Aboriginal Cultural Sites Map 3–6 (Interactive) Text Type: Written, Interactive, Online, Multimodal

CRACKERJACK EDUCATION — TEACHING WITH AUNTY Year 6

Knowledge area: Art Styles

TEACHING NOTES Aboriginal Cultural Sites Map 3–6 (Interactive) Text type: written, interactive, online, multimodal

VISUAL STIMULUS FOCUS

The Aboriginal Cultural Sites Map 3–6 is an interactive that uses photographs, music and animations to describe the creation and use of cultural sites. It is suitable for students in Years 3–6. It explains how these sites are vital not only to Aboriginal people, but for modern archaeologists to learn about Australia’s history.

PRIOR TO VIEWING

Introduce the Aboriginal Cultural Sites Map 3–6 interactive to students. Start the interactive on the website. To engage the students, ask them if they can think of any tools or items Aboriginal people might have used thousands of years ago to create rock art. What would they have made these items from? (Answer: Only natural materials were used. Examples include ochre for painting, and sharpened stone and wood to make engraving tools.)

Background • How did cultural sites occur? o The knowledge of culture and custodial responsibilities to the land, its spirits o Natural resource management and and the ancestors were passed on sustainable land management are not a through story-telling, rock paintings and new phenomenon. Aboriginal people ceremonial dances.1 developed an intimate relationship with the environment and ecosystems over o [ Even after the arrival of Europeans,] thousands of generations. Different cultural heritage places were created; places where the first contacts o The evidence of Aboriginal occupation between European and Aboriginal people in Australia is present throughout the occurred, massacre sites, missions, landscape in the form of Aboriginal protectorate stations …2 [There are cultural sites and in the personal, family also many places] where there may be and community histories of Aboriginal no physical evidence of past cultural people. activities. These include places of spiritual

Sor ceremonial significance, places where o Melo shell from north-east Queensland traditional plant or mineral resources occur, was traded all the way to South Australia or trade and travel routes. Information while Flinders Ranges ochre was carried as about such places is passed down from one far as central Queensland.7 generation to the next … The endurance of o Key centres of exchange enabled people Aboriginal society across the continent is of from other areas to trade goods, stories global significance and the cultural heritage and news, without having to travel the places and objects associated with that whole route. society are a significant part of the heritage of all Australians.3 • How were Aboriginal rock engravings made and where were they found? • What is a Sacred/Dreaming Site? o Carvings on rock are found in caves o Sacred sites are places within the landscape and rock shelters. The tools used were that have a special meaning or significance primitive chisels and hammers. Between under Aboriginal tradition. Hills, rocks, four and five hundred rock carvings can waterholes, trees, plains and other natural be found in the Hawkesbury region west features may be sacred sites. In coastal of Sydney, New South Wales, and in and sea areas, sacred sites may include similar numbers in the Burrup Peninsula, features which lie both above and below the Western Australia. water. Sometimes sacred sites are obvious, such as ochre deposits, rock art galleries, o Rock engravings are usually located on highly or spectacular natural features. In other elevated, smooth, flat surfaces, but in some instances sacred sites may be unremarkable instances, can be found on large vertical to an outside observer. They can range in rocks. They were made by drilling a series of size from a single stone or plant, to an entire holes in turn which were then connected to mountain range..4 form a line. In the local area, designs include fish, animals, humans, wooden artefacts, • Where were the trade routes across and mythological beings.8 Australia? o The precise meanings behind the o Trade routes across Australia were an engravings are not known. Interpretations important part of Aboriginal social, of what the engravings meant to their spiritual and economic life. Trade between makers are sketchy, but the most accepted neighbouring clans stimulated social understanding is that they are products of interaction with other tribes which led to sacred ceremonies, which were periodically 5 the sharing of stories and news. re-engraved as part of ongoing rituals … o Trade routes criss-crossed Australia with [As many of these ceremonies have been bartered goods that could only be obtained lost due to European settlement] They from specific geographical areas travelling are therefore eroding away from natural from one end of the country to the other. causes, human foot traffic, and the ever- Respect, knowledge of required laws and increasing use of remnant bushland.9 cultural protocols were all part of the o Engravings occur usually where there is a complex interactions involved in these suitable exposure of fairly flat, soft rock or 6 trade journeys. in rock overhangs. People, animal shapes and tracks are common as well as non- figurative designs such as circles.10

SHARED VIEWING

The Aboriginal Cultural Sites Map 3–6 features facts about 28 of Australia’s most famous Aboriginal cultural sites. Select a dot on the map to bring up images and information about that location.

1 2 26

28 24 25 3 4 20

19 5 23 18 10 6 17 9 22 8 7 16 21 11 15 12

Nº LOCATION DESCRIPTION 1 Quinkan Country It is famous for its rock art, wind-worn caves and rock shelters that provide ideal living places for Aboriginal people and ideal walls for their art.

2 Chillagoe Open to the public are rock shelters with rock art such as Balancing Rock.

3 Kenniff Cave The cave is extremely important to the prehistory of Australia because of its large range of artefacts. It has some of the finest rock art in Australia.

4 Carnarvon Ranges There are some 50 Aboriginal sites in Carnarvon Gorge. Most are art sites, some were used as camping shelters or burial sites.

5 Fraser Island Aboriginal people have been fishing and collecting shellfish on Fraser Island for more than a thousand years, and many of their middens can be seen along the east coast.

Nº LOCATION DESCRIPTION 6 Samford Bora These well-preserved bora rings on a small reserve are held Rings in trust by the University of Queensland. The Bora Rings were usually made up of two circles in highly decorated surroundings. The Bora Ring Corroboree was used for initiation ceremonies.

7 Rock Shelter, Balls Within the Berry Island Recreation Reserve are engravings, Head, Sydney axe grinding grooves, shell middens and rock shelters. North Shore There is also a deep, small rock pool with three axe grinding grooves around the edge.

8 Grinding Grooves, There are many axe grinding grooves beside shallow pools Kings Table, of water on the spur’s rocky top. Wentworth Falls

9 Terramungamine The site of the Terramungamine Rock Grooves was used by Grinding Grooves Aboriginal people for sharpening their tools and weapons. The grinding grooves are on an outcrop of rock that extends for about 100 metres along the bank of the Macquarie River. There are about 150 grinding grooves in this area.

10 Brewarrina Fish These fish traps are a complex arrangement of stone walls to Traps catch fish. Aboriginal fish traps can still be seen at low water in the Barwon River.

11 Namadgi National Colourful Aboriginal rock paintings are found in rock shelters Park in this national park. Yankee Hat and Rendezvous Creek are well worth a visit.

12 Mount William 8 km north-west of Lancefield. This site is where Axe Quarry Wurundjeri Aboriginal people made greenstone blade axeheads for thousands of years.

13 Shag Bay Shell There are more than 100 middens in this area and three Midden Sites rock shelters containing evidence of Aboriginal occupation.

14 Preminghana This is one of the most important Aboriginal art sites in (Mount Cameron Tasmania. Geometric motifs cover nearly every inch of West) rock. There are numerous deeply sculpted circles and other motifs.

Nº LOCATION DESCRIPTION 15 Black Range Sites Located south-west of Brimpaen. This cultural site contains significant rock shelters, rock art and axe quarries.

16 Murray River For thousands of years, many Aboriginal people have relied on the Murray River for resources. There are many scarred trees (canoes were crafted from River Red Gums). The banks of the river are rich with sites including rock art, shields and other artefacts.

17 Red Gorge, There are numerous well preserved rock engravings in this Copley gorge. Rock engravings were made by sharpened chisels and finely edged quartz and rock tools.

18 Yourambulla Art About 10 km south of Hawker. Yourambulla Caves Historic Sites Reserve has a walking trail that leads to the stairs at the base of three caves open to the public. Most motifs have been painted with black pigment rather than the more common ochre.

19 lnnamincka Stone There are large Aboriginal stone quarry sites around Quarry Site lnnamincka.

20 Uluru Situated nearly in the middle of Australia is the huge red rock known to the local Aboriginal traditional owners as Uluru. The Anangu have many Dreamtime stories and sacred places attached to the rock and its surrounds. 21 Wave Rock Wave Rock or Hyden Rock is one of Australia’s most famous landforms. It looks like a tall wave just about to break. Aboriginal rock paintings can be seen at nearby Bates Cave.

22 Wanneroo Two large scars are visible on an old but living Jarrah tree. Scarred Tree

23 Wilgie Mia Ochre 70 km north-west of Cue is the most extensive Aboriginal Mine, Cue ochre mine in Australia. The ochre mine was regarded with fear. When leaving the mine, Aboriginal people walked out backwards and swept away their footprints so that the evil spirit, Mondong, could not follow and kill them.

Nº LOCATION DESCRIPTION 24 Burrup Peninsula North of Karratha. Its Aboriginal name is Murujuga, meaning ‘hip bone sticking out’. It is an area renowned for its rock engravings.

25 Woodstock Woodstock figures are widely known. Some depict ancestral Engraving Sites beings or spirit figures, while others relate to sacred ceremonies and songs. They are located in an area that has the greatest concentration of rock art in the world.

26 Windjana Gorge 150 km north-west of Derby in a narrow canyon are National Park Aboriginal paintings in the renowned Wandjina style. 40,000-year-old stone tools have been excavated — used to create one of the most well known of Aboriginal Dreamtime art forms.

27 Ubirr, Kakadu 1 km north of Cahills Crossing at the northern end of National Park Kakadu National Park is Ubirr, an area of substantial sandstone rock. It has over 120 rock painting sites — in particular, X-ray art of fish, kangaroos and other animals. It also has a frieze of hunters, an example of animated figurative art.

28 Devils Marbles 97 km south of Tennant Creek are the Devils Marbles, a Conservation group of large, rounded egg-shaped rocks, and an important Reserve Aboriginal Dreaming place. The rocks are believed to have been eggs laid by the Rainbow Serpent in the Dreamtime.

AFTER VIEWING DISCUSSION

• Explain to the students why sacred places o Why do you think Aboriginal people are so important to Aboriginal people. carved images on rock instead of painting them? (Answers: Paint may not have been • Ask the students: available — ochre pits were only located o Have you ever visited a cultural site? in a few places across Australia. Carving What was it? was also a different form of expression, like sculpting is today. Rock carvings may o Why do you think it is important to also have been thought to last longer preserve any cultural sites? (Answers: than paint.) Scientists are able to gather much information about Australia’s history from o Explain to the students that there are these sites. So much has been destroyed, many different Aboriginal art styles. so it is important for future generations to be able to witness history.)

These include: X-ray Art The artists show the outside of the image as well as the internal organs and skeleton. This type of art was mainly found in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, where huge murals can be seen on rock walls.

Mimi Art These images are small matchstick figures of men, women and animals. These figures are very energetic, and are usually shown running or hunting. Stencilling Images of stencilled hands and feet can be found throughout Australia. An artist would take a mouthful of paint mixed with water, hold his hand flat against a rock wall then blow or spit the paint, covering the entire hand. When he took his hand away, his handprint outline was left behind.

Rock Carvings Carvings on rock are found in caves and rock shelters. The tools used were primitive chisels and hammers. Between four and five hundred rock carvings can be found in the Hawkesbury area alone. Tree Carvings

This type of art was found mainly in central and western New South Wales. Geometrical and line patterns were cut into the tree trunk and framed in an oval from which the bark had been stripped.

SUPPORTING WORKSHEETS

Worksheet 1: Cultural Sites — KWHL Chart A KWHL activity where students research a cultural site from the Aboriginal Cultural Sites Map 3–6 interactive.

Worksheet 2: Protecting Sacred Sites A writing activity where students write a letter explaining why a local sacred site should be protected.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Protocols: Aboriginal People and the Land http://www.crackerjackeducation.com.au/resources/aboriginal-and-tsi- protocols-aboriginal-people-and-the-land/

Learning Aboriginal Art Symbols 1 http://www.crackerjackeducation.com.au/resources/resource- documents-learning-aboriginal-art-symbols-1/

Information about Lake Mungo in the Willandra Lakes Region Office of Environment and Heritage, ‘Mungo National Park: Ancient Mungo Environments’ http://www.visitmungo.com.au/mungo-through-time Documents to assist researchers and educators in conducting ethical research with Indigenous Australians AIATSIS, ‘Guidelines for Ethical Research in Australian Indigenous Studies’ http://aiatsis.gov.au/research/ethical-research/guidelines-ethical-research-australian- indigenous-studies

Oxfam Australia, ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Protocols’ http://www.oxfam.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/2015-74-atsi-cultural-protocols- update_web.pdf

CURRICULUM

VISUAL ARTS Content description Elaboration

Explore ideas and practices used by artists, • exploring cross-media effects and characteristics of including practices of Aboriginal and Torres representation when making artworks inspired by Strait Islander artists, to represent different observation or imagination, for example, Aboriginal and views, beliefs and opinions (ACAVAM114) Torres Strait Islander art from the local community, graffiti art, graphic design, or manga art • Considering viewpoints – materials and technologies: What is the artwork made of? How does the choice of material enhance the audience’s understanding of the artist’s intention? What made you want to touch this sculpture?

Explain how visual arts conventions • explaining the artistic vision of artists from different communicate meaning by comparing artworks contexts, particularly referencing the meaning their from different social, cultural and historical artworks convey, for example, Aboriginal rock art, graffiti contexts, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait art, Egyptian art Islander artworks (ACAVAR117) • Considering viewpoints – meanings and interpretations: For example – What is this artwork about? What visual conventions have been used to convey meaning? How did the artist represent their subject matter? How does the artwork reflect the artist’s perspective about the environment? How did the audience react to the artwork when it was first displayed? • analysing how symbolic meaning or metaphor is constructed in their own artworks and artworks of others

KNOWLEDGE AREAS AND THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM

Visual Arts There are many different Aboriginal art styles. These include X-ray art, Mimi art, stencilling, rock carvings and tree carvings. Carvings were made on flat, soft rock; or in rock overhangs. People, animal shapes, tracks and non-figurative designs like circles were common.(ACAVAM114) The knowledge of culture and custodial responsibilities to the land, its spirits and the ancestors were passed on through story-telling, rock paintings and ceremonial dances. Artwork like hand stencil paintings are a record of people who lived on the land for thousands of years. (ACAVAR117)

REFERENCES

1. Hamilton: Heart of Victoria’s Western District. “Aboriginal Heritage”. Accessed May 1, 2017. http://www.hamiltonvictoria.com.au/Main.asp?_=Aboriginal%20Heritage 2. Aboriginal Victoria. “Aboriginal Cultural Heritage of Victoria”. Accessed May 1, 2017. http://www.vic.gov.au/aboriginalvictoria/heritage/aboriginal-cultural-heritage-of-victoria.html 3. Ibid. 4. Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority. “What is a Sacred Site?” Accessed May 1, 2017. http://www.aapant.org.au/%3Cfront%3E/what-sacred-site 5. Hamilton: Heart of Victoria’s Western District. “Aboriginal Heritage”. Accessed May 1, 2017. http://www.hamiltonvictoria.com.au/Main.asp?_=Aboriginal%20Heritage 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid. 8. Aboriginal Heritage Office. “Identifying Aboriginal Sites: Rock Engraving”. Accessed May 9, 2017. http://www.aboriginalheritage.org/sites/identification/ 9. Ibid. 10. Ibid.