s
Frank Ganangu	Kunwinjku	G. Chaloupka	1970s
Toby Gangale	Kundjeyhmi, Mirarr country	P. Taçon	1970s & 1980s
Douglas Hunter (Namara Bunja)	Kundjeyhmi, Bolmo Dedjrungi country, upper East Alligator River	S. May, P. Taçon, J. Goldhahn, I. Johnston, J. Hayward	2012–2014
Jenny Hunter (Ngaljalkarrdi)	Kundjeyhmi, Bolmo Dedjrungi country, upper East Alligator River	Parks Australia, S. May, tourism business	1990s–present
Injalak Arts artists	Kunwinjku and various other	Themselves, S. May, P. Taçon and others	1980s–present
Peter Jatbula	Jawoyn, Greater Katherine Gorge & southern Kakadu Stage 3	G. Chaloupka, R. Gunn, P. Taçon, C. Chippindale	1980s & 1990s
Jawoyn Association Aboriginal Corporation’s Jawoyn Rock Art and Heritage Project (lots of individuals)	Jawoyn	R. Gunn, R. Whear, L. Douglas	2005–2012
Kanaula (also Kanowla)	Oenpelli	A.J. Dyer, C. Mountford	1930s, 1940s
Nipper Kapirigi	Kundjeyhmi, Djuwarr (Deaf Adder Gorge)	G. Chaloupka, P. Taçon	1970s–1987
Margaret Katherine	Jawoyn, Birndalak area of the upper Mann River	B. David, R. Gunn, J. Geneste, J. Delannoy, D. James	2000s–2018
Mick Kubarkku	Kuninjku, Lower Mann River	M. Garde, P. Taçon	1990s
Kumbiala	Anindilyakwa, Groote Eylandt	F. McCarthy	1948
Lamderod (Lamjorrotj)	Jawoyn	A.P. Elkin, N.W.G. Macintosh	Early 1950s
Lazarus Lamilami	Mawng, Namunidjbuk	A. Poignant, G. Chaloupka	Late 1920s, 1952, 1970s
Leonard Lamilami	Mawng, Namunidjbuk	P. Taçon, S. May, D. Wesley	2000s–present
Lloyd Lamilami	Mawng, Namunidjbuk	P. Taçon	2018
Patrick Lamilami	Mawng, Namunidjbuk	P. Taçon, S. May, D. Wesley	2000s–present
Ronald Lamilami	Mawng, Namunidjbuk	P. Taçon, S. May, D. Wesley, G. Chaloupka	2000s–present
Jeffrey Lee	Kundjeyhmi, Nourlangie/Burrungkuy (Djok country)	Parks Australia, G. O’Loughlin, S. May, P. Taçon, J. Goldhahn	1990s–present
Robert Lee	Jawoyn	R. Gunn, P. Taçon	Late 1980s – early 1990s
McGuiness McGee	Kundjeyhmi	P. Taçon	1981 & 1985
Peter McLevitt (Anamak)	Kundjeyhmi, Deaf Adder Gorge	P. Taçon, C. Chippindale	1995
Sue McPherson	Wirradjuri, Wagga Wagga, NSW but mother from Arnhem Land	P. Taçon	1991
Peter Manabaru	Jawoyn	C. Smith, G. Jackson	1992
Wally Mandarrg	Dangbon/Rembarrnga/Kune, Cadell River	E. Brandl, G. Chaloupka	1970s
Kenneth Mangiru	Kunwinjku, Tin Camp Creek	T. Wilkinson, P. Taçon, E. Nelson, S. May	1990s–present
Moses Mangiru	Kunwinjku, Tin Camp Creek	P. Taçon, E. Nelson, C. Chippindale	1990s
Josie Maralngurra	Kundjeyhmi, Warddjak clan country	S. May. J. Goldhahn, P. Taçon	2018–2019
Yvonne Margarula	Kundjeyhmi, Mirarr	S. May	1990s–present
John Mawurndjul	Kuninjku, Lower Mann River	M. Garde, P. Taçon	1993 & 1994
Jimmy Midjaw Midjawu	Kunwinjku, Minjalang, Croker Island	G. Chaloupka	1970s, early 1980s
Kadeem May	Larrakia, Darwin	Parks Australia, G. O’Loughlin, S. May, P. Taçon, M. Marshall, J. Huntley, L. Jacobs	2015–present
Colin Moore	Mayali	P. Taçon, C. Chippindale	1992–1995
Charlie Mungulda	Amurdak, Awunbarna	M. Davidson, S. Hoeng, P. Taçon, A. Parker, D. Roberts, G. Chaloupka, S. May	1990s–present
Mandy (Marrgam) Muir	Mayali, Jim Jim Creek	S. Sullivan, I. Haskovec, own tourism business	Late 1980s – early 1990s, 2015–present
Dick Nadjalorro	Kuninjku, Lower Mann River	M. Garde, P. Taçon	1993–1994
Natasha (Mungumurru) Nadji	Gagudju, Bunidj country	P. Taçon, N. Hall, tourism business	2013–present
Lofty Bardayal Nadjmerrek	Kundedjnjenghmi, Upper Mann and Liverpool rivers	G. Chaloupka, P. Cooke, M. Garde, R. Gunn, P. Taçon	1990s–2009
Djawida Nadjongorle	Kunwinjku, Kudjekbinj & Djalbangurr areas	G. Chaloupka	1980s
Fred Nagawali	Kunwinjku, Rol clan	I. Dargas, I. Haskovec, H. Sullivan	1980s
Najombolmi	Kundjeyhmi, Deaf Adder Gorge	A. Stewart	1963–1965
Frank Nalowerd	Kunwinjku, greater Nabarlek area	G. Chaloupka	1970s
Paddy Compass Namadbara	Iwaidja, Croker Island	G. Chaloupka	Late 1960s & early 1970s
Namuluda	Amurdak & Iwaidja Awunbarna	A. Poignant	1920s & 1950s
Jacky Namandali	Kundedjnjenghmi/Kundjeyhmi	I. Haskovec, H. Sullivan	1980s
Namandkragg (Butcher Knight)	Mayali, Jim Jim Creek	G. Chaloupka, P. Taçon	1980s
Elijah Namarabundja	Kundjeyhmi	G. Chaloupka	1970s
Paul Namarinjmak	Kuninjku, Lower Mann River	M. Garde, P. Taçon	1993 & 1994
Kalarriya (Jimmy) Namarnyilk	Kundedjnjenghmi, Upper Cadell River	M. Garde, P. Cooke, S. May, P. Taçon	1990s–2012
George Namingum	Kundjeyhmi, Deaf Adder Gorge	G. Chaloupka, P. Taçon	1970s & 1980s
Don Namundja	Kunwinjku, Mankorlod	P. Taçon, E. Nelson, D. Wesley	1992 & 2000s
Wilfred Nawirridj	Kunwinjku, Mirarr	S. May, P. Taçon	1990s–2013
Alfred Nayinggul	Kunwinjku/Urningangk, Manilakarr country	T. Jones, T. Wilkinson, N. Hall, M. Marshall, S. May, D. Wesley	2000s–present
Anita Nayinggul	Kunwinjku/Urningangk, Manilakarr country	T. Jones	2013–2017
Connie Nayinggul	Kunwinjku/Urningangk, Manilakarr country	T. Jones, T. Wilkinson, N. Hall, S. May, M. Marshall, D. Wesley	2000s–present
Jacob Nayinggul	Kunwinjku/Urningangk, Manilakarr country	G. Chaloupka, P. Taçon, S. May, D. Wright, D. Wesley, T. Jones	Late 1970s–2012
Katie Nayinggul	Kunwinjku/Urningangk, Manilakarr country	T. Jones	2013–2017
Manbiyarra (Grant) Nayinggul	Kunwinjku/Urningangk, Manilakarr country	T. Jones, T. Wilkinson, N. Hall, D. Wesley	2000s–present
Samuel Nayinggul	Kunwinjku/Urningangk, Manilakarr country	T. Jones	2013–2017
Big Bill Neidjie	Gagudju, Bunidj country	G. Chaloupka, P. Taçon, D. Gillespie	1980s–2002
Bobby Barrdjaray Nganjmira	Kunwinjku, Malworn (residence)	G. Chaloupka, P. Taçon	1980s–1992
Thompson (Thommo) Nganjmira	Kunwinjku, Gunbalanya	Injalak Arts, tourism	1990s–present
Ken Ngindjalakku	Kuninjku, Lower Mann River	M. Garde, P. Taçon	1993 & 1994
Dick Nguleingulei Murrumurru	Dangbon & Kunwinjku, Liverpool River	G. Chaloupka	1980s
Njanjma Rangers not listed individually	Mostly Kunwinku	T. Jones, N. Hall, D. Wesley, T. Wilkinson	2015–present
Catherine Ralph (Gundjulk)	Kundjeyhmi	Parks Australia, Warddeken Land Management rock art group, Jenny Hunter	2018–present
Sybil Ranch	Jawoyn	R. Gunn	2010s
Norman Ross (Namandjalawokwok)	Kundjeyhmi, Warddjak country	P. Taçon	1985–1986
Peter Rotumah	Amurdak, Awunbarna	A. Parker, D. Roberts	Early 2000s
Peter Sullivan	Mayali/Jawoyn, upper East Alligator River, upper Katherine River (Wunkomku clan)	Parks Australia, P. Taçon, C. Chippindale	1985–1992
Ben Tyler	Mayali	Parks Australia, S. May, P. Taçon	2012–2014
Warddeken Land Management rock art group (many individuals)	Bininj Kunwok, Warddeken Indigenous Protected Area	P. Cooke, G. Vallance, M. Garde, K. McKenzie	2007–present
Jenny Wellings	Mayali	Parks Australia, S. May	2017–present
Toni Wickey	Wiradjuri Wiradjuri country (NSW)	P. Taçon, M. Garde, E. Nelson	1994
Wilirra	Kunwinjku	Mountford, G. Chaloupka	1948, 1970s
Julie Williams	Jawoyn	R. Gunn	2010s
Lilly Willika	Jawoyn	C. Smith, G. Jackson	Early 1990s
George, Winungoyd (Winungoid)	Mawng, Namunidjbuk	A. Poignant, G. Chaloupka	1952, 1970s
Phyllis Wiynjorroc	Jawoyn	C. Smith, G. Jackson, R. Gunn	1990s
Galijawa Wuramarba	Anindilyakwa, Bikerton Island	D. Turner	1969
Yantarrnga family	Anindilyakwa, Yantarrnga (Central Hill) to cast, Groote Eylandt	A. Clarke, U. Frederick	1995 & 1996
Dolly Yarnmalu	Gagudju, Bunidj country	G. Chaloupka, P. Taçon	Late 1970s – mid-1980s
Kennedy Yiddunu	Kuninjku, Lower Mann River	M. Garde, P. Taçon, E. Nelson	1994
Thompson Yulidjirri	Kunwinjku	P. Taçon, S. May	1990s
Total = 104+
Kalinowa	No info	G. Chaloupka (see 1993:249)	No info
Kulanjinga	No info	G. Chaloupka (see 1993:249)	No info
Madjandi	No info	G. Chaloupka (see 1993:249)	No info
Namilg	No info	G. Chaloupka (see 1993:249)	No info
Yorawadj	No info	G. Chaloupka (see 1993:249)	No info
Marlangura family	No info	G. Chaloupka (see 1993:249)	No info
Wagbara family	No info	G. Chaloupka (see 1993:249)	No info
Grand total = 114 +

Source: Author’s summary.

Arnhem Land rock art research and management phases, 1803 to the present

After tens of thousands of years of Aboriginal occupation of Arnhem Land’s rock-shelters, as well as rock art production, curation, inspiration, contemplation and renewal, outsiders began to take an interest. This began in 1803 with an initial phase of non-Indigenous encounter with rock art, followed by focused research. Seven main research themes that developed over time can be identified. However, they are not so much discrete time periods but instead signal changes in the topics of rock art research of interest, with each new theme continuing aspects of previous ones but with added elements, concerns and orientations:

• Theme 1: Initial non-Aboriginal discovery and brief reporting, early 1800s to 1950s
• Theme 2: Survey, recording and archaeological approaches, 1940s onward
• Theme 3: Tourism, since the 1950s
• Theme 4: Chronological frameworks, 1950s to present
• Theme 5: Ethnography of rock art, primarily 1960s to present
• Theme 6: Conservation and management, 1980s to present
• Theme 7: Scientific dating, 1980s to present
• Theme 8: Digital recording, laser scanning, 2008 to present

In what follows, the focus is on the history of the first three themes. Although not formally identified as such, Themes 4–8 have been extensively discussed by others (see Introduction above and Discussion below).

Theme 1: Initial non-Aboriginal discovery and brief reporting, early 1800s to 1950s

Matthew Flinders (1814:188–189) was the first to report on Arnhem Land rock art, finding rock art on Chasm Island on Wednesday 12 January 1803:

In the steep sides of the chasms were deep holes or caverns, undermining the cliffs; upon the walls of which I found rude drawings, made with charcoal and something like red paint upon the white ground of the rock. These drawings represented porpoises, turtle, kangaroos, and a human hand; and Mr. Westall, who went afterwards to see them, found the representation of a kangaroo, with a file of thirty-two persons following after it.

Artist William Westall, who accompanied Flinders on his voyage, made watercolour reproductions of some of the imagery (see Clarke and Frederick 2008:156; Findley 1998:39; Flinders 1814:189).

Ludwig Leichhardt (1846:3) was the first to remark on the rock art and other art forms of the deep interior of Arnhem Land, specifically some from the Alligator Rivers region after observing it in December 1845:

We saw the foot of an emu cut very carefully and accurately into the bark of a tree, and other fanciful forms which we could not understand: A turtle was depicted very accurately on a rock with red ochre, and a fish in caves, in which the natives were accustomed to paint themselves for corrobories. It is extremely interesting to compare these efforts of the Australian natives with those of more advanced nations, and we are involuntarily induced to suppose meanings which we know as belonging to the latter. These imitations of the human body were, however, too near and too easy, and could be as well the produce of play and accident as conventional design.

Thus, since 1846, theories of ‘art for art’s sake’ and ‘art and ritual’ were being explored to explain the meaning of the art and from the outset there was a warning of not reading one’s own cultural experience into Aboriginal rock art.

John Lewis (1922:132) encountered rock art east of the East Alligator River in what is probably the Mount Borradaile area while searching for missing explorers Pemain and Borradaile in 1874:

Near to the Head of the Alligator were numbers of old castle-like rocks, some with native paintings on them, and many parcels and packets of bones we found in the melaleuca bark; also stones wrapped in some sort of tartan cloth and blue serge. Where these came from I could not find out.

In 1891, explorer Harry Stockdale reported the discovery of 40 ‘caves’ with paintings in the Alligator Rivers region over the course of about 100 miles. The sites were located during an overland journey to Port Essington (see Stockdale 1891). Some of Stockdale’s descriptions were published by Worsnop (1895, 1897):

These drawings and hieroglyphs are very remarkable indeed, being made in some cases on the roof and in others on the sides of caves. They consist of animals, birds, reptiles, men, women, canoes with men in them, &c., and a great many of the drawings of the men exhibit all the features of the face, several being (apparently) Europeans …

There were quite 200 different drawings, though sometimes one cave would have seen quite seven or eight different representations more or less mixed together. (Worsnop 1897:38; see also Stockdale 1891 and Edwards 1979:38–39)

In 1894, Charles Dashwood visited the Alligator Rivers region and described rock art near where the McKinley Expedition camped for three weeks on the western side of the East Alligator River in 1866:

Under an immense slab of sandstone, which was resting on other slabs, affording good shelter for man and beast, an aboriginal gallery of pictures was seen – alligators, kangaroo, fish, wallabies, birds, and human figures were drawn with coloured chalks. (Dashwood 1895:8)

The rock art Dashwood saw may be the main gallery of what is now known as the Ubirr complex. To the south, at a locality called ‘Three Pools’, is a shelter with paintings of men on horseback, considered to be a depiction of McKinley and part of his group (Chaloupka 1979).

Also, in 1894, Knut Dahl made note of rock art near the Katherine River:

One day when approaching the storekeeper’s place I came across some large rocks in the forest. On the face of these rocks I found a good many ochre drawings executed by the natives. There were clumsy drawings of men and kangaroos, the usual stencilled pictures of hands, etc. I found, also, however, some contour drawings of fishes very well done, so well, indeed, that I could easily recognise the common squirting fish (Toxotes jaculator), which was very often captured by the blacks. Perhaps the reason for the faithfulness of these drawings was that the fish’s outline had been traced on the rock. (Dahl 1926:251)

Paddy Cahill may have been the first non-Aboriginal person to see the rock art near his settlement of Oenpelli, from his arrival in the early 1900s (Mulvaney 2004:3–4) onward, and may have investigated some sites on seasonal visits to the Alligator Rivers region since the 1880s (Edwards 1979:38). He showed Baldwin Spencer many Aboriginal bark paintings and took him to rock-shelters with art near Oenpelli when Spencer (1914, 1928) visited him in 1912:

Up on the hill sides, among the rocks, wherever there is an overhanging shelter where the native can screen himself from the sun and rain, these drawings are certain to be found in the country of the Kakadu.

The colours used are red, white, black and yellow. They represent the animals with which the natives come in contact, and also their ideas in regard to the nature of certain mythical and mischievous spirits. So far as the animals are concerned, it is interesting to notice that the drawings are always more or less anatomical, that is, they represent not only the external form, but, to a certain extent, the internal structure. The backbone is almost always represented, as are the heart and main features of the alimentary canal. (Spencer 1914:432–433)

Spencer (1914:439), clearly impressed with what he saw, stated ‘the bark and rock drawings of Kakadu, Gembio, and Umoriu tribes represent, I think, the highest artistic level amongst Australian aboriginals with the possible exception of the Melville and Bathurst Islanders’. Thus, comparisons with the art of other peoples also began early.

It is not known exactly which rock art sites Spencer was taken to. Elsie Masson, one of the first women to travel to remote areas outside Darwin and to visit Oenpelli (Lydon 2018), arrived in 1913. She was the first to publish a photograph of the main gallery of Injalak Hill, in 1915, taken by Dr Mervyn Holmes (Masson 1915:opposite page 108). Both visited Oenpelli in 1913 (see Cahill’s letter to Spencer, dated 9 October 2013 in Mulvaney 2004:85). She also described the discovery of another site while travelling from the East Alligator River to Oenpelli on foot:

We climbed up a cleft between two rocks through a tangle of creeper, crawled on our hands and knees up a dark tunnel, with little bats softly hitting our faces, and emerged on a sunny platform, surrounded by great rocks and smelling sweetly of spinifex. The underside of one of these was covered with crude images in red, yellow, and white clay. It seemed a native picture gallery we had discovered. For the most part the paintings seemed to be of birds and fishes, but here and there was an unmistakable alligator or a human form; and scattered amongst them all was an imprint of a human hand. We longed for someone learned in black lore to tell us if the paintings were old, or lately made. The place, so silent, remote, and smelling sweetly, gave the impression that it had been a sacred spot for long ages, and that not one man but the artists of many generations had come there alone to spend sunny hours, lying on their backs below the rock and daubing it with their coloured clays. (Masson 1915:107–108)

Masson remarked that the location of the rock art she discovered had a sense of spirituality about it and that she was very interested in the age of the rock art. A few years later buffalo shooter Carl Warburton (1934:92) reported entering a ‘cave’ and finding rock art near Cannon Hill (now in Kakadu National Park) in 1919:

In the flickering light of the torch our eyes suddenly alighted upon a group of aboriginal paintings along one side. They held us in amazement. Exceptionally lifelike reproductions of kangaroos, turtles, crocodiles, emus, nude lubras with well developed breasts, and hands, had been painted with red, yellow and white ochre. We tested the paint but it gave no sign of smearing.

There were also drawings and carvings. I had no idea that aboriginal art could reach such a high level.

The earliest recorded statement about the significance of some Arnhem Land rock art by an Aboriginal person was made by Namuluda (Figure 11.1) in the late 1920s as told by Lazarus Lamilami who was with him at the time. They travelled from Goulburn Island to Oenpelli to the south of the Wellington Range with four other men (Lamilami 1974:121). On the return trip they camped ‘at the top of Angarlban Creek, where there are many caves’ (1974:124) and saw some rock paintings including some high up on rock-shelter walls:

I hadn’t seen paintings like that before and I wondered how they could be so high up. Then Namuluda told us, ‘these paintings are done by mimi. Mimi can make these at the top of the caves to come down very close to paint. Then when they are finished they say some magic words or blow some wind and the paintings go up to the normal place. That’s how it’s done’. These mimi are good spirits that our people told us about. Still we wondered if it was true or not. (Lamilami 1974:124–125)

Figure 11.1: Namuluda, Goulburn Island in 1925.

Source: Photograph by Herbert Read in Paul S.C. Taçon collection.

Later, in 1952, Namuluda, Lazarus Lamilami and George Winungoyd visited a site with photographer Axel Poignant and Namuluda pointed out a painting made by his cousin (Poignant 1995:4).

Also, in the late 1920s/early 1930s, a man named Kanowla related the following to missionary Alfred J. Dyer who established the Oenpelli Mission in 1925:

If a native misses a fish with his spear he later returns to the cave and draws in careful detail the lines in the x-ray drawing of the fish as a warning that he had better aim straighter next time, or ask the spirit to help him, by biting harder the kidney fat bag. (Dyer 1934:36ii)

Dyer was the first to use the term ‘x-ray’ in relation to Arnhem Land rock art (Taçon 1989:30) and also remarked on an ‘x-ray woman; drawn with all the internal organs’ he saw in a shelter near Oenpelli (Dyer 1934:36ii). He first saw rock art at ‘Oenpelli Hill’ (Injalak) in 1915 and ‘took a sketch of a debbil debbil drawing and knelt in prayer’ (Dyer 1962:9).

Tindale (1925–26:117–119) briefly mentioned some of the rock art of Groote Eylandt in his treatise on the Aboriginal people of Groote. He also published on some of the rock art of Oenpelli (Tindale 1928), briefly describing some paintings and hand stencils in three rock-shelters in 1928. Two photographs of paintings of fish were included. From these we know he was at the main gallery of Injalak Hill and others nearby. He made note of depictions of the internal anatomy of painted creatures. Also in 1928, Herbert Basedow recorded rock art with Donald MacKay near the Liverpool River (Basedow 1928a, 1928b; Garde and Kohen-Raimondo 2004; MacKay 1929). Basedow (1928b:9) was particularly impressed with the quality of the rock paintings, stating ‘The drawings in the Liverpool River district are particularly good and displayed no mean degree of artistic taste and talent’.

He also published a photograph of one of the galleries showing numerous paintings with the caption ‘A native art gallery, Liverpool River. Among the designs are a crocodile, fish, and a human figure’. Garde and Kohen-Raimondo (2004) found his photographs important for comparison with recent photographs, as new paintings made after Basedow and MacKay’s visit could be seen. These showed that traditional designs and subject matter continued to be made after contact with outsiders in recent centuries. Basedow (1928b:9) stated that:

The local tribes are very proud of their works of art, and never missed a chance of conducting our party to any of their art galleries which happened to be located in the districts we traversed. Our interest in and admiration of the work were greatly appreciated.

In early 1939, Rev. Theodor Webb found a number of rock-shelters with burials and rock paintings in the Wessel Islands of north-east Arnhem Land. Later, in 1939, Charles Barrett visited the sites with Webb and made a photographic record. Some of these were later published, including what he interpreted as rock paintings of the crew of a Japanese lugger (Barrett 1943:opp. 72). In one cave were paintings of two large serpents ‘with the head surrounded by a rainbow; one snake having a forked tail: the missionary’s guide, a Wessel Islander, declared that this was a water-snake which lived in a nearby lagoon’ (Barrett 1943:70).

Bill Harney was an acting patrol officer and protector of ‘Aborigines’ for the Northern Territory Government from 1940 to 1947. He also was an adviser for the 1948 American–Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land. During this period, he visited many rock art sites, some of which he described in detail (Harney 1957:115–118). In his 1957 book opposite page 17, there is a photograph of him with four adult Aboriginal males and an Aboriginal boy sitting in front of the main gallery of Ubirr, discovered during the expedition and now one of Kakadu National Park’s main rock art areas for tourists to visit (opened in 1979; see Commonwealth of Australia 1999:133).

Theme 2: Survey, recording and archaeological approaches, 1940s to present

Following on from Tindale (1925–26), Rose (1942) was one of the first to describe some Groote Eylandt rock paintings in an extensive publication. However, methodical detailed recording began with Frederick McCarthy and Charles Mountford in 1948 as part of the aforementioned American–Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land (see May 2009 and Thomas and Neale 2011). As David, Taçon, Gunn et al. (2017:2) note, this ‘expedition to Arnhem Land put the art and archaeology of the region on the world map’. McCarthy and Mountford made extensive records of the Injalak Hill and other Oenpelli paintings, as well as elsewhere in Arnhem Land (see Mountford 1956). On Groote and Chasm Islands ‘McCarthy recorded some 2400 rock art motifs at three key complexes: Chasm Island, Angoroko and Junduruna’ (Clarke and Frederick 2011:135; and see McCarthy 1955, 1960). Clarke and Frederick (2011:135–136) contend:

This body of work still constitutes the most detailed recording of Groote Eylandt rock art published to date. The rock art recordings enabled McCarthy to provide descriptions of the motifs and to propose a schema of stylistic changes in the art over time. His application of a systematic field methodology to record the art and his subsequent interpretations mark a definitive period in the development of rock art research in Australia.

This important movement in Arnhem Land rock art recording is explored in Chapter 2 of this volume. Not much rock art–related activity took place in the 1950s or most of the 1960s other than some analysis by Arndt (1962a, 1962b, 1966). Things picked up in 1969 and the 1970s with the work of Brandl, Chaloupka, Jelinek and the 1969 Czech Expedition to Arnhem Land. Afterwards, ‘the recording and analysis of rock art flourished through the 1980s to the present’ (David, Taçon, Gunn et al. 2017:3).

Theme 3: Tourism, since the 1950s

It can be argued that Arnhem Land rock art tourism began with Paddy Cahill in the early 1900s at Oenpelli, with visitors sometimes taken to Injalak and nearby galleries. ‘It was the show place for visitors’ (Dyer 1962:95). Besides some of those mentioned above (such as Masson and Holmes in 1913), there were other visitors who photographed rock paintings but did not publish them. For instance, in a 1922 photo album now in the possession of the Northern Territory Library, Roy Maxwell Edwards, then 16, included two such photographs taken during a visit to Paddy Cahill’s station that year (Figure 11.2). Rev. Dyer was taken to the Injalak galleries when he first visited Paddy Cahill in 1915, and later he took mission visitors to Injalak (Dyer 1962:95). However, official rock art tours in greater Arnhem Land began in the 1950s, after tourist pressure increased from the mid-1940s, as Ronald and Catherine Berndt (1970:203) have documented:

Renewed interest in Aboriginal culture from a research and recording point of view coincides with increased government and commercial enthusiasm for its tourist potential. Mission stations throughout Arnhem Land have been under pressure since the middle 1940s to admit tourists, but now it is stronger and on a much bigger scale. So many unheralded visitors without official permits to enter have been crossing into the reserve by the dry-season road that Oenpelli mission has agreed to regularize the situation by sponsoring guided tours of local cave paintings.

Figure 11.2: One of the earliest ‘tourist’ photos of Arnhem Land rock art, 1922, Oenpelli area.

Source: Photograph by Roy Maxwell, reproduced here with permission of Northern Territory Library (PH0274-0069).

The rock art of Oenpelli was brought to the attention of international tourists in a profound way with the 1954 UNESCO publication of Australia: Aboriginal paintings – Arnhem Land by The New York Graphic Society, as part of the UNESCO World Art Series. This oversize book is beautifully illustrated. After an introduction by Herbert Read and an essay by Charles Mountford that includes a large black-and-white photograph of Aboriginal men in front of the main gallery of Ubirr, there are 15 colour plates of rock art photographed at Ubirr and Injalak (Oenpelli) galleries and a further 17 colour plates of bark paintings. The photograph on page 10 has some of the same Aboriginal people, including the boy, that are with Bill Harney in the photograph he published in 1957 mentioned above, although they are naked in this one and have cloth around their waists in Harney’s photo. The photographs were taken in an Australian Government–sponsored expedition in October–November 1949, by W. Brindle (UNESCO 1954:16).

Allan Stewart and Fred Hunter are thought to have been the first to bring tourists to Anbangbang Gallery, Nourlangie in the 1960s, in what is now Kakadu National Park. This included a visit by David Attenborough for the TV series Quest under Capricorn in 1963 (Attenborough 1963; Stewart 1969a:53). Later that year, Hunter noted the existence of what later came to be called ‘Dynamic Figures’ (one of the styles referred to as ‘Mimi’ paintings elsewhere) higher up Nourlangie rock (Stewart 1969a:54). In March 1969, Allan Stewart advocated not only the promotion of Arnhem Land rock art but also its protection, as well as predicting many more galleries would be found, in a full-page article in The Northern Territory News:

As the encroaching roads snake into remote Arnhem Land from the west, and south-west, to gouge out the mineral wealth of the Territory, ‘the world’s richest mine’, more and more galleries of paintings will be found – galleries that should be respected and protected from the hoodlum elements, who desecrate, evidence of which I have seen left by ill-disciplined and undiscerning visitors to the area.

Rich in animal life, anthropological antiquities, and scenic beauty, we are lucky to have such an area to preserve for Australian and overseas visitors to see – which I predict will rival Yellowstone and Kruger one day.

It is time that the Australian Tourist Commission and our own Territory Tourist Board in their promotion, realised what an asset, provided rigid control is enforced – that this area can be to the Territory and Australia. (Stewart 1969b:8)

Stewart worked closely with rock painters Nayombolmi and Djimongurr, also known as Old Nym (May et al. 2019; Stewart 1969a; see also Figure 11.3). Rock art tourism has grown ever since, especially after Kakadu National Park was established in 1979. In that year the Nourlangie and Ubirr galleries were officially opened to the public for general visitation, both non-escorted and escorted by rangers or tour operators (Commonwealth of Australia 1999:133). Nourlangie’s Anbangbang Main Gallery, for instance, receives tens of thousands of visitors each year (May et al. 2019:1), and Nourlangie and Ubirr continue to be the most visited rock art complexes in western Arnhem Land. Galleries in Nitmiluk, at the southern end of Arnhem Land, have also become popular with tourists.

Figure 11.3: Allan Stewart with Djimongurr (Old Nym) and ‘Roy’ at Nanguluwurr, Kakadu National Park, 1959.

Source: Photograph by Ern McQuillian 1959.

Nanguluwurr (Hayward et al. 2021; Jelinek 1977) also opened for general visitation in 1979, while those undertaking bushwalks encounter a wide range of sites not advertised. Some sites in the Hawk Dreaming area north of Ubirr were also available for tourist visitation for about 10 years until 2018. Across the East Alligator River, Injalak Hill sites remain very popular, and various tourism businesses also take people to some of the Red Lily area sites on the way. Since the late 1990s, rock art sites of the Mount Borradaile area have also become very popular, with this area accessible for paid tours between April and October each year.

Discussion and conclusions

Interest and research on Arnhem Land rock art by non-Aboriginal people has a lengthy history spanning well over 200 years, but with most studies and reporting undertaken during the past century. A consistent theme that runs through the early discoveries is how impressive and stunning the rock art was for those encountering it.

During much of the past 70 years, Arnhem Land rock art research has been a highly collaborative venture between local Aboriginal people associated with the rock art and a wide range of non-Aboriginal people from across Australia and a dozen other countries. Over 200 people have contributed to Arnhem Land rock art research in significant ways, more than half being Aboriginal Australians. Between a quarter and a third of non-Aboriginal people who contributed to the reporting and study of Arnhem Land rock art are female, whether from Australia or overseas, and about a fifth of Aboriginal participants are female. Thus, Arnhem Land rock art research has long been a multicultural, multilingual and multidisciplinary pursuit with a wide range of individuals with different forms of knowledge, experience, status as Traditional Owners (e.g. site owners, site managers) and expertise.

Besides those individuals listed in Tables 11.1 and 11.2, many other people have contributed to our understanding of Arnhem Land rock art in very significant ways. For example, Luke Taylor’s analysis of related bark paintings detailed in numerous publications (e.g. 2016 and see references therein) has added significant insights into recent rock art, especially x-ray paintings. Numerous journalists have promoted the rock art of Arnhem Land, beginning with author Colin Simpson when he was with the ABC and attached to the 1948 National Geographic expedition to Arnhem Land. This experience led to an exploration of Aboriginal anthropology and rock art features in his first book, Adam in ochre: Inside Aboriginal Australia (Simpson 1951; see especially pages 17–26 and photo opposite page 66). Injalak Arts in Gunbalanya has long promoted western Arnhem Land rock art to the broader public, and for many years has run tours of the Injalak rock art galleries with local Aboriginal community members as guides. In the 1980s and 1990s, the then Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (now Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies) (Canberra), the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (Darwin) and the Northern Land Council (Darwin) were major sponsors of Arnhem Land rock art research. Filmmakers, such as Kim McKenzie, also promoted Arnhem Land rock art, as did museum curators responsible for displays in the Australian Museum (Sydney) and the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (Darwin).

The major turning point in the study of the rock art of Arnhem Land was the American–Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land in 1948. With the work of McCarthy (1960) and Mountford (1956), and promotion of the rock art by Harney (1957), Simpson (1951) and UNESCO (1954), word rapidly spread across the world about the importance and impressiveness of Arnhem Land’s rock art. All of this helped heighten international interest, leading to the Czech Expedition to Arnhem Land in 1969 and rock art research by Brandl (e.g. 1968, 1973, 1980; working with Traditional Owners Wally Mandarrg and Jacky Bunkarniyal), Jelinek (1976, 1977, 1978a, 1978b, 1989), Novotny (1975) and others. This set the stage for Chaloupka’s (Figure 11.4) passionate pursuit of Arnhem Land rock art and his extensive research with Aboriginal collaborators, especially Nipper Kapirigi (Figure 11.5) and George Namingum.

George Chaloupka first encountered western Arnhem Land rock art in 1958:

when, in the heartland of the region’s rock art at the East Alligator River, I entered a rock shelter whose wall and ceiling were ablaze with multicoloured layers of painted images. Some were identifiable as representing the natural species that inhabited the riverine environment, others were of human figures and some, as I was to learn later, were beings from the Dreaming. In the stillness of the day I stood spellbound by their magic, captivated by their unique form and the brilliance of their execution. (Chaloupka 1993:8)

After visiting many sites in the 1960s and early 1970s, Chaloupka joined the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in 1973 to pursue the study of rock art full-time, with a particular focus on western Arnhem Land. Chaloupka (e.g. 1984, 1993) was the first to move beyond the simple Mimi–x-ray dichotomy of Arnhem Land rock art chronology that began with Mountford (1956) and was later subdivided and expanded by Brandl (1973). In this sense, Chaloupka’s research can be considered the second major step forward in the study of Kakadu–Arnhem Land rock art, although Lewis (1988) provided an alternative perspective and many others have elaborated chronologies since (Theme 4). Chaloupka worked most closely with brothers Nipper Kapirigi and George Namingum. They were his closest friends and mentors (Chaloupka 1993:249), but he also worked with over 30 other Traditional Owners from across the breadth of western Arnhem Land (see Chaloupka 1993:249 and Table 2), as he was very interested in the ethnography of rock art (Theme 5; see also Turner 1973 for Bickerton Island and Groote Eylandt in eastern Arnhem Land).

Figure 11.4: George Chaloupka in the field in 1988.

Source: Photograph by Paul S.C. Taçon.

Figure 11.5: Nipper Kapirigi and David Canari at Yuwenjgayay, Kakadu National Park in 1986.

Source: Photograph by Paul S.C. Taçon.

Figure 11.6: Sally K. May (far left) with Josie Maralngurra (fourth from the left) and PhD candidate Emily Miller (far right) and others at Nanguluwur, Kakadu in 2019.

Source: Photograph by Paul S.C. Taçon.

Since 1981, this author has worked with over 40 Traditional Owners for collaborative rock art research, while other researchers have also worked closely with dozens of Aboriginal colleagues over several decades. The friendships and collaborations, all of them formed with Traditional Owners, have contributed most of what can be considered the ethnography of Arnhem Land rock art, and these collaborations continue today throughout broader Arnhem Land (Brady et al. 2020; and see Figure 11.6).

Taçon’s collaborative research with Traditional Owners, which began with PhD research in 1985–1989 (Taçon 1989), expanded to joint research in the 1990s with Christopher Chippindale (e.g. Chippindale and Taçon 1993, 1998; Taçon and Chippindale 1994; Taçon et al. 2004; Figure 11.7) and has continued since with numerous people of varied disciplinary backgrounds, especially Murray Garde, Sally K. May, Erle Nelson and Daryl Wesley, leading to numerous publications and new methods (e.g. the first use of Harris Matrices for rock art anywhere – Chippindale and Taçon 1993). Chaloupka published his landmark book Journey in time in 1993 and undertook much fieldwork. The 1990s also saw some pioneering rock art dating by Erle Nelson with Chaloupka, Chippindale and Taçon (Theme 7, e.g. see Nelson 2000; Nelson et al. 1995; Taçon et al. 2004), built on earlier experimental work by Alan Watchman (e.g. 1987). This combined research and the resulting publications can be considered the third major step forward in terms of advancing knowledge about Arnhem Land rock art. Robert (ben) Gunn also contributed to this third advancement with much field research and many reports and publications since the late 1980s (e.g. Gunn 1992; Gunn et al. 2012; and see extensive list in Gunn 2016).

Figure 11.7: From left to right, Christopher Chippindale, Sue McPherson, Paul S.C. Taçon and Peter Sullivan recording rock paintings at the key sequence site of Kungurrul in Kakadu National Park, 1991 (see Chippindale and Taçon 1993).

Source: Photograph by Paul S.C. Taçon.

In recent years, PhD students Géraldine Castets (2016), Samuel Dix (2021), Robert Gunn (2016), John Hayward (2016), Iain Johnston (2018), Tristan Jones (2017; and Jones et al. 2016 for recent dating), Melissa Marshall (2020) and Daryl Wesley (2014) have continued to make advancements. Melissa Marshall (2020 and various reports and papers listed therein; Marshall and Taçon 2014), in particular, has contributed much to Arnhem Land rock art conservation and management (Theme 6), something begun with the establishment of Kakadu National Park in 1979 (Gillespie 1983). Géraldine Castets’s (2016) PhD thesis, in French, has not yet been published in English, but includes very detailed analysis of the chemistry of excavated pigments from Nawarla Gabarnmang (Jawoyn Country, central Arnhem Land Plateau), and how these relate to on-rock paintings. Two Masters theses have also resulted from data analysis (Berry 2011; Hammond 2016; see also Hammond 2019).

A fourth major advancement is now occurring with the rise of the digital era (Theme 8), with digital applications for survey and recording (e.g. iPad and android-based recording systems, photogrammetry, 3D laser scanning, drones and so forth), as well as interpretation (DStretch, pXRF, etc.) and conservation/management (employing all of the above as well as multifunctional digital data management systems) (see Jalandoni et al. 2018; Jalandoni and May 2020 and May, Huntley et al. 2020 for examples). Even machine learning is being developed to identify features suitable for distinguishing styles of rock art (Kowlessar et al. 2021).

A very important aspect of Arnhem Land rock art research over the past 200 years is the active participation and, at times, direction by Aboriginal Traditional Owners, Custodians and other community members. Well over 100 Aboriginal individuals and several organisations were identified as having worked closely with at least 107 non-Aboriginal researchers. These are the major players in the history of Arnhem Land rock art research, although, undoubtedly, others who have not yet been named played various roles. It is worth mentioning in this regard that on at least a number of publications, recently deceased Elders and younger Traditional Owners were mentioned without being named, following appropriate local Aboriginal protocols.

But despite the vast amount of research on the rock art of the Arnhem Land region by over 200 people, of varied backgrounds, and over half of whom are Aboriginal, hundreds of previously recorded rock art sites are found each year and there is much more survey, recording, dating, interpretation and conservation research to be done. Indeed, it will be interesting to see what is achieved over the next 70, 100 or 200 years, the state of the rock art and the new methods and technologies employed. The study of greater Arnhem Land’s rock art is a continuing story full of adventure, discovery, friendship and the generous sharing of Aboriginal imagery and knowledge with the global community.

References

Arndt, W. 1962a. The Nargorkun-Narlinji cult. Oceania 32(4):298–320. doi.org/10.1002/j.1834-4461.1962.tb01784.x.

Arndt, W. 1962b. The interpretation of Delamere lightning paintings and rock engravings. Oceania 32(3):163–177. doi.org/10.1002/j.1834-4461.1962.tb01759.x.

Arndt, W. 1966. Seventy year old records and new information on the Nargorkun-Narlinji cult. Oceania 36(3):231–239. doi.org/10.1002/j.1834-4461.1966.tb00288.x.

Attenborough, D. 1963. Quest under Capricorn. Lutterworth Press, London.

Australian Heritage Commission 1990. Australia’s rock art. Australian Heritage Commission Bibliography Series. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.

Barrett, C. 1943. Art in Arnhem Land. In C. Barrett and R.H. Croll (eds), Art of the Australian Aboriginal, pp. 67–75. The Bread and Cheese Club, Melbourne.

Basedow, H. 1928a. Diary of the Mackay exploring expedition in Arnhem Land. Mitchell Library: ML MSS 161 Item 5 and CY Reel 892, frames 78–161. Sydney.

Basedow, H. 1928b. Through unknown Arnhem Land – work of the Mackay exploring expedition: Art and customs of the native tribes. An account of the Mackay exploring expedition, The Brisbane Courier, 5 September:9.

Berndt, R.M. and C.H. Berndt 1970. Man, land & myth in north Australia. The Gunwinggu people. Ure Smith, Sydney.

Berry, M. 2011. Dissecting yams: ‘Yam’ Figures in the rock art of Kakadu. Unpublished Master of Liberal Arts thesis, The Australian National University, Canberra.

Brady, L., S.K. May, J. Goldhahn, P.S.C. Taçon and P. Lamilami 2020. What painting? Encountering and interpreting the archaeological record in western Arnhem Land, northern Australia. Archaeology in Oceania 55(2):106–117. doi.org/10.1002/arco.5208.

Brandl, E.J. 1968. Aboriginal rock designs in beeswax and description of cave painting sites in Western Arnhem Land. Archaeology and Physical Anthropology in Oceania 3(1):19–29.

Brandl, E.J. 1973. Australian Aboriginal paintings in western and central Arnhem Land, temporal sequences and elements of style in Cadell River and Deaf Adder Creek art. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra.

Brandl, E.J. 1980. Some notes on faunal identification and Arnhem Land rock paintings. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies Newsletter, New Series No. 14:6–13.

Castets, G. 2016. Apports de l’analyse des matières colorantes et colorées dans l’étude intégrée d’un site orné: Application au site de Nawarla Gabarnmang (Terre d’Arnhem, Territoire du Nord – Australie). Unpublished PhD thesis, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble.

Chaloupka, G. 1979. Pack bells on the rock face: Aboriginal paintings of European contact in north-western Arnhem Land. Aboriginal History 3(2):92–95.

Chaloupka, G. 1984. From Palaeoart to casual paintings. Monograph Series 1. Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences, Darwin.

Chaloupka. G. 1993. Journey in time: The world’s longest continuing art tradition: The 50.000-year story of the Australian Aboriginal rock art of Arnhem Land. Reed, Chatswood.

Chippindale, C. and P.S.C. Taçon 1993. Two old painted panels from Kakadu: Variation and sequence in Arnhem Land rock art. In J. Steinbring, A. Watchman, P. Faulstich and P.S.C. Taçon (eds), Time and space: Dating and spatial considerations in rock art research, pp. 32–56. Occasional AURA Publication No. 8. Archaeological Publications, Melbourne.

Chippindale, C. and P.S.C. Taçon 1998. The many ways of dating Arnhem Land rock-art, north Australia. In C. Chippindale and P.S.C. Taçon (eds), The archaeology of rock-art, pp. 90–111. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Clarke, A. and U. Frederick 2008. The mark of marvelous ideas: Groote Eylandt rock art and the performance of cross-cultural relations. In P. Veth, P. Sutton and M. Neale (eds), Strangers on the shore. Early coastal contacts in Australia, pp. 148–164. National Museum of Australia, Canberra.

Clarke, A. and U. Frederick 2011. Making a sea change: Rock art, archaeology and the enduring legacy of Frederick McCarthy’s research on Groote Eylandt. In M. Thomas and M. Neale (eds), Exploring the legacy of the 1948 Arnhem Land expedition, pp. 135–155. ANU Press, Canberra. doi.org/10.22459/ELALE.06.2011.07.

Clarkson, C., Z. Jacobs, B. Marwick, R. Fullagar, L. Wallis, M. Smith, R.G. Roberts, E. Hayes, K. Lowe, X. Carah, S.A. Florin, J. McNeil, D. Cox, L.J. Arnold, Q. Hua, J. Huntley, H.E.A. Brand, T. Manne, A. Fairbairn, J. Shulmeister, L. Lyle, M. Salinas, M. Page, K. Connell, G. Park, K. Norman, T. Murphy and C. Pardoe 2017. Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago. Nature 547:306–310. doi.org/10.1038/nature22968.

Commonwealth of Australia 1999. Australia’s Kakadu: Protecting world heritage. Environment Australia, Canberra.

Dahl, K. 1926. In savage Australia. An account of a hunting and collecting expedition to Arnhem Land and Dampier Land. Phillip Allan and Co., London.

Dashwood, C.J. 1895. The government resident’s trip to the Alligator Rivers. In C.J. Dashwood (ed.), The government resident’s report on the Northern Territory for the year 1894. South Australia Parliamentary Papers 2(24):8.

David, B., J.-M. Geneste, R. Whear, J.-J. Delannoy, M. Katherine, R.G. Gunn, C. Clarkson, H. Plisson, P. Lee, F. Petchey, C. Rowe, B. Barker, L. Lamb, W. Miller, S. Hoerle, D. James, E. Boche, K. Aplin, I. McNiven, T. Richards, A. Fairburn and J. Matthews 2011. Nawarla Gabarnmang, a 45,180+/-910 cal BP site in Jawoyn country, southwest Arnhem Land plateau. Australian Archaeology 73:73–77. doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2011.11961928.

David, B., B. Barker, F. Petchey, J.-J. Delannoy, J.-M. Geneste, C. Rowe, M. Eccleston, L. Lamb and R. Whear 2013. A 28,000 year old excavated painted rock from Nawarla Gabarnmang, northern Australia. Journal of Archaeological Science 40:2493–2501. doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.08.015.

David, B., P.S.C. Taçon, J.-M. Geneste and J.-J. Delannoy (eds) 2017. The archaeology of rock art in western Arnhem Land. Terra Australis 47. ANU Press, Canberra. doi.org/10.22459/TA47.11.2017.

David, B., P.S.C. Taçon, R. Gunn, J.-J. Delannoy and J.-M. Geneste 2017. The archaeology of western Arnhem Land’s rock art. In B. David, P.S.C. Taçon, J.-M. Geneste and J.-J. Delannoy (eds), The archaeology of rock art in western Arnhem Land, pp. 1–17. Terra Australis 47. ANU Press, Canberra. doi.org/10.22459/TA47.11.2017.01.

Dix, S. 2021. Understanding contact, hybridity, conservatism, and innovation in archaeological superimposition of rock art. Djulirri, Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. Unpublished PhD thesis, Griffith University, Gold Coast.

Dyer, A.J. 1934. The story of A.J. Dyer: Experiences in Arnhem Land 1915 to 1934. Typescript manuscript lodged at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra.

Dyer, A.J. 1962. Typescript manuscript 18 NTRS 693/P1. Northern Territory Archive Service, Darwin.

Edwards, R. 1979. Australian Aboriginal art: The art of the Alligator Rivers region, Northern Territory. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra.

Findlay, E. 1998. Arcadian quest: William Westall’s Australian sketches. National Library of Australia, Canberra.

Flinders, M. 1814. A voyage to Terra Australis, Volume 2. G & W Nicol, London.

Garde, M. and A. Kohen-Raimondo 2004. Putting Herbert Basedow back in focus: The 1928 expedition to Arnhem Land. Australian Aboriginal Studies 2004(1):26–36.

Gillespie, D. (ed.) 1983. The rock art sites of Kakadu National Park – Some preliminary research findings for their conservation and management. Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service and Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.

Gunn, R.G. 1992. Bulajang – A reappraisal of the archaeology of an Aboriginal cult. In J. MacDonald and I.P. Haskovec (eds), State of the art, pp. 174–194. Occasional AURA Publication No. 6. Australian Rock Art Research Association, Melbourne.

Gunn, R.G. 2016. Art of the ancestors: Spatial and temporal patterning in the rock art of Nawarla Gabarnmang, a major Jawoyn cultural site on the Arnhem Land plateau. Unpublished PhD thesis, Monash University, Melbourne.

Gunn, R.G., R.L. Whear and L.C. Douglas 2012. Dating the present at Nawarla Gabarnmang: Time and function in the art of a major Jawoyn rock art and occupation site in western Arnhem Land. Australian Archaeology 75:55–65. doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2012.11681950.

Hammond, J.W. 2016. Yam culture in Arnhem Land: An analysis of cultural life related to Dioscorea yams from the ‘Yam Figure’ rock paintings to the present day. Unpublished Master of Arts thesis, University of New England, Armidale.

Hammond, J.W. 2019. The spatial distribution of unique motifs featuring Dioscorea bulbifera, the round yam, in western Arnhem Land rock art. Australian Archaeology 85(2):215–219. doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2019.1686237.

Haritos, H. 2006. Does management matter? A case study of two rock art sites Balauru and Djuwarr 1 in the Deaf Adder sites complex. Unpublished BA Honours thesis, Charles Darwin University, Darwin.

Harney, W.E. 1957. Life among the Aborigines. Robert Hale Ltd., London.

Haskovec, I.P. 1992. Mt Gilruth revisited. Archaeology in Oceania 27(2):61–74. doi.org/10.1002/j.1834-4453.1992.tb00285.x.

Hayward, J. A. 2016. Reading the signs: Depictions of people and things in the rock art of Mirarr Country, Northern Territory, Australia. Unpublished PhD thesis, The Australian National University, Canberra.

Hayward, J., S.K. May, J. Goldhahn, A. Jalandoni and P.S.C. Taçon 2021. A spatial analysis of motif clusters at Nanguluwurr rock art site, Kakadu National Park, N.T. Australia. Journal of Field Archaeology 46(6):414–428. doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2021.1926698.

Jalandoni, A. and S.K. May 2020. How 3D models (photogrammetry) of rock art can improve recording veracity: A case study from Kakadu National Park, Australia. Australian Archaeology 86(2):137–146. doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2020.1769005.

Jalandoni, A., I. Domingo Sanz and P.S.C. Taçon 2018. Testing the value of low-cost Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry for metric and visual analysis of rock art. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 17:605–616. doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.12.020.

Jelinek, J. 1976. The social meaning of north Australian rock paintings. Anthropologie 14:83–87.

Jelinek, J. 1977. Nangalore: A gallery of rock paintings in Western Arnhem Land. Anthropologie 15:3-26.

Jelinek, J. 1978a. Mimi or the archaic art of Arnhem Land. Archaeology and Physical Anthropology in Oceania 13:229–233.

Jelinek, J. 1978b. Obiri – A rock art gallery in Arnhem Land. Anthropologie 16:35–65.

Jelinek, J. 1989. The great art of the early Australians: The study of the evolution and role of rock art in the society of Australian hunters and gatherers. Moravian Museum-Anthropos Institute, Brno.

Johnston, I. 2018. The Dynamic Figure art of Jabiluka: A study of ritual in early Australian rock art. Unpublished PhD thesis, The Australian National University, Canberra.

Jones, T. 2017. Disentangling the styles, sequences and antiquity of the early rock art of western Arnhem Land. Unpublished PhD thesis, The Australian National University, Canberra.

Jones, T., V.A. Levchenko, P.L. King, U. Troitzsch, D. Wesley, A. Williams and A. Nayingull 2016. Radiocarbon age con­straints for a Pleistocene–Holocene transition rockart style: The Northern Running Figures of the East Alligator River region, western Arnhem Land, Australia. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 11:80–89. doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.11.016.

Jones, T., D. Wesley, S.K. May, I.G. Johnston, C. McFadden and P.S.C. Taçon 2020. Rethinking the age and unity of large naturalistic animal forms in early western Arnhem Land rock art, Australia. Australian Archaeology 86(3):238–252. doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2020.1826080.

Kowlessar, J., J. Keal, D. Wesley, I. Moffat, D. Lawrence, A. Weson, A. Nayinggul and Mimal Land Management Aboriginal Corporation 2021. Reconstructing rock art chronology with transfer learning: A case study from Arnhem Land, Australia. Australian Archaeology 87(2):115–126. doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2021.1895481.

Lamilami, L. 1974. Lamilami speaks. Ure Smith, Sydney.

Layton, R. 1992. Australian rock art: A new synthesis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Leichhardt, L. 1846. Dr Leichardt’s lectures (Lecture II). Delivered at School of Arts, on Tuesday, August 25. The Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 27 August 1846.

Lewis, D. 1988. The rock paintings of Arnhem Land, Australia: social, ecological and material culture change in the post-glacial period. British Archaeological Reports, International Series 415. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.

Lewis, J. 1922. Fought and won. W.K. Thomas and Co., Adelaide.

Lydon, J. 2018. Hidden women of history: Elsie Masson, photographer, writer, intrepid traveller. The Conversation, 31 December 2018.

McCarthy, F.D. 1955. Notes on the cave paintings of Groote and Chasm Islands in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Mankind 5(2):69–75. doi.org/10.1111/j.1835-9310.1955.tb01422.x.

McCarthy, F. D. 1960. The cave paintings of Groote Eylandt and Chasm Island. In C.P. Mountford (ed.), Records of the American–Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land. Volume 2: Anthropology and nutrition, pp. 297–414. Melbourne University Press, Carlton.

Mackay, D. 1929. An expedition in Arnhem Land. Geographical Journal 74:568–71. doi.org/10.2307/1785164.

Marshall. M. 2020. Rock art conservation and management: 21st Century perspectives from northern Australia. Unpublished PhD thesis, The Australian National University, Canberra.

Marshall, M. and P.S.C. Taçon 2014. Past and present, traditional and scientific: The conservation and management of rock art sites in Australia. In T. Darvill and A.P.B. Fernandes (eds), Open-air rock art conservation and management: State of the art and future perspectives, pp. 214–228. Routledge, London.

Marymor, L. 2018. Australian rock art bibliography extracted from the rock art studies bibliographic database for the years 1841 to 2018 – Part 1. Rock Art Research 35(2):188–248.

Marymor, L. 2019. Australian rock art bibliography extracted from the rock art studies bibliographic database for the years 1841 to 2018 – Part 2. Rock Art Research 36(1):49–93.

Masson, E.R. 1915. An untamed territory: The Northern Territory of Australia. MacMillan, London.

May, S.K. 2009. Collecting cultures: Myth, politics, and collaboration in the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition. AltaMira Press, Lanham.

May, S.K. and P.S.C. Taçon 2014. Kakadu National Park: Rock art. In C. Smith (ed.), Encyclopedia of global archaeology, pp. 4235–4240. Springer, New York. doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_2241.

May, S.K., P.S.C. Taçon, D. Wesley and M. Travers 2010. Painting history: Indigenous observations and depictions of the ‘other’ in northwestern Arnhem Land, Australia. Australian Archaeology 71:57–65. doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2010.11689384.

May, S.K., P.S.C. Taçon, D. Wright and M. Marshall 2015. The rock art of Kakadu: Past, present and future research, conservation and management. In S. Winderlich (ed.), Kakadu National Park symposia series. Symposium 6: Walk the talk: Cultural heritage management in Kakadu National Park, 19–20 May 2011, Jabiru Youth Centre, pp. 36–44. Internal Report 625. Supervising Scientists, Australian Government, Darwin.

May, S.K., J. Maralngurra, I.G. Johnston, J. Golhahn, G. Lee, G. O’Loughlin, K. May, C. Nabobbob, M. Garde and P.S.C. Taçon 2019. ‘This is my father’s painting’: A first-hand account of the creation of the most famous rock art in Kakadu National Park. Rock Art Research 36(2):199–213.

May, S.K., J. Huntley, M. Marshall, E. Miller, J. Hayward, A. Jalandoni, J. Goldhahn, I. Johnston, J. Lee, G. O’Loughlin, K. May, I. Domingo Sanzand P.S.C. Taçon 2020. New insights into the rock art of Anbangbang Gallery, Kakadu National Park. Journal of Field Archaeology 45(2):120–134. doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2019.1698883.

May, S.K., L. Taylor, C. Frieman, P.S.C. Taçon, D. Wesley, T. Jones, J. Goldhahn and C. Mungulda 2020. Survival, social cohesion and rock art: The Painted Hands of western Arnhem Land, Australia. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 30(3):491–510. doi.org/10.1017/S0959774320000104.

Mountford, Charles P. 1956. Records of the American–Australian expedition to Arnhem Land. Volume 1: Art, myth and symbolism. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.

Mulvaney, J. 2004. Paddy Cahill of Oenpelli. Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra.

Nelson, D.E. (ed.) 2000. The beeswax art of northern Australia. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby.

Nelson, D.E., G. Chaloupka, C. Chippindale, M.S. Alderson and J.R. Southon 1995. Radiocarbon dates for beeswax figures in the prehistoric rock art of northern Australia. Archaeometry 37:151–156. doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4754.1995.tb00733.x.

Novotny, S. 1975. Rock paintings of the Gumardir River, Arnhem Land, Australia. Annals of the Naprstek Museum 8:63–110.

Poignant, R. 1995. Lost conversations, recovered archives. Occasional Paper No. 49. Northern Territory Government, Darwin Available at: dtc.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/241904/occpaper49_ej10.pdf (accessed 30 October 2019; site discontinued).

Rose, F. 1942. Paintings of the Groote Eylandt Aborigines. Oceania 13:170–176. doi.org/10.1002/j.1834-4461.1942.tb00376.x.

Simpson, C. 1951. Adam in ochre: Inside Aboriginal Australia. Angus and Robertson, Sydney.

Spencer, W.B. 1914. The native tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia. Macmillan, London.

Spencer, W.B. 1928. Wanderings in wild Australia. Macmillan, London. doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.144674.

Stewart, A. 1969a. Green eyes are buffalo. Lansdowne Press, Melbourne.

Stewart, A. 1969b. Rahs and runes of Aboriginals’ art in Top End. The Northern Territory News, 7 March 1969:8.

Stockdale, H. 1891. Letter to T. Worsnop. South Australia Archives: 790 and 791.

Taçon, P.S.C. 1989. From Rainbow Snakes to ‘x-ray’ fish: the nature of the recent rock painting tradition of western Arnhem Land, Australia. Unpublished PhD thesis, The Australian National University, Canberra.

Taçon, P.S.C. 2001. Australia. In D. Whitley (ed.), Handbook of rock art research, pp. 530–375. AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek.

Taçon, P.S.C. 2019. Connecting to the Ancestors: Why rock art is important for Indigenous Australians and their well-being. Rock Art Research 36(1):5–14.

Taçon, P.S.C. and S. Brockwell 1995. Arnhem Land prehistory in landscape, stone and paint. Antiquity 69(259):676–695. doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00082272.

Taçon, P.S.C. and C. Chippindale 1994. Australia’s ancient warriors: Changing depictions of fighting in the rock art of Arnhem Land, N.T. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 4:211–248. doi.org/10.1017/S0959774300001086.

Taçon, P.S.C. and C. Chippindale 2008. Changing places: Ten thousand years of north Australian rock-art transformation. In D. Papagianni, H. Maschner and R. Layton (eds), Time and change: Archaeological and anthropological perspectives on the long-term in hunter-gatherer societies, pp. 73–94. Oxbow Books, Oxford.

Taçon, P.S.C., E. Nelson, C. Chippindale and G. Chaloupka 2004. The beeswax rock art of the Northern Territory: Direct dating results and a ‘book of record’. Rock Art Research 21(2):155–160.

Taçon, P.S.C., M. Langley, S.K. May, R. Lamilami, W. Brennan and D. Guse 2010. Ancient bird stencils discovered in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. Antiquity 84(324):416–427. doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00066679.

Taçon, P.S.C., S.K. May, S.J. Fallon, M. Travers, D. Wesley and R Lamilami 2010. A minimum age for early depictions of Southeast Asian praus in the rock art of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. Australian Archaeology 71:1–10. doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2010.11689379.

Taçon, P.S.C., S.K. May, R. Lamilami, F. McKeague, I. Johnston, J. Jalandoni, D. Wesley, I. Domingo, L. Brady, D. Wright and J. Goldhahn 2020. Maliwawa Figures – A previously undescribed Arnhem Land rock art style. Australian Archaeology 86(3):208–225. doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2020.1818361.

Taylor, L. 2016. Recent art history in rock country. In L. Brady and P.S.C. Taçon (eds), Relating to rock art in the contemporary world: Navigating symbolism, meaning and significance, pp. 245–274. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.

Thomas, M. and M. Neale (eds) 2011. Exploring the legacy of the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition. ANU Press, Canberra. doi.org/10.22459/ELALE.06.2011.

Tindale, N.B. 1925–26. Natives of Groote Eylandt and of the West Coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, Parts 1 and 2. Records of the South Australian Museum 111:61–134.

Tindale, N.B. 1928. Native rock shelters at Oenpelli, Van Diemen Gulf, North Australia. South Australian Naturalist 9(2):35–36.

Turner, D.H. 1973. The rock art of Bickerton Island in comparative perspective. Oceania 43(4):286–325. doi.org/10.1002/j.1834-4461.1973.tb01225.x.

UNESCO (ed.) 1954. Australia: Aboriginal paintings – Arnhem Land. The New York Graphic Society, Milan.

Warburton, C. 1934. Buffaloes: Life and adventure in Arnhem Land. Angus and Robertson Ltd., Sydney.

Watchman, A.L. 1987. Preliminary determinations of the age and composition on mineral salts on rock art surfaces in the Kakadu National Park. In W.R. Ambrose and J.M.J. Mummery (eds), Archaeometry: Further Australasian studies, pp. 36-42. The Australian National University, Canberra.

Wesley, D. 2014. Bayini, Macassans, Balanda, and Bininj: Defining the Indigenous past of Arnhem Land through culture contact. Unpublished PhD thesis, The Australian National University, Canberra.

Worsnop, T. 1895. The prehistoric arts of the Aboriginal Australians. Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science Reports 6:135–148.

Worsnop, T. 1897. The prehistoric arts, manufacturers, works, weapons, etc. of the Aborigines of Australia. C.E. Bristow, Government Printer, Adelaide.