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Rock Paintings

The term rock painting is used to describe Aboriginal art were materials have been applied to a rock surface to make a design or picture. These may be elaborate, multi layered and profuse or more simple, like the western concept of a drawing.

Paintings and drawings on rock surfaces are found across Australia.

Usually in New South Wales they are found on the walls of rock shelters or near the mouths of caves. In the Upper Hunter Valley most painting sites are sandstone overhangs.

Painting on rock surfaces requires a suitable stable type of rock. The paints were made from pigments (colours) derived from many naturally occurring substances, such as ochre (red and yellow), gypsum (white and cream) and charcoal (black). These materials were either found locally or traded from elsewhere.

The pigments were usually ground and mixed with a base (water, blood or sap) to make a paste. The paint was then applied using brushes of chewed twigs or with the fingers and hand or blowing from the mouth. In some examples the pigments have been applied dry and direct by rubbing or drawing onto the rock.

Hands on Rock is a typical example of the stencil style of rock painting were by the image is created by blowing wet paint from the mouth either directly or through a tube over and around an object held against the rock face. Most often, like with Hands on Rock, the human hand although the technique was also used to depict many other things such as animal feet (also at Hands on Rock) and skins, boomerangs, axes, woomeras, pipes, baskets and shields.

Paintings can also depict ceremonies and corroborees, seemingly abstract designs such as grid patterns and tally marks, animals and humans. The styles and techniques used vary across the state and different regions often have identifiable art styles. Several different styles are noted in and around the Upper Hunter Valley as the borders of several different nations and groups occurred here following the natural borders of the geography.

Determining the age of the paintings is very difficult. Dating the archeological evidence in the floor deposits of some caves (flakes of ochre) has revealed paintings in New South Wales to be over 13,000 years old. Most paintings however would be unlikely to have survived this long and the majority of sites would be less than 5,000 years old.

The importance of painting and other art sites cannot be underestimated. Rock art (engravings and paintings) is the oldest surviving human art form. They provide a link with Aboriginal life, culture and customs from before European settlement. They are of the greatest importance to Aboriginal people. Painting sites are regarded as being of sacred and ceremonial significance and should never be visited except with the permission of the Aboriginal community. This permission may take the form of a site being sign posted and open to the general public as with Hands on Rock or it might require specific permission from local elders and an introduction to the owner if located on private property. All Aboriginal sites in New South Wales, no matter were they are located or whether they are recorded, are under the protection of the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Painting sites are very fragile and can easily be damaged. In particular paintings must not be touched and all instructions for the care of a site should be adhered to.

Other examples of rock paintings in the Upper Hunter are:

Biame, Milbrodale
Blackfellas Cave, Widden Valley
Lizard Rock, Broke
Mount Monundilla, Glen Gallic
The Livery Stable, Nullo Mountain
The Teaching Cave, Wollombi

Information courtesy National Parks and Wildlife Service NSW.