Boulder Sunday by @shasta - Aboriginal Art on the Kimberly Rocks !!

in bouldersunday •  6 years ago 

The Kimberley Ranges in Western Australia was always a dream of my to see it's a lot like the Grand Canyon of America but much larger area in size and a lot more rivers and waterfalls which makes it more spectacular you can say it's an ancient landscape covering hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, the Kimberley is one of the world's most precious wilderness regions.


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The Kimberly Ranges is three times larger than England and with a population of less than 40,000 people , the Kimberley ranges is spread over Australia's entire north-western corner and is one of the world's last wilderness frontiers.


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Their is certainly a lot to cover and see in this vast amazing area but my main objective here is to show you some Aboriginal Arts of the Kimberleys. After boating down the King George River and then to the Drysdale River in the Kimberley region of northern West Australia we come to many caves and burial grounds of Aboriginal people.


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I am going to give you some Text: adapted from Wikipedia which will best describe these strange mysterious Aboriginal Art work. The Bradshaw Paintings as they have been named.


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Bradshaw rock paintings are a distinctive style of rock art found in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. They are named after the pastoralist Joseph Bradshaw who was the first European to discover them in 1891, whilst searching for grazing land for his cattle. The Bradshaws are also known as Gwion Gwion by the local Aboriginal people.


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Scientists estimate that there may be more than 100 000 sites spread over 50 000 km² of the Kimberley. In 1996 one of the paintings was dated by analyzing an ancient wasp nest covering it (using thermoluminescence). The nest was found to be over 17,000 years old, indicating that some paintings are at least this old.


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Debate rages as to who actually created the art. On one side of the debate is Grahame Walsh, an amateur archaeologist and the leading expert on the Bradshaws with over 1.2 million images he has amassed over 21 years studying them. His hypothesis claims that the Bradshaws were painted by a culture predating present day Indigenous Australians.


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On the other side are the mainstream scientific community who believe that it is completely plausible that the art was produced by the local people. Controversy surrounds this debate as it is believed by some non-indigenous Australians that if the Bradshaw art is found not to be Aboriginal in origin, land rights claims by Indigenous Australians may be undermined.


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Regardless of whether the Bradshaw art is Aboriginal or exotic, "mainstream" Indigenous art is also found in the Kimberley region - proof that Indigenous people have inhabited and had cultural connection to the area.


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According to legend, the Bradshaw figures were made by birds. It was said that these birds pecked the rocks until their beaks bled, and then created these fine paintings by using a tail feather and their own blood. Now that i will not believe tell me they were done by Aliens and i would tend to believe more but regardless this was some amazing history to see right in my backyard home country of Australia and hopefully some day i will go back to see more of this amazing region.


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#bouldersunday hosted by @shasta

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The area looks dry where the art work is.. I suppose that would better preserve them ...

This is true they are preserved better without all that harsh weather :)

Impressive rocks, especially on the first photo!
That is quite interesting story about the paintings.

Thank you my friend certainly a lot of history there and so much more to be seen :)

Love these rocks with lots of energy! The sea is so beautiful too! Nice shots!

Thank you my friend definitely a lot of energy and life in them rocks lots of history there :)

Oh my goodness @hangin!! These are fabulous boulders and rock art! :-)
You do know that is my favorite combo! lol
It would be so awesome to see this place on solstices and equinoxes
and watch the sun rise and set. See what wonders unfold!
That top photo is just killer cool looking, second one to with the long
island and the round looking island in the middle!
It must of been so exciting to see in person!
Thank you for showing your amazing boulder trip!!

I was googling about these rock arts it is absolutely amazing in what they represent there ways of thinking in them days they really tell some stories you can actually camp out at these mountains and watch the awesome sunsets and clear night sky with millions of stars above you. Lots of them caves were used as burial grounds for the Aborigines so you could imagine what would unfold in the nights...lol :)

These are beyond fabulous! What a wonderful place!

It was really a interesting place to see one place i would love to go back to :)