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ABORIGINAL PAINTINGS of DRYSDALE RIVER NATIONAL PARI{ rysdale River National Park is a remote wilderness area of rugged D natural bushland, well-watered by numerous creeks and the permanent waters of the Drysdale River, located in Western Australia's far north. It has no marked access roads, walking tracks, signage or facilities of any kind. Visitors must be entirely self-sufficient, and travel within the Park is limited to hiking and canoeing. Amongst its rocky cliffs, gorges and eroded quartzite blocks are numerous overhangs and shelters adorned with Aboriginal cave paintings produced over tens of thousands of years. This art includes some of the best preserved, most spectacular Aboriginal rock art to be found in Australia. The earliest paintings and rock markings, created during an Archaic Period, include depictions of the Tasmanian tiger and Tasmanian devil, now extinct on mainland Australia. Later artists portrayed people wearing elaborate ceremonial costume, described as Tasselled Figures, Bent Knee Figures and Straight Part Figures. Other human figures are engaged in running, hunting and camping scenes. Art styles evolved from curvaceous naturalistic figures to more rigid forms. Then, over the past 6,000 year-s, they became simplified during the Painted Hand Period, and changed again with the development of the Wandjina Period. ABORIGINAL PAINTINGS of DRYSDALE RIVER NATIONAL PARI{ KIMBERLEY WESTERN AUSTRALIA ABORIGINAL PAINTINGS of DRYSDALE RIVER NATIONAL PARI{ KIMBERLEY WESTERN AUSTRALIA David M. Welch Published by David M. Welch '{ AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL CULTURE SERIES NO. 10 CONTENTS Maps: Drysdale River National Park vi Vehicle access to Drysdale River National Park 7 The 1975 Biological Survey 21 The northern section of Drysdale River National Park 65 Serpent Gorge 80 Foreword and acknowledgements 1 Chapter One: Introduction to Drysdale River National Park 3 Chapter Two: Human history of the lower Drysdale River region 25 Chapter Three: Exploring the Park for rock art SS Chapter Four: The variety of art within the Park 113 Chapter Five: The Archaic Period 1S9 Chapter Six: Tasselled Figures 185 Chapter Seven: Bent Knee Figures 219 Chapter Eight: Simple Human Figures and Kimberley Dynamic Figures 249 Chapter Nine: Straight Part Figures 265 Chapter Ten: The Painted Hand Period 28S Chapter Eleven: The Wandjina Period 295 Books and journal articles by David M. Welch 309 References and further reading 311 Index 313 The Chronological Sequence of Kimberley Rock Art 322 v FOREWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS HIS book illustrates some of the Aboriginal paintings found in the rock shelters of Drysdale River National Park in the northern T Kimberley region of Western Australia. The significance of the art ' and the evolution of artistic styles over the millennia are explained. Brief notes on the geology, human history, flora and fauna of the region are included as background information. The extensive, sometimes turbulent, history of European and Aboriginal interadion from the 1880s is traced. Personal accounts of the experiences and hardships faced when exploring and searching for rock art within the Park are also described. Aboriginal rock paintings exist across much of the Kimberley and are particularly common in Drysdale River National Park. Rock outcrops, cliffs, creeks and gullies contain overhangs and shelters bearing painted art. The seemingly endless task of finding and recording them is most rewarding, and the more time spent searching, the more is found. In the past, the area of the Park included lands occupied by Miwa, Gamberre and Gwini speakers in the north and Ngarinyin speakers in the south. I am indebted to Gwini and Ngarinyin people for assisting me during the 1980s and 1990s with my understanding of their art and culture. They include Paul Chapman, Dolores Cheinmora, Hector Dhungal, Billy King, Phil Krunmurra, Scotty Martin, David Mowaljarlai, Mary Pandilo, Manuella Punan, Alfie White and Dicky Wudmurra. Acknowledgement is given to the traditional owners of Drysdale River ational Park, who presently include members of the Unghango family living in Kalumburu and Kununurra. During the 1990s, Hector Dhungal, Austin Unghango and Robert Unghango assisted Joe Schmiechen with his Park research and provided names for some of the rock art shelters included here. Historic photographs of Aboriginal people living in the region are reproduced with permission from the Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation, the Benedictine Order of New Norcia, and the Battye Library, State Library of Western Australia. Some of the sites mentioned in this book were first recorded by fellow rock art researchers Joe Schmiechen, Russell Willis, Mike Donaldson, and Michael Rainsbury, and I acknowledge their advice in relocating them. ia. Michael Rainsbury's field notes were utilised during my 2013 visit. I also thank Annie Welch for editorial advice and comments. Throughout the text, reference is made to rock art panels, sites and complexes. A rock art panel is a defined section of smooth rock suitable for painting, and may contain any number of motifs, from as little as one hand stencil to many paintings. An art site is defined by the presence of any art or rock marking on one or more panels within a defined area. Sites range in size from single motifs on cliff walls or isolated rocks to major sites with multiple art panels and hundreds of paintings. A separate site is described when art is located more than ten metres from adjacent art and is on a disconnected boulder or rock outcrop. A cluster of sites in close proximity to each other constitute a site complex. Site complexes within Drysdale River National Park include the Parrot Complex, the Pulpit Rock Complex, and clusters of sites on either side· of Bradshaw Alley. Mary Pandilo and Manuella Punan collecting edible water lily bulbs near Drysdale River rational Park. October 1995. (See page 42.) 2 ABORIGl~ ..\L P..\l~Tl~GS OF DRYSD ..\LE Rl\'ER ~ ..\TIO:'( ..\L P.\RK THE CHRONOLOGICAL SEQUENCE OF KIMBERLEY ROCK ART, WESTERN AUSTRALIA (Based on the 1992 chronology proposed by Dr David M. Welch) 1. ARCHAIC PERIOD 2. TASSELLED FIGURE PERIOD 3. BENT KNEE FIGURE PERIOD 4. KIMBERLEY DYNAMIC FIGURE PERIOD RUNNING AND SEATED FIGURES 5. STRAIGHT PART FIGURE PERIOD PARALLEL LINE FIGURES PRE-WANDJINA FIGURES 7. WANDJINA PERIOD 8. CONTACT PERIOD OTHER MYTHOLOGICAL FIGURES 322 ABORIGINAL PAINTl\!GS OF DRYSDALE Rl\'ER 1',.\TIO\: ..\L P..\RK .
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