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Records ot the Western Alhtralian \luseunJ 24: Aboriginal engravings in the southwest of Western Australia: analysis of the Kybra Site Natalie R. Franklin School of Social Science, University of Queensland Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia. E-mail: Natalie.Franklin(uepa.qld.go\.au Abstract - This paper presents an analvsis of Aboriginal rock engravings in the far southwestern corner of Western /\ustralia that wen' first dc'scribed bv Clarke in 1983, the Kvbra Site. Comprising engravings of predominantly animal tracks, particularly bird tracks, on flat tabular limestone pavements, the site appeared to extend the known range of a group of rock engravings known as the I'anaramitee. Engraving sites of this tradition are widely distributed across Australia, and the Panaramitee has been represented as homogeneous at a continental level. A multivariate investigation using correspondence analysis and cluster analvsis was undertaken comparing the Kybra Site with other engraving sites in \Vestern Australia and elsewhere. The aim was to determine whether the Kvbra Site showed similarities with other Panara mitee engraving si tes, and whethc'r an ex plana torv fra mework. known as the Discontinuous Dreaming Network Model. could account for anv similarities or differences identified. I found that the Western Australian sit~'s are more different to each other than thev are to other sites in eastern Australia, and reveal similarities with engravings in Cape York Peninsula, the Carpentaria region and central western Queensland. This finding fits well with the tenets of the Discontinuous Dreaming Network Model, which holds that the similarities between engraving sites across vast distances of Australia reflect the widespread links forged Dreaming tracks and suggested by the trade and other social networks that sometimes spanned the continent. INTRODUCTION Model suggested that the similarities between A major problem in the study of rock art around engraving sites across vast distances of Australia the world is the measurement and explanation of reflected the widespread links forged by Dreaming variation and similarities in paintings and tracks and suggested by the trade and other social engravings, sometimes over considerable distances. networks that sometimes spanned the continent. What is the significance of the variation detected, Dreaming tracks have been regarded as particularly and how does one compare different sites? significant in Aboriginal cosmology and land Multivariate analysis of different traits, particularly ownership (e.g. Chatwin, 1987; David, 2002; Elkin, motif types, affords the ability to compare disparate 1934; Cunn, 1997, 2003; Layton, 1992; Morphy, 1983; sites over vast distances. The significance of anv Moyle, 1983; Munn, I Spencer and Cillen, 1938; variability detected by multivariate analysis can Strehlow, 1978; Sutton, 1988,1990). Dreaming tracks .' . then be explored. reflect the activities of the Dreamtime ancestors Franklin (2004) proposed the Discontinuous during the creative era as they emerged from the Dreaming Network Model to explain the earth and travelled across the country along lengthy widespread similarities across the continent of a tracks or circled within more narrowlv defined group of rock engravings known as the regions. IJrearning tracks sometimes covered "Panaramitee le" (Maynard,l and was considerable distances across the continent supported by multivariate analysis (Franklin, Sutton, 1 frequen tly extending across grou p see below). Named after the in South bou nd a faci Iitati ng meeti ngs between loca I Australia, the Panaramitee stvle consists of groups and groups for and engravings of macropod and bird rituals associated with the nwth relevant to thc' footprints, ci crescents, track. The use of similar motifs across vast areas at and only a small proportion of rative sites related to particular IJreamings is well motifs other than tracks. This was claimed to documented I and suggested that be homogeneous at a continental level in terms of the shared understand of motif forms technique, form and motif proportions (f'vlaynard, a means for the rights and obligations 1979). The [)iscontinuous IJreaming Network of travellers along the tracks. The repetition of 66 N.R. Franklin ~Yeo L. L. Carey~ ~L. Minigwal • Kalgoorlie • 101 201 308 401•• Figure 1 Map of Western Australia showing engraving sites mentioned in the text, and the location of other major rock art sites and regions in the State (after Franklin 2004: Fig. 3:9). motifs between regions implied a shared found in the Panaramitee) in symbolic systems also knowledge that assured travellers of their right to helps to explain the persistence of the overall pattern move through the territory and which established of similarity between engraving sites identified in an affilial relationship between the owners and the the multivariate analyses over possibly a prolonged travellers. It is therefore not surprising that period of time based on available chronological Dreaming tracks also frequently correlated with the evidence (e.g. a minimum age of 13,000 years trade routes documented in recent times (Ross, obtained for buried engravings at the Early Man site 1997), suggesting that both formed a means for the in the Laura region, Rosenfeld, 1981a) and the interaction of people across the landscape, and for continued use of Panaramitee-type motifs in recent the diffusion of similar motifs across vast areas. Aboriginal artistic systems (e.g. Anderson and The use of nonfigurative motifs (such as those Dussart, 1988). The potential for nonfigurative motifs ----------- Engravings of the Kybra Site 67 \ \f/ \" , o---SOem • • Figure 2 [.Y;1,rll11." of the rock engravings at the Kybra Site, southwestern Australia (after polythene tracirlgs, Franklin, 2004: Fig. to have a range of different discontinuous meanings, rock art sites are relatively sparse in this part of ie., there may be a range of different meanings for a Australia (Dortch, 1976, 1980; Hallam, 1971, I single motif (Munn, 1966), it is possible that Merrilees et al., 1973; Morse, 1984; Serventy. the meanings of motifs might have changed over Webb and Cunn, 2004), and Kybra is one of the few time, while the morphology of the motifs might not. rock engraving sites currently known. There are This possibility is allowed for the extreme also few references to the forms of artistic simplicity of motifs in the Panaramitee. expression at the time of European contact in this In 1983, J. Clarke reported rock in the part of the continent (Caroline Bird, pers. comm.). far southwestern corner of vVestern Australia Even so, there appears to have been a substantial (Department of Indigenous Affairs, Site No. 51786; body of mythology (Berndt. 1973; rlallarn, 1972, Clarke, 1983; Figure 1), the Kybra site. Recorded 1974a,b, 1979), and ochre was traded into the 68 N.R. Franklin Table 1 Percentages of motifs at two of the Panaramitee tradition sites in Western Australia (after Franklin 2004: Table 3:3) Motifs Total No. 1 \ Site ~~ -Jtl /If I"TTTTl\ (@) .. - 0 r Kybra Site 21 47 0 11 4 12 3 0 1* 1 75 Edah 6 4 1 6 1 0 33 22 27 0 72 Table 2 Panaramitee sites included in the analyses, their abbreviations in Figures 4 and 5, and the source of the data. Unless otherwise stated, data are derived from tables of motif counts from each source. Site [Abbrev. [ Source/Form of Data South Australia Flinders Rangers FR Preiss (1962) Florina F Karolta 1 K1 Karolta 2 K2 Nobbs (1984) Mt. Victor MV Olllnina 0 Rockholes R Gale (pers. comm.) Rowes Dam RD Nobbs (1984) Salt Creek SC Gale (pers. comm.) Tattawuppa T Nobbs (1984) Wharton HilI WH Gale (pers. comm.) Winnininnie 1 Wil Winnininnie 2 Wi2 Nobbs (1984) Yunta Y Yunta Springs YS Western New South Wales Sturfs Meadows SM Clegg (pers. comm.) Northern Territory N'Dhala Gorge NG Forbes (pers. comm.) McArthur River MR Haglund (1975, pers. comm.) drawing of engraved panel from photographic montage Tasmania Greens Creek GC Stockton (1977) - tracings of engravings, checked during personal fieldwork Mt. Cameron West MCW McCarthy (1969) - tracings of engravings, list of motifs Sundown Point SP Gllnn (1981) - list of motifs, table of counts, sketch plan of site ----------- Engravings of the Kybra Site 69 Table 2 (cont.) Site of Data Queensland - Cape York Earlv Man EM Rosenfeld (1981b) - tracings of engraved panels Earlv Man Shelter C EMC Rosenfeld (1981b) l':arly Man Shelter 11 EMH Emu Dreaming ED Trezise unpublished scaled illustrations, Australian Institute of !\boriginal and Death Adder Callerv DA Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra - all recordings checked during ----"------------1-------- Laura River LR personal fieldwork Possum Gallerv PC C;reen Ant CA Flood (pers" comm.) Echidna Shelter ES Queensland - Mt. Isa region Browns Creek BC Personal fieldwork Carbine Creek CC Morwood (1985) Einasleigh E Ron Edwards (1967) UlcI lilts of engraved panel -------------- Frank Creek Fe Personal fieldwork Southeast Queensland Central Western Queensland Buckland Creek 1 BCl Bull Hole BH Dooloogarah 2 D2 Coat Rock 1 CRI Coat Rock 2 GR2 Morven M Native Well I NWI Morwood (1979) Native Well 2 NW2 Ochre Site 1 01 Paddv's Cave PC Plateau I PI Twelve Mile Crossing 12MC Weir 1 WI Western Australia Edah field work Kybra Site southwest possibly from as far afield as Wilgie Mia groups are attested in this resource-rich area west in the Murchison district (McCarthy, ] 939; Meagher of the limit of circumcision (Anderson, 1984; and Ride, ]979). Classes of cultural expression other Berndt, 1973; Tindale, 1974). than art must have been used Il1 boundary The engravings at the Kybra Site occurred on a maintenance, as a large number of Aboriginal series of flat tabular limestone pavements in a 70 N.R. Franklin cleared and fenced paddock on private land 3 km This paper re-examines the Kybra site in a from the Southern Ocean. They extended over an broader context. In particular, it provides a more area approximately 75 m north to south and 25 m detailed comparison of the site with Panaramitee east to west, and included about 25 limestone engravings from other sites across the continent blocks.