Section 1 Australia
Mr. Edward G. Porter (a), in “The Aborigines of Australia,” says: “Their rock carvings are only outline sketches of men, fish, animals, etc., sometimes seen on the top of large flat rocks. Two localities are mentioned, one on Sydney common and another on a rock between Brisbane water and Hawkesbury river.”
Much more detailed information is given by Thomas Worsnop, viz:
At Chasm island, which lies 1½ miles from “Groote Eylandt,” in the steep sides of the chasms, were deep holes or caverns undermining the cliffs, upon the walls of which are 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 found the representations of a kangaroo with a file of thirty-two persons following after it.
In the MacDonnell ranges, 6 miles from Alice springs, in a large cave, there were paintings made by the aborigines, well defined parallel lines, intersected with footprints of the emu, kangaroo rat, and birds, with the outlines of iguana, hands of men, well sketched and almost perfect.
The parallel lines were of deep red and yellow colors, with brown and white borders; the footprints of light red, light yellow, and black; the outlines of the animals and hands were of red, yellow, white, black, wonderfully (considering it was done by savages) displayed and blended. All the paintings were in good preservation and evidently touched up occasionally, as they looked quite fresh.
I can only conjecture that these paintings were left as a record, a life-long charm, against the total destruction of the above animals. The paintings were seen by Mr. S. Gason, of Beltana, in the year 1873.
Very interesting groups of native drawings are to be seen in the caves of the Emily gorge in the MacDonnell ranges. Many of these drawings represent life-size objects.
The same author, page 20, describes the petroglyph copied in Fig. 130 as follows:
Mr. Arthur John Giles in the year 1873 discovered, at the junction of Sullivan’s creek with the Finke river, carvings on rocks. The sketch represents a smooth-faced rock, portion of a rock cliff about 45 feet high, composed of hard metamorphic slate. The lower portion of the sculptured face has been worn and broken away, forming a sort of cave. From the level of the creek to the lower edge of the sculptured rock is about 15 feet. The perpendicular lines are cut out, forming semicircular grooves about 1½ inches in diameter, cut in to a depth of nearly half an inch; all remaining figures are also carved into the solid rock to a depth of one-fourth of an inch.
The same author, page 14, gives the following description of some pictures discovered between 1831 and 1840 by Capt. Stokes on Depuch island, one of the Forestier group in Dampier archipelago, on the western coast of Australia:
Depuch island would seem to be their favorite resort, and we found several of their huts still standing. The natives are doubtless attracted to the place partly by the reservoirs of water they find among the rocks after rain; partly that they may enjoy the pleasure of delineating the various objects that attract their attention on the smooth surface of the rocks. This they do by removing the hard red outer coating and baring to view the natural color of the greenstone, according to the outline they have traced. Much ability is displayed in many of these representations, the subject of which could be discovered at a glance. The number of specimens are immense, so that the natives must have been in the habit of amusing themselves in this innocent manner for a long period of time.
These savages of Australia, who have adorned the rocks of Depuch island with their drawings, have in one thing proved themselves superior to the Egyptian and the Etruscan, whose works have elicited so much admiration and afforded food to so many speculations, namely, there is not in them to be observed the slightest trace of indecency.
Fig. 131 shows a number of the characters drawn on these rocks. They are supposed to represent objects as follows:
a, a goose or duck; b, a beetle; c, a fish, with a quarter moon over, considered to have some reference to fishing by moonlight; d, a native, armed with spear and wommera or throwing stick, probably relating his adventures, which is usually done by song and accompanied with great action and flourishing of weapons, particularly when boasting of his powers; e, a duck and a gull; f, a native in a hut, with portion of the matting with which they cover their habitations; g, shark and pilot fish; h, a corroboreeo or native dance; i, a native dog; j, a crab; k, a kangaroo; l, appears to be a bird of prey, having seized upon a kangaroo rat.
The same author, page 5, describes another locality as follows:
In New South Wales, in the neighborhood of Botany bay and port Jackson, the figures of animals, of shields and weapons, and even of men, have been found carved upon the rocks, roughly, indeed, but sufficiently well to ascertain very fully what was the object intended. Fish were often represented, and in one place the form of a large lizard was sketched out with tolerable accuracy. On top of one of the hills the figure of a man, in the attitude usually assumed by them when they begin to dance, was executed in a still superior style.
The figure last mentioned was probably the god Daramūlŭn, see Howitt, Australian Customs of Initiation (a).
A special account of the aboriginal rock carvings at the head of Bantry bay is furnished by R. Etheridge, jr. (a), as follows, the illustration referred to being presented here as Fig. 132:
Of the numerous traces of aboriginal rock carvings to be seen on the shores of Port Jackson, none probably equal in extent or completeness of detail those on the heights at the head and on the eastern side of Bantry bay, Middle harbor, Australia.
The table of sandstone over which the carvings are scattered measures 2 chains in one direction by 3 in the contrary, and has a gentle slope of 7 degrees to the southwest. The high road as now laid out passes over a portion of them. * * *
The figures are represented in their present state in outline by a continuous indentation or groove from 1 to 1½ inches broad by half an inch to 1 inch in depth. Some are single subjects scattered promiscuously over the surface; others form small groups, illustrating compound subjects, but all appear to have been executed about one and the same time. * * *
An advance on the other sculptures existing at this place seems to be made in the originals of the designs a and b, from the fact that an attempt was apparently made to represent a compound idea in the form of a single combat between two warriors. The figures are quite contiguous to one another. The individual marked a seems to be holding in his right hand a body similar to that represented as c, and the position in which it is held would lend color to the belief in its shield-like nature. In the opposite hand are a bundle of rods which have been suggested to be spears, and this explanation for the want of a better may be accepted. On the other hand, we are confronted with the fact that these weapons of offense and defense are held in the wrong hands, unless the holder be regarded as sinistral; otherwise it must be conceived that the warrior’s back is presented to the observer, which is contrary to the other evidence existing in the carving. The opponent, marked as b, with legs astride and arms outstretched much in the position of an aboriginal when throwing the boomerang, is equally definitive. I conceive it quite possible that the position of the boomerang close to the right hand conveys the idea that this man has just thrown the missile at the subject of a, allowing, of course, for the want of a knowledge of perspective on the part of the aboriginal artist. * * *
In several other figures the head is a mere rounded outline, but in b it is presented with a rather bird-like appearance. Another peculiarity is the great angularity given to the kneecap: this is visible both in a and b. It is further exemplified in the elbow of the left arms of both a and b.