Australian Art

 

Stone art

This photo shows the painting of Baiame by an unknown Wiradjuri artist in 'Baiame's Cave' near Singleton, New South Wales. Notice the length of his arms reaching out to the two trees on either side.

Rock art, including painting and engraving or carving (petroglyphs), can be found at sites across Australia. Examples of rock art believed to represent extinct megafauna such as Genyornis and Thylacoleo have been found in the Pleistocene era, as well as more recent historical events such as the arrival of European ships.

The oldest examples of rock art, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and the Olary district of South Australia, are estimated to be around 40,000 years old. The earliest evidence of rock painting in Australia is a charcoal drawing on a small rock fragment found during the excavation of the Narwala Gabarnmang rock shelter in southwest Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Dating back 28,000 years, it is one of the oldest known pieces of rock art on Earth with a confirmed date. It is believed that this decorated fragment may have been part of a larger ceiling artwork, however, the shape of the original motif is unknown. The oldest unequivocal in situ rock art motif in Australia is a large painting of a macropod from a rock shelter in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, radiometrically dated in a February 2021 study to be approximately 17,300 years old.