Northern Territory: Rock Art

During my visit to Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory I felt very privileged to see some of the best rock art in Australia (and possibly the world). The art was always painted by men and was used to tell stories of hunting, love and old fables. Quite often a favoured site would be used again and again, new art painted over old. The age of the art varies from relatively recent (the last 100 years or so) to tens of thousands of years old.

Here is a selection of my favourite pieces:

Rainbow Serpent (who comes to the village to eat misbehaving children. This was enormous - over 6m long).

Fruit bat

A woman

A man

A popular site, the story of the twins is told regularly in this area.

There were some recent paintings too, guns and ships were popular.

White man smoking a pipe with his hands on his hips

Rock wallaby

 Aliens?!?! Or Chinamen....

Man hunting with boomerang

Dancing people

Guys with spiky hair and muscles in their arms

The connection with their land is very important, and the handprint is a way of communicating, marking territory and connecting with the land.

An emu on a nest of eggs

Each piece of art had a story, not all of them known today, but each one was fascinating to see. This part of Australia is very remote and can be difficult to reach, but it was well worth the trip - it was an incredible visit to a very special place.