Indigenous Australian art#Symbols

There are many types of and methods used in making Aboriginal art, including rock painting, dot painting, rock engravings, bark painting, carvings, sculptures, weaving, and string art. Australian Aboriginal art is the oldest unbroken tradition of art in the world.{{cite web|last=Collins|first=Ben|title=It survived ice-ages and the rise and fall of oceans – how has Indigenous rock art lasted so long?|publisher=ABC News|location=Australia|date=25 July 2019|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-26/how-rock-art-lasts-thousands-of-years/11274940|access-date=3 October 2020}}Worms, Ernest Contemporary and prehistoric rock paintings in Central and Northern North Kimberley Anthropos Switzerland 1955 p. 555{{cite web|url=https://artark.com.au/pages/aboriginal-art-of-australia-understanding-its-history|title=Aboriginal Art of Australia: Understanding its History|website=ART ARK|access-date=21 September 2023}}

File:Yankee Hat art-MJC.jpg featuring a kangaroo, dingoes, emus, humans and an echidna or turtle]]

File:(1)Baiame Cave005.jpg made by an unknown Wiradjuri artist in Baiame's cave, near Singleton, New South Wales. Notice the length of his arms which extend to the two trees either side.]]

Rock art, including painting and engraving or carving (petroglyphs), can be found at sites throughout Australia. Examples of rock art have been found that are believed to depict extinct megafauna such as Genyornis{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-05-31/megafauna-cave-painting-could-be-40000-years-old/847564|title=Megafauna cave painting could be 40,000 years old|last=Masters|first=Emma|date=31 May 2010|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|access-date=29 August 2013}} and Thylacoleo in the Pleistocene era{{cite web|last1=Akerman|first1=Kim|last2=Willing|first2=Tim|date=March 2009|title=An ancient rock painting of a marsupial lion, Thylacoleo carnifex, from the Kimberley, Western Australia|work=Antiquity|url=http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/akerman319/|access-date=11 December 2012}} as well as more recent historical events such as the arrival of European ships.{{cite web|url=http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/aboriginal-rock-art-may-depict-first-ship-arrivals.htm|title=Aboriginal rock art may depict first sea arrivals|last=Middleton|first=Amy|author2=AAP|date=2 August 2013|publisher=Australian Geographic|access-date=29 August 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130918081457/http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/aboriginal-rock-art-may-depict-first-ship-arrivals.htm|archive-date=18 September 2013}}

The oldest examples of rock art, in Western Australia's Pilbara region and the Olary district of South Australia, are estimated to be up to around 40,000 years old.[http://www.aboriginalartonline.com/art/rock.php Rock Art] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180801101445/http://www.aboriginalartonline.com/art/rock.php |date=1 August 2018 }}, Aboriginal Art Online, retrieved April 2008. The oldest firmly dated evidence of rock art painting in Australia is a charcoal drawing on a small rock fragment found during the excavation of the Narwala Gabarnmang rock shelter in south-western Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Dated at 28,000 years, it is one of the oldest known pieces of rock art on Earth with a confirmed date. It is thought this decorated fragment may have once formed part of a larger ceiling artwork, however, the shape of the original motif is unknown.{{Cite journal|last1=David|first1=Bruno|last2=Barker|first2=Bryce|last3=Petchey|first3=Fiona|last4=Delannoy|first4=Jean-Jacques|last5=Geneste|first5=Jean-Michel|last6=Rowe|first6=Cassandra|last7=Eccleston|first7=Mark|last8=Lamb|first8=Lara|last9=Whear|first9=Ray|date=May 2013|title=A 28,000 year old excavated painted rock from Nawarla Gabarnmang, northern Australia|url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.08.015|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|volume=40|issue=5|pages=2493–2501|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2012.08.015|bibcode=2013JArSc..40.2493D}} The oldest reliably dated unambiguous, in-situ rock art motif in Australia is a large painting of a macropod from a rock shelter in Western Australia's Kimberley region, radiometrically dated in a February 2021 study at approximately 17,300 years old.{{Cite journal|last1=Finch|first1=Damien|last2=Gleadow|first2=Andrew|last3=Hergt|first3=Janet|author-link3=Janet Hergt|last4=Heaney|first4=Pauline|last5=Green|first5=Helen|last6=Myers|first6=Cecilia|last7=Verth|first7=Peter|last8=Harper|first8=Sam|last9=Ouzman|first9=Sven|last10=Levchenko|first10=Vladimir|date=22 February 2021|title=Ages for Australia's oldest rock paintings|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-01041-0|journal=Nature Human Behaviour|volume=5|issue=3|pages=310–318|doi=10.1038/s41562-020-01041-0|pmid=33619375|s2cid=232020013}}

Gwion Gwion rock art (the "Bradshaw rock paintings", also referred to as Giro Giro"Worms, Ernest Contemporary and prehistoric rock paintings in Central and Northern North Kimberley Anthropos Switzerland 1955 p. 555), initially named after Joseph Bradshaw, who first reported them in 1891, consists of a series of rock paintings on caves in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.Doring, Jeff Gwion Gwion: Chemins Secrets Et Sacrés Des Ngarinyin, Aborigènes D'Australie (Gwion Gwion: Secret and Sacred Pathways of the Ngarinyin Aboriginal People of Australia) Könemann 2000 {{ISBN|9783829040600}} p. 55 A 2020 study puts this art at about 12,000 years old.{{cite journal|last=Finkel|author-link=Elizabeth Finkel|first=Elizabeth|date=February 2020|title=Mysterious Australian rock art may depict the chaos following rising seas|journal=Science|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/mysterious-australian-rock-art-may-depict-chaos-following-rising-seas|doi=10.1126/science.abb1842|s2cid=213266262}}{{cite web|title=Australian rock art dated using wasp nests|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-02-06/gwion-rock-art-in-kimberley-dated-using-wasp-nests/11924584|publisher=ABC News|location=Australia|date=6 February 2020|access-date=6 February 2020|first=Genelle|last=Weule}}

The Maliwawa Figures were documented in a study led by Paul Taçon and published in Australian Archaeology in September 2020.{{cite journal|last1=Taçon|first1=Paul S. C.|last2=May|first2=Sally K.|last3=Lamilami|first3=Ronald|last4=McKeague|first4=Fiona|last5=Johnston|first5=Iain G.|last6=Jalandoni|first6=Andrea|last7=Wesley|first7=Daryl|last8=Sanz|first8=Ines Domingo|last9=Brady|first9=Liam M. | last10=Wright | first10=Duncan|last11=Goldhahn|first11=Joakim|display-authors=2|title=Maliwawa figures—a previously undescribed Arnhem L and rock art style|journal=Australian Archaeology|publisher=Informa UK Limited|via=Taylor & Francis Online|date=30 September 2020|volume=86|issue=3|issn=0312-2417|doi=10.1080/03122417.2020.1818361|pages=208–225|s2cid=224849841|doi-access=}} The art includes 572 images across 87 sites in northwest Arnhem Land, from Awunbarna (Mount Borradaile) area across to the Wellington Range. They are estimated to have been drawn between 6,000 and 9,400 years ago.{{cite magazine|url=https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/archaeology/a-missing-part-of-the-rock-art-gallery/|title=A missing part of the rock art gallery|first=Amelia|last=Nichele|magazine=Cosmos|date=1 October 2020}} The find is described as very rare, not only in style, but in their depiction of bilbies (not known historically in Arnhem Land){{cite web|title=Maliwawa Figures: Ancient Aboriginal art 'unlike anything seen before'|publisher=BBC News|last=Taçon|first=Paul S. C.|date=2 October 2020|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-australia-54383750|format=video|others=Videography by Isabelle Rodd|access-date=3 October 2020}} and the first known depiction of a dugong.{{cite web|last=Weule|first=Genelle|title='Bilbies', thylacines and dugongs among stunning Maliwawa rock art documented in Arnhem Land|publisher=ABC News|location=Australia|date=1 October 2020|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-10-01/bilbies,-thylacines,-dugongs-in-arnhem-land-maliwawa-rock-art/12714194|access-date=3 October 2020}} The art, all paintings in red to mulberry colour apart from one drawing, and in a naturalistic style, had not been described in the literature before this study. They are large, and depict relationships between people and animals, a rare theme in rock art. Bilbies, thylacines and dugong have been extinct in Arnhem land for millennia. The art was first seen by the 2008-2009 researchers, but were only studied in field research lasting from 2016 to 2018. The figures were named by Ronald Lamilami, a senior traditional owner.{{cite web|last1=S.C.Taçon|first1=Paul|last2=May|first2=Sally K.|title=Introducing the Maliwawa Figures: a previously undescribed rock art style found in Western Arnhem Land|website=The Conversation|date=30 September 2020|url=http://theconversation.com/introducing-the-maliwawa-figures-a-previously-undescribed-rock-art-style-found-in-western-arnhem-land-145535|access-date=4 October 2020}}{{cite web|last1=Taçon|first1=Paul S.C.|last2=May|first2=Sally K. .|title=Arnhem Land's Maliwawa rock art a remarkable glimpse into Indigenous life almost 10,000 years ago|website=The Guardian|date=1 October 2020|url=http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/oct/01/arnhem-lands-maliwawa-rock-art-a-remarkable-glimpse-into-indigenous-life-10000-years-ago|access-date=4 October 2020}} According to Tacon, "The Maliwawa back-to-back figures are the oldest known for western Arnhem Land and it appears this painting convention began with the Maliwawa style. It continues to the present with bark paintings and paintings on paper".{{cite web|title=Arnhem Land Maliwawa rock art opens window to past|website=Griffith News|publisher=Griffith University|date=1 October 2020|first=Deborah|last=Marshall|url=https://news.griffith.edu.au/2020/10/01/arnhem-land-maliwawa-rock-art-opens-window-to-past/|access-date=4 October 2020}} Taçon draws comparisons between the Maliwawa Figures and George Chaloupka's Dynamic Figures style, where the subject matter consists of about 89 percent humans, compared with 42% of the Maliwawa Figures.{{cite web|last=Johnston|first=Rae|title=Unique 'missing link' 9000-year-old rock art uncovered in Arnhem land|publisher=National Indigenous Television|date=1 October 2020|url=https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2020/10/01/unique-missing-link-9000-year-old-rock-art-uncovered-arnhem-land|access-date=4 October 2020}} There is, however, much complexity and debate regarding the classification of rock art style in Arnhem Land.{{cite book|title=The Archaeology of Rock Art in Western Arnhem Land, Australia|chapter=6. Dynamic Figures of Mirarr Country: Chaloupka's four-phase theory and the question of variability within a rock art style|first1=Iain G.|last1=Johnston|first2=Joakim|last2=Goldhahn|first3=Sally K.|last3=May|via=ANU|url=http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n3991/html/ch06.xhtml?referer=&page=11|isbn=9781760461621|editor-first1=Bruno|editor-last1=David|editor-first2=Paul S.C.|editor-last2=Taçon|editor-first3=Jean-Jacques|editor-last3=Delannoy|editor-first4=Jean-Michel|editor-last4=Geneste|display-editors=2|series=Terra Australis, 47|date=2017|access-date=4 October 2020}}

Other painted rock art sites include Laura, Queensland,{{cite web|url=http://quinkancc.com.au/rock-art-sites-tours|title=Rock Art Sites & Tours|year=2009|publisher=Quinkan & Regional Cultural Centre|access-date=29 August 2013|archive-date=15 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130815050502/http://quinkancc.com.au/rock-art-sites-tours|url-status=dead}} Ubirr, in the Kakadu National Park,{{cite web|url=http://www.environment.gov.au/parks/kakadu/explore/rock-art-ubirr.html|title=Ubirr art site|publisher=Australian Government, Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities|year=2012|access-date=29 August 2013}} Uluru,{{cite web|url=http://www.environment.gov.au/parks/uluru/explore/rock-art.html|title=Rock art sites|publisher=Australian Government, Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities|year=2013|access-date=29 August 2013}} and Carnarvon Gorge.{{cite web|url=http://www.ausnatureguides.com/Pages/Carnarvon_Gorge_Pre-hist.html|title=Pre-history of Carnarvon Gorge|publisher=Australian Nature Guides|access-date=29 August 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014212057/http://www.ausnatureguides.com/Pages/Carnarvon_Gorge_Pre-hist.html|archive-date=14 October 2013}}

Rock engraving, or petroglyphs, are created by methods which vary depending on the type of rock being used and other factors. There are several different types of rock art across Australia, the most famous of which is Murujuga in Western Australia, the Sydney rock engravings around Sydney in New South Wales, and the Panaramitee rock art in Central Australia. The Toowoomba engravings, depicting carved animals and humans, have their own peculiar style not found elsewhere in Australia.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

The rock engravings at Murujuga are said to be the world's largest collection of petroglyphs{{cite web|url=http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/news/7189-creation-of-western-australia-s-100th-national-park.html|title=Creation of Western Australia's 100th National Park – Murujuga National Park|last=Department of Environment and Conservation|date=6 February 2013|publisher=Government of Western Australia|access-date=29 August 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130421120006/http://dec.wa.gov.au/news/7189-creation-of-western-australia-s-100th-national-park.html|archive-date=21 April 2013}} and includes images of extinct animals such as the thylacine. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/11/australia-gas-project-petroglyphs-woodside-climate-culture-carbon-bomb Activity prior to the last ice age until colonisation is recorded.

File:Westall Chasm Island art.jpg

The first European discovery of Aboriginal rock paintings took place on 14 January 1803.{{Cite book|last1=McCarthy|first1=Frederick D.|title=The cave paintings of Groote, Eylandt and Chasm Island|last2=Australian Museum|publisher=Australian Museum|year=1960|location=Sydney, N.S.W.|oclc=271765347}} During a surveying expedition along the shores and islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, British navigator and explorer Matthew Flinders made landfall on Chasm Island.

Within the island's rock shelters, Flinders discovered an array of painted and stenciled patterns. To record these images, he enlisted the ship's artist, William Westall.{{Cite journal|last=Findlay|first=E.|date=1998|title=Arcadian quest [The works of William Westall]|journal=National Library of Australia News|volume=9|issue=1|pages=3–7|url=https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/ielapa.990303180}} Westall's two watercolour sketches are the earliest known documentation of Australian rock art.

Aboriginal stone arrangements are a form of rock art constructed by Aboriginal Australians. Typically they consist of stones, each of which may be about 30 cm in size, laid out in a pattern extending over several metres or tens of metres. Each stone is well-embedded into the soil, and many have "trigger-stones" to support them. Particularly fine examples are in the state of Victoria, where some examples have very large stones. For example, the stone arrangement at Wurdi Youang consists of about 100 stones arranged in an egg-shaped oval about {{convert |50|m}} across.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}} The appearance of the site is similar to that of the megalithic stone circles found throughout Britain (although the function and culture are presumably completely different). Although its association with Aboriginal Australians is well-authenticated and beyond doubt, the purpose is unclear, although it may have a connection with initiation rites. It has also been suggested that the site may have been used for astronomical purposes.Morieson, J., 2003, "Solar-based Lithic Design in Victoria, Australia", in World Archaeological Congress, Washington DC, 2003

Smaller stone arrangements are found throughout Australia, such as those near Yirrkala, which depict accurate images of the praus used by Macassan Trepang fishermen and spear throwers.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}}

Wood carving has always been an essential part of Aboriginal culture, requiring wood, sharp stone to carve, wire and fire. The wire and fire were used to create patterns on the object by heating the wire with the fire and placing it on the wood carving.

Wood carvings such as those by Central Australian artist Erlikilyika shaped like animals, were sometimes traded to Europeans for goods.

The reason Aboriginal people made wood carvings was to help tell their Dreaming stories and pass on their group's lore and essential information about their country and customs. They were also used in ceremonies, such as the ilma.

Aboriginal people from the Tiwi Islands traditionally carved pukumani grave posts,{{Cite book|title=Timothy Cook, Dancing with the Moon|last=Frangos|first=Seva|isbn=9781742584980 |oclc=889871251|year=2015}} and since the 1960s have been carving and painting iron wood figures.{{Cite web|url=https://www.aboriginal-bark-paintings.com/tiwi-sculpture/|title=Tiwi Sculpture {{!}} Sell Tiwi Sculpture {{!}} Tiwi Carving {{!}} Tiwi artefact|date=2017-12-11|website=Aboriginal Bark Paintings|access-date=2019-01-10}}

{{main|Bark painting}}

File:Yirrkala Bark Painting.jpg examines a Yirrkala bark painting at the Australian National Maritime Museum, 2007]]

Bark painting, where painting is done using ochres on the dried bark stripped off trees, is an old tradition. The earliest European find was in a shelter in Tasmania around 1800, and other painted bark shelters were found in Victoria and NSW. These were drawn with charcoal, and then painted or scratched onto bark which had been blackened by smoke.{{cite web |title=Aboriginal bark painting |website=aboriginalartonline.com |url=http://www.aboriginalartonline.com/art/bark.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171130223147/http://www.aboriginalartonline.com/art/bark.php |archive-date=30 November 2017 |url-status=dead |access-date=16 October 2024}} Painted bark baskets were used in death rituals on Melville and Bathurst Islands, and bark coffins and belts were painted in northeast Arnhem Land. Bark painting has continued into contemporary times.

Styles in bark painting in Northern Australia, especially in Arnhem Land, include cross-hatching, or rarrk, and x-ray style.{{cite web |last=Linklater |first=Scott |title=Aboriginal Art Styles |website=Artlandish Aboriginal Art |date=31 December 1969 |url=https://www.aboriginal-art-australia.com/aboriginal-art-library/aboriginal-art-styles/ |access-date=16 October 2024}}{{cite web |title=What is Rarrk? |website=personally-selected-aboriginal-art.com |date=13 May 2021 |url=https://www.personally-selected-aboriginal-art.com/rarrk.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210718105337/https://www.personally-selected-aboriginal-art.com/rarrk.html |archive-date=18 July 2021 |url-status=dead |access-date=16 October 2024}}

{{Further |Australian Aboriginal fibrecraft}}

Baskets, sometimes coiled baskets, were created by twisting bark, palm-leaf, and feathers; some of the baskets were plain and some were created with feather pendants or feathers woven in the frame of the basket. The artists used mineral and plant dyes to colour the palm-leaves and bark of the hibiscus. These string bags and baskets were used in ceremonies for religious and ritual needs; the baskets might have been also used for carry things back to the village.{{sfn|Thomas|Neale|2011|p={{page needed|date=July 2023}}}}

Basket weaving has been traditionally practised by the women of many Aboriginal Australian peoples across the continent for centuries.{{cite web|title=About weaving|website=Maningrida|date=1 March 2017|url=https://maningrida.com/artworks/weavings/about-weaving/|access-date=25 January 2020}}{{cite web|title=History of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander textiles|website=archive.maas.museum|date=9 April 2017|url=http://archive.maas.museum/hsc/paperbark/history.html|access-date=25 January 2020}}{{cite web|last=Mills|first=Vanessa|title=Weaving magical baskets and sharing Aboriginal knowledge|website=ABC Kimberley|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|date=21 July 2011|url=https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/07/21/3274981.htm|access-date=25 January 2020}}{{cite web|title=Ngarrindjeri basket weaving|website=Sustainable Communities SA|date=24 August 2016|url=https://www.sustainablecommunitiessa.org.au/craft/ngarrindjeri-basket-weaving/|access-date=25 January 2020}}

File:AboriginalOchrePitCentralAustralia.JPGs were obtained]]

Aboriginal people created shell pendants which were considered high value and often used for trading goods. These shells were attached to string, which was handmade from human hair and sometimes covered with a type of grease and red ochre. This jewellery would sometimes be hung around a man's neck or waist for use during ceremonies.Morphy, H.; Rosenfeld, A.; Sutton, P.; Keen, I.; Berndt, C. H.; Berndt, R. M.; ... Cavazzini, F. (2003). Aboriginal Australia.

Kalti paarti carving is a traditional art form made by carving emu eggs. It is not as old as some other techniques, having originated in the nineteenth century.{{Cite web|title=Kalti Paarti: Carved emu eggs|url=http://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/cultures/atsi-collection/cultural-objects/kalti-paarti-introduction/|website=The Australian Museum|access-date=2020-05-27}}

Certain symbols within the Aboriginal modern art movement retain the same meaning across regions, although the meaning of the symbols may change within the context of a painting. When viewed in monochrome other symbols can look similar, such as the circles within circles, sometimes depicted on their own, sparsely, or in clustered groups.

Many paintings by Aboriginal artists, such as those that represent a Dreaming story, are shown from an aerial perspective. The narrative follows the lie of the land, as created by ancestral beings in their journey or during creation. The modern-day rendition is a reinterpretation of songs, ceremonies, rock art, body art, and ceremonies (such as awelye) that was the norm for many thousands of years.

Whatever the meaning, interpretations of the symbols should be made in context of the entire painting, the region from which the artist originates, the story behind the painting, and the style of the painting.{{cite web|work=Ted Talks TedxOxford|title=Rebecca Hossack: The wonders of Aboriginal Australian art|date=February 2020|url=https://www.ted.com/talks/rebecca_hossack_the_wonders_of_aboriginal_australian_art?subtitle=en}}

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Some natural sites are sacred to Aboriginal people, and often the location where seasonal rituals were performed. During these rituals the Aboriginal people created art such as feather and fibre objects, they painted and created rock engravings, and also painted on bark of  the Eucalyptus tetrodonta trees. While stories differed among the clans, language groups, and wider groups, the Dreaming (or Jukurrpa) is common to all Aboriginal peoples. As part of these beliefs, during ancient times mythic Aboriginal ancestor spirits were the creators of the land and sky, and eventually became a part of it. The Aboriginal peoples' spiritual beliefs underpin their laws, art forms, and ceremonies. Traditional Aboriginal art almost always has a mythological undertone relating to the Dreaming.{{cite web|via=YouTube|publisher= The Arts Society|title=Recording the Dreamtime: Lecture by Rebecca Hossack|date=17 June 2020|url=https://www.youtube.com/live/TI18rQLdQTQ?app=desktop&t=1990s&cbrd=1}}

Wenten Rubuntja, an Indigenous landscape artist, says it is hard to find any art that is devoid of spiritual meaning:{{cite web |title=Wenten Rubuntja|first=Rebecca |last=Hossack|website=The Independent |date=12 August 2005 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/wenten-rubuntja-305489.html |access-date=11 October 2024}}{{blockquote|Doesn't matter what sort of painting we do in this country; it still belongs to the people, all the people. This is worship, work, culture. It's all Dreaming.}}

Story-telling and totem representation feature prominently in all forms of Aboriginal artwork. Additionally, the female form, particularly the female womb in X-ray style, features prominently in some famous sites in Arnhem Land. X-ray styles date back all the way to 2000–1000 BCE. It is an Indigenous technique where the artist creates conceptualised X-ray, transparent , images. The mimi, spirits who taught the art of painting to the Aboriginal people, and ancestors are "released" through these types of artwork.

Traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions are both types of indigenous knowledge, according to the definitions and terminology used in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and by the World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore.{{cite book|url=https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/sites/default/files/ipaust_ikdiscussionpaper_28march2018.pdf|title=Indigenous Knowledge: Issues for Protection and Management: Discussion paper|author1=Terri Janke and Company|first2=Terri|last2=Janke|first3=Maiko|last3=Sentina|others=Commissioned by IP Australia & the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science|date=2018|publisher=Commonwealth of Australia|access-date=23 July 2021|archive-date=1 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101153611/https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/sites/default/files/ipaust_ikdiscussionpaper_28march2018.pdf|url-status=dead}} "Traditional cultural expressions" is used by WIPO to refer to "any form of artistic and literary expression in which traditional culture and knowledge are embodied. They are transmitted from one generation to the next, and include handmade textiles, paintings, stories, legends, ceremonies, music, songs, rhythms and dance".{{citation|url=https://arts.adelaide.edu.au/linguistics/guide.pdf|title=ENGAGING – A Guide to Interacting Respectfully and Reciprocally with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, and their Arts Practices and Intellectual Property|author=Zuckermann, Ghil'ad|display-authors=etal|publisher=Australian Government: Indigenous Culture Support|year=2015|page=7|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160330114112/http://arts.adelaide.edu.au/linguistics/guide.pdf|archive-date=30 March 2016|author-link=Ghil'ad Zuckermann}}

Leading international authority on Indigenous cultural and intellectual property, Australian lawyer Terri Janke, says that within Australian Indigenous communities, "the use of the word 'traditional' tends not to be preferred as it implies that Indigenous culture is locked in time".

Many culturally as well as historically significant sites of Aboriginal rock paintings have degraded over time, as well as being desecrated and destroyed by encroachment of early settlers and modern-day visitors (including erosion caused by excessive touching); clearing for development of industries; and wanton vandalism and graffiti in criminal acts of destruction. Some recent examples are cited below.

In 2022, in an event which made news around the world,{{cite web|last=Enking |first=Molly |title=Vandals Destroy 30,000-Year-Old Indigenous Cave Drawings in Australia |website=Smithsonian Magazine |date=27 December 2022 |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/30000-year-old-indigenous-cave-drawings-in-australia-have-been-destroyed-180981363/ |access-date=15 October 2024}}{{cite web |last=Armstrong |first=Kathryn |title=Ancient South Australia cave art destroyed by vandals |website=BBC Home |date=21 December 2022 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-64049711 |access-date=15 October 2024}} unique 30,000-year-old artwork at Koonalda Cave on the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia, which had been heritage-listed in 2014 because of its rarity, was vandalised and much of the artwork rendered unrecoverable. The site was of great significance to the Mirning people.{{cite web |last=Rachwani |first=Mostafa |title=Ancient Aboriginal rock art destroyed by vandals in ‘tragic loss’ at sacred SA site |website=The Guardian |date=21 December 2022 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/dec/21/ancient-aboriginal-rock-art-destroyed-by-vandals-in-tragic-loss-at-sacred-sa-site |access-date=15 October 2024}}

In 2023, three large panels of rock art were removed from Murujuga in Western Australia, in order to build a new fertiliser factory. Several archaeologists have urged others to join Aboriginal voices in protesting against this type of damage to cultural sites.{{cite web |title=where is the outrage? |website=Murujuga's rock art is being destroyed |url=https://www.uwa.edu.au/news/article/2023/may/murujugas-rock-art-is-being-destroyed-where-is-the-outrage |access-date=15 October 2024}}

In late 2023 and early 2024, the Bulgandry Aboriginal art site in the Brisbane Water National Park, an ancient Aboriginal art site in New South Wales, was vandalised twice within a few months. NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service closed off one walking track to the site, installed signs, and installed surveillance cameras, in a bid to prevent further damage.{{cite web |last=Proust |first=Keira |title=Bulgandry Aboriginal art site vandalised for a second time in Brisbane Water National Park at Kariong |website=ABC News |date=12 January 2024 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-12/bulgandry-aboriginal-art-site-vandalised-again-nsw-central-coast/103301182 |access-date=15 October 2024}}

{{Further|Torres Strait Islanders#Art}}

Mythology and culture, deeply influenced by the ocean and the natural life around the islands, have always informed traditional artforms. Featured strongly are turtles, fish, dugongs, sharks, seabirds and saltwater crocodiles, which are considered totemic beings.{{cite web|url=https://japingkaaboriginalart.com/articles/art-in-the-torres-strait-islands/|title=Art in the Torres Strait Islands|website=Japingka Aboriginal Art|access-date=20 January 2020}}

Elaborate headdresses or dhari (also spelt dari{{cite web|last=Whitford|first=Maddie|title=Producers reflect on profound experience walking with Indigenous artists on country|publisher=ABC News|location=Australia|date=13 April 2020|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/about/backstory/regional/2020-04-13/making-abc-this-place-indigenous-artist-series/12017770|access-date=14 April 2020}}), as featured on the Torres Strait Islander flag, are created for the purposes of ceremonial dances.{{cite web|url=https://awakening.qm.qld.gov.au/The+Exhibition/Purpose/Dance+machines+and+headdresses|publisher=Queensland Government|website=Awakening: Stories from the Torres Strait|title=Dance machines & headdresses|access-date=7 January 2020}} The dari was historically worn by Torres Strait warriors in battle. It is seen as a powerful symbol of the Torres Strait Islander people, today representing peace and harmony. World-renowned artist Ken Thaiday Snr has created elaborate dharis using modern materials in his contemporary artwork.{{cite web|title=Dr Ken Thaiday Senior|publisher=Australia Council|date=15 May 2019|url=https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/arts-in-daily-life/artist-stories/dr-ken-thaiday-senior/|access-date=14 April 2020}}

Torres Strait Islander people are the only culture in the world to make turtleshell masks, known as krar (turtleshell) in the Western Islands and le-op (human face) in the Eastern Islands.{{cite web|url=https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/artsets/hav5uo|website=New South Wales Art Gallery|title=Art Sets. Art of the Torres Strait Islands|access-date=20 January 2020}}

Prominent among the artforms is wame (alt. wameya), many different string figures.{{cite book|editor1=Brij V. Lal|editor2=Kate Fortune|title=The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5pPpJl8E5wC&pg=PA456|year=2000|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2265-1|page=456}}Alfred Cort Haddon, along with one of his daughters, the pioneers in the modern study of Torres Strait string figures[http://www.isfa.org/biblio.htm A string figure bibliography] including examples from Torres Strait.

The Islands have a long tradition of woodcarving, creating masks and drums, and carving decorative features on these and other items for ceremonial use. From the 1970s, young artists were beginning their studies at around the same time that a significant re-connection to traditional myths and legends was happening. Margaret Lawrie's publications, Myths and Legends of the Torres Strait (1970) and Tales from the Torres Strait (1972), reviving stories which had all but been forgotten, influenced the artists greatly.{{cite book|last1=Lawrie|first1=Margaret Elizabeth|title=Myths and Legends of the Torres Strait/collected and translated by Margaret Lawrie|date=1970|publisher=University of Queensland Press|location=Brisbane}}{{cite book|last1=Lawrie|first1=Margaret Elizabeth|title=Tales from Torres Strait|date=1972|publisher=University of Queensland Press|location=St Lucia Qld}} While some of these stories had been written down by Haddon after his 1898 expedition to the Torres Strait,{{Cite book|title=Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits|author1=Alfred Cort Haddon|author2=W. H. R. Rivers|author3=C. G. Seligman|author4=A. Wilkin|year=1901–1935|publisher=Cambridge University Press|id={{NLA|458355}}}} many had subsequently fallen out of use or been forgotten.

Traditional symbols vary widely among different groups of Aboriginal people, which are usually related to language groups. Since dot painting became popular from the 1970s, and was further developed in contemporary Indigenous art, it has become a common perception that all Aboriginal art uses dot symbolism. New South Wales artist Shane Smithers has pointed out that roadside representations of Aboriginal art in his country do not represent his people's (Dharug and Dharawal) art and symbolic traditions, which uses lines rather than dots, which are a visual language from the Western Desert region.{{cite web |last=King |first=Tynan |last2=Fisher |first2=Jack |last3=Gartry |first3=Laura |title=The fight for authentic Aboriginal visual language |website=ABC News |date=4 October 2024 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-05/debate-over-aboriginal-dot-art/104422228 |access-date=17 October 2024}}

{{main|Contemporary Indigenous Australian art}}

File:Namatjira0384.jpg at the Albert Namatjira Gallery, Alice Springs Cultural Precinct, in 2007]]

File:Australia, arte aborigena, john mawurndjul, serprente arcobaleno cornuto, 1991.JPG by John Mawurndjul, 1991]]

In the 1930s, artists Rex Battarbee and John Gardner introduced watercolour painting to Albert Namatjira, an Indigenous man at Hermannsberg Mission, south-west of Alice Springs. His landscape paintings, first created in 1936Morphy (1999), p. 264. and exhibited in Australian cities in 1938, were immediately successful,McCulloch (2006), p. 4. and he became the first Indigenous Australian watercolourist as well as the first to successfully exhibit and sell his works to the non-Indigenous community.J.V.S. Megaw and M. Ruth Megaw, 'Painting country: The Arrernte watercolour artists of Hermannsburg', in Kleinert and Neale (2000), p. 199. Namatjira's style of work was adopted by other Indigenous artists in the region beginning with his close male relatives, and they became known as the Hermannsburg SchoolMorphy (1999), p. 265. or as the Arrernte Watercolourists.J.V.S. Megaw and M. Ruth Megaw, 'Painting country: The Arrernte watercolour artists of Hermannsburg', in Kleinert and Neale (2000), pp. 200–204.

In 1988 the Aboriginal Memorial was unveiled at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra made from 200 hollow log coffins, which are similar to the type used for mortuary ceremonies in Arnhem Land. It was made for the bicentenary of Australia's colonisation, and is in remembrance of Aboriginal people who had died protecting their land during conflict with settlers. It was created by 43 artists from Ramingining and communities nearby.{{cite book|last=Caruana|first=Wally|title=Aboriginal Art|publisher=Thames & Hudson|location=London|year=2003|edition=2nd|page=[https://archive.org/details/aboriginalart00caru/page/226 226]|isbn=978-0-500-20366-8|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/aboriginalart00caru/page/226}}

In the late 1980s and early 1990s the work of Emily Kngwarreye, from the Utopia community north east of Alice Springs, became very popular. Her styles, which changed every year, have been seen as a mixture of traditional Aboriginal and contemporary Australian. Her rise in popularity has prefigured that of many Indigenous artists from central, northern and western Australia, such as her niece Kathleen Petyarre, Angelina Pwerle, Minnie Pwerle, Dorothy Napangardi, and many others.{{cite web|url=http://balgoart.org.au/art_centre/mainframe.htm|title=Warlayirti Artists|website=balgoart.org.au|access-date=15 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050615004152/http://balgoart.org.au/art_centre/mainframe.htm|archive-date=15 June 2005|url-status=dead}}

{{Main|Papunya Tula}}

In 1971–1972, art teacher Geoffrey Bardon encouraged Aboriginal people in Papunya, north west of Alice Springs to put their Dreamings onto canvas. These stories had previously been drawn on the desert sand, and were now given a more permanent form.{{cn|date=October 2024}} The dots were used to cover secret-sacred ceremonies. Originally, the Tula artists succeeded in forming their own company with an Aboriginal Name, Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd.{{cite web|url=http://www.papunyatula.com.au/|title=Papunya Tula Artists|publisher=Papunyatula.com.au|access-date=2013-08-16}} The Papunya Collection at the National Museum of Australia contains over 200 artefacts and paintings, including examples of 1970s dot paintings.[http://www.nma.gov.au/collections/highlights/papunya-collection Papunya Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007230703/http://www.nma.gov.au/collections/highlights/papunya-collection |date=7 October 2012 }}, National Museum of Australia. Retrieved 19 June 2011.

File:Albert Namatjira refuelling for a trip to Alice Springs.jpg refuelling for a trip to Alice Springs, around 1948]]

There have been cases of some exploitative dealers who have sought to profit from the success of the Aboriginal art movements, particularly after art sales boomed between 1994 and 1997.{{cite web |title=Aboriginal works and artful dodgers |website=The Age |date=20 September 2003 |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/aboriginal-works-and-artful-dodgers-20030920-gdwdga.html |access-date=15 October 2024}} In August 2006, following concerns raised about unethical practices in the Indigenous art sector, the Australian Senate initiated an inquiry into issues in the sector, with its report published in 2007.{{cite book|author=Senate Standing Committee on the Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts |date=20 June 2007|url=https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Completed_inquiries/2004-07/indigenousarts/report/index |title=Indigenous Art: Securing the Future – Australia's Indigenous visual arts and craft sector|place= Canberra| publisher= Commonwealth of Australia|ISBN =978-0-642-71788-7 }}

{{Main|List of Australian Indigenous art movements and cooperatives}}

Australian Indigenous art movements and cooperatives have been central to the emergence of Indigenous Australian art. Whereas many western artists pursue formal training and work as individuals, most contemporary Indigenous art is created in community groups and art centres.Wright, Felicity and Morphy, Frances. (1999-2000). The Art & Craft Centre Story. Canberra: ATSIC (3 vols). One of the main reasons the Yuendumu movement, based at Warlukurlangu Artists was established, and later flourished, was due to the feeling of exploitation amongst artists.{{cite web|url=http://www.warlu.com/au_artists.htm|title=Warlukurlangu Artists|publisher=warlu.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050623233837/http://warlu.com/au_artists.htm|archive-date=2005-06-23|quote=Many of the artists who played crucial roles in the founding of the art centre were aware of the increasing interest in Aboriginal art during the 1970s and had watched with concern and curiosity the developments of the art movement at Papunya amongst people to whom they were closely related. There was also a growing private market for Aboriginal art in Alice Springs. Artists' experiences of the private market were marked by feelings of frustration and a sense of disempowerment when buyers refused to pay prices which reflected the value of the Jukurrpa or showed little interest in understanding the story.}}

{{main|Contemporary Indigenous Australian art}}

In the 1990s a group of younger Torres Strait Island artists, including the award-winning Dennis Nona (b. 1973), started translating traditional skills into the more portable forms of printmaking, linocut, and etching, as well as larger scale bronze sculptures. Other outstanding artists include Billy Missi (1970–2012), known for his decorated black and white linocuts of the local vegetation and eco-systems, and Alick Tipoti (b.1975). These and other Torres Strait artists have greatly expanded the forms of Indigenous art within Australia, bringing superb Melanesian carving skills as well as new stories and subject matter. The College of Technical and Further Education on Thursday Island was a starting point for young Islanders to pursue studies in art. Many went on to further art studies, especially in printmaking, initially in Cairns, Queensland and later at the Australian National University in what is now the School of Art and Design. Other artists such as Laurie Nona, Brian Robinson, David Bosun, Glen Mackie, Joemen Nona, Daniel O'Shane, and Tommy Pau are known for their printmaking work.{{cite web|url=http://www.printsandprintmaking.gov.au/references/5070/|title=Torres Strait Islander printmaking|via=Centre for Australian Art: Australian Prints + Printmaking|last=Robinson|first=Brian|date=2001|quote=Conference paper, [from] Australian Print Symposium. Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 1987 – ongoing|access-date=7 January 2020}}

Australian Indigenous art has been much studied in recent years and has gained much international recognition.Caruna, W. (2003) Aboriginal Art, Thames and Hudson, London, iiii p. 7 The Rebecca Hossack gallery in London has been credited with "almost single-handedly" introducing Australian Indigenous art to Britain and Europe since its opening in 1988.{{cite news|work=Studio International New York|title=Damien Coulthard Songlines XXX, Adnyamathanha Yarta|last1=McKenzie|first1=Janet|date=24 October 2018|url=https://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/damien-coulthard-interview-songlines-adnyamathanha-yarta-aboriginal-australian-rebecca-hossack-gallery}}

The Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, France, which opened in 2006, has an "Oceania" collection.{{cite web|url=http://www.quaibranly.fr/en/collections/permanent-collections/oceania.html|title=musée du quai Branly: Oceania|publisher=Quaibranly.fr|access-date=2013-08-16|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306204406/http://www.quaibranly.fr/en/collections/permanent-collections/oceania.html|archive-date=6 March 2014}} It also commissioned paintings on the roof and ceilings of its building on the rue de l'Université, housing the museum's workshops and library, by four female and four male contemporary Aboriginal artists: Lena Nyadbi, Judy Watson, Gulumbu Yunupingu, Ningura Napurrula; John Mawurndjul, Paddy Nyunkuny Bedford, Michael Riley, and Yannima Tommy Watson.{{cite web |title=Aboriginal works on the roof and ceilings |website=Musée du quai Branly |date=6 June 2013 |url=https://www.quaibranly.fr/en/public-areas/aboriginal-works-on-the-roof-and-ceilings |access-date=16 October 2024}}{{cite web|url=http://www.aboriginalartdirectory.com/shop/museum/musee-du-quai-branly.php|title=Musée du Quai Branly Australian Aboriginal Art Museum at the Aboriginal Art Directory. View information about Musée du Quai Branly|publisher=Aboriginalartdirectory.com|date=2010-07-15|access-date=2013-08-16|archive-date=4 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100604010445/http://www.aboriginalartdirectory.com/shop/museum/musee-du-quai-branly.php|url-status=dead}}

Museums dedicated solely to Indigenous art outside of Australia include the following:

• The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia, which opened in its current location in 1999, exhibits solely Australian Aboriginal art, and regularly mounts exhibitions.{{cite web|title=The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection|url=http://www.virginia.edu/giving/arts/museums-libraries/kluge-ruhe/|work=Campaign for the Arts at the University of Virginia|access-date=28 August 2013|date=August 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130828182936/http://www.virginia.edu/giving/arts/museums-libraries/kluge-ruhe/|archive-date=28 August 2013}}
• The La Grange museum for Australian Aboriginal art in the village of Môtiers, near Neuchâtel, Switzerland, is one of the few museums in Europe that dedicates itself entirely the art and culture of Aboriginal Australian peoples. During seasonal exhibitions, works of art by internationally renowned artists are shown.{{cite web |title=The Museum of Australian Aboriginal Art “La Grange” |website=Japingka Aboriginal Art Gallery |date=28 November 2023 |url=https://japingkaaboriginalart.com/gallery/the-museum-of-australian-aboriginal-art-la-grange/ |access-date=16 October 2024}} It opened in 2008.{{cite web |last=Eichenberger |first=Isabelle |title=Aboriginal art in the home of absinthe |website=SWI swissinfo.ch |date=23 October 2012 |url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/culture/aboriginal-art-in-the-home-of-absinthe/33783696 |access-date=16 October 2024}}
• The {{ill|Museum of Contemporary Aboriginal Art, Utrecht|nl|Aboriginal Art Museum|lt=Museum of Contemporary Aboriginal Art}}, in Utrecht, Netherlands, was dedicated to contemporary Australian Aboriginal art,{{cite web|title=Home|url=http://www.aamu.nl/home-us|work=AAMU|access-date=28 August 2013|date=August 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909044758/http://www.aamu.nl/home-us|archive-date=9 September 2013}} but closed in 2017.{{cite web |title=The End of AAMU at News Aboriginal Art Directory. View information about The End of AAMU |website=Aboriginal Art Directory News |url=https://news.aboriginalartdirectory.com/2017/07/the-end-of-aamu.php |access-date=15 October 2024}}

{{Portal|Australia|Visual Arts}}

• Australian art
• Australian Aboriginal fibre sculpture
• Dampier Rock Art Precinct
• List of Indigenous Australian art movements and cooperatives
• List of Indigenous Australian visual artists
• List of Stone Age art
• Memorial pole
• Panaramitee Style

{{Reflist}}

Sources

• {{cite book|last=Kampen-O'Riley|first=Michael|year=2006|title=Art Beyond the West|location=Upper Saddle River, New Jersey|publisher=Prentice Hall|isbn=978-0131751521}}
• {{cite book|editor1-last=Thomas|editor1-first=Martin|editor2-last=Neale|editor2-first=Margo|year=2011|title=Exploring the Legacy of the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition|location=Canberra|publisher=ANU E Press|isbn=9781921666452}}

• Bardon, G. (1979) Aboriginal Art of the Western Desert, Adelaide: Rigby
• Bardon, G. (1991) Papunya Tula: Art of the Western Desert, Ringwood VIC: McPhee Gribble (Penguin)
• Bardon, G. (2005) Papunya, A Place Made After the Story: The Beginnings of the Western Desert Painting Movement, University of Melbourne: Miegunyah Press
• Den Boer, E. (2012). Spirit Conception: Dreams in Aboriginal Australia [PDF]. American Psychological Association
• Donaldson, Mike, Burrup Rock Art: Ancient Aboriginal Rock Art of Burrup Peninsula and Dampier Archipelago, Fremantle Arts Press, 2010. {{ISBN|978-0-9805890-1-6}}
• Flood, J. (1997) Rock Art of the Dreamtime:Images of Ancient Australia, Sydney: Angus & Robertson
• Johnson, V. (ed) (2007) Papunya painting: out of the desert, Canberra: National Museum of Australia
• Kleinert, S. & Neale, M. (eds.) (2000) The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture, Melbourne: Oxford University Press
• McCulloch, S. (1999) Contemporary Aboriginal Art: A guide to the rebirth of an ancient culture, St Leonards (Sydney): Allen & Unwin
• McIvor, Roy (2010). Cockatoo: My Life in Cape York. Stories and Art. Roy McIvor. Magabala Books. Broome, Western Australia. {{ISBN|978-1-921248-22-1}}
• Morphy, H. (1991) Ancestral Connections, London: University of Chicago Press
• Morphy, H. (1998) Aboriginal Art, London: Phaidon Press
• Myers, F. R. (2002) Painting Culture: The making of an Aboriginal High Art, Durham: Duke University Press
• Rothwell, N. (2007) Another Country, Melbourne: Black Inc.
• Ryan, M. D. and Keane, M. and Cunningham, S. (2008) [http://www.sagepub.co.uk/upm-data/25099_26_C&G_II_Ch_25.pdf Indigenous Art: Local Dreamings, Global Consumption], in Anheier, Helmut and Raj Isar, Yudhishthir, eds. Cultures and Globalization: The Cultural Economy, London: Sage Publications, pp. 284–291
• Senate Standing Committee on the Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (2007), Indigenous Art: Securing the Future – Australia's Indigenous visual arts and craft sector, Canberra: The Senate
• Wright, F. (with Morphy, F. and Desart Inc.) (1999–2000) The Art and Craft Centre Story (3 vols), Woden: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission

{{Commons category|Australian Aboriginal art}}

• [https://artark.com.au/pages/aboriginal-art-symbols Aboriginal art symbols], on Art Ark - gives meanings of some common symbols
• [https://artcollector.net.au/art-centres/ Guide to Indigenous Art Centres] (Australian Art Collector magazine)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140306224412/http://www.nma.gov.au/audio/detail/country-memory-and-art-understanding-indigenous-art "Country, memory and art: Understanding Indigenous art"], audio + [https://web.archive.org/web/20140307035353/http://www.nma.gov.au/audio/transcripts/NMA_country_memory_20101208.html transcript], by Howard Morphy, John Carty, and Michael Pickering. National Museum of Australia, 8 December 2010
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120525031024/http://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/papunya_painting/home Papunya Painting: Out of the Desert], National Museum of Australia online exhibition of Western Desert art, 2007-8 (archived)

{{Australianartawards}}

{{Prehistoric technology|state=expanded}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Indigenous Australian Art}}

Category:Australian folk art