The Rock Art of Djulirri
In a remote corner of Arnhem Land in central northern Australia, the Aborigines left paintings chronicling 15,000 years of their history. One site in particular, Djulirri, the subject of “Reading the Rocks” in the January/February 2011 issue of ARCHAEOLOGY, contains thousands of individual paintings in 20 discernable layers. In this video series, Paul S. C. Taçon, an archaeologist, cultural anthropologist, and rock art expert from Griffith University in Queensland, takes ARCHAEOLOGY on a tour of some of the most interesting and unusual paintings—depicting everything from cruise ships to dugong hunts to arrogant Europeans—from Djulirri’s encyclopedic central panel.
Samir S. Patel is a senior editor at ARCHAEOLOGY.
Source: The Rock Art of Djulirri by Samir S. Patel – Video – (Archaeology Magazine Archive, 14 December 2010)
Date Visited: 28 July 2020
The first records of European mariners sailing into ‘Australian’ waters occurs around 1606, and includes their observations of the land known as Terra Australis Incognita (unknown southern land). The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutchman, Willem Janszoon. […]
On the 1802 voyage from Sydney, Flinders recruited two Aboriginal people, Bungaree, who had sailed with him on the Norfolk, and Nanbaree. The visit of Flinders and other mariners to the coast of Arnhem Land is recorded in the paintings of ‘praus’ and European ships at rock art sites.
Initially, relations between the explorers and the Aboriginal inhabitants were generally hospitable and based on understanding the terms of trading for food, water, axes, cloth and artefacts, a relationship encouraged by Governor Phillip. These relations became hostile as Aborigines realised that the land and resources upon which they depended and the order of their life were seriously disrupted by the on-going presence of the colonisers. Between 1790 and 1810, clans people of the Eora group in the Sydney area, led by Pemulwuy of the Bidjigal clan, undertook a campaign of resistance against the English colonisers in a series of attacks. […]
During the colonial period, 26 January was called Foundation Day in New South Wales. […] For many Indigenous Australians however, 26 January is not a day of celebration but one of mourning and protest. On the morning of the 26 January for the 1938 sesquicentennial (150th) celebrations, Aboriginal activists met to hold a ‘Day of Mourning’ conference aimed at securing national citizenship and equal status for Aborigines. Citizenship rights for all Aborigines were recognised following a referendum on the issue in 1967. In an attempt to heal some of the pain of Australia’s past, there is now an advanced Reconciliation movement.
Source: european-discovery-and-colonisation | australia.gov.au
Date Visited: Thu May 14 2015 20:13:28 GMT+0200 (CEST)
Google Art Project
Australia’s unique rock art is the only gallery of its kind to feature in Google’s global Art Project launched yesterday in Paris and Canberra today.
Coordinated by Griffith University Chair in Rock Art Professor Paul Taçon, the inclusion of images from the Djulirri rock art complex will feature alongside some of the world’s most famous artworks including Vincent van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night’ and Botticelli’s ‘Venus’
The Google Art Project aims to inspire people to discover and explore the power and beauty of art. […]
Source: Griffith News | Google project puts Australian rock art in world’s elite
Date Visited: Thu May 14 2015
[Bold typeface added above for emphasis]
For more information, type “Aboriginal culture”, “Australian archaeology”, “rock art”, “colonisation Australia”, “Reconciliation movement Australia”, or similar search terms in the search window seen below:
Publications on the above issues may be found here (title descriptions and libraries):