Rock Art Research

Distinctive, generally small, red human figures painted on rocks in the northern Kimberley region of Western Australia came to be known as ‘Bradshaw figures’ after the person who first described them, as early researchers could not identify Aboriginal names or associated mythology for them. More recently, Aboriginal traditional owners and Western academics have preferred to call these figures Gwions, but there has been no consensus on more specific Aboriginal names suitable to distinguish the types of Gwions that have been used to establish a relative chronological sequence for this rock art corpus. This paper presents an emic taxonomy for the main distinctive types of these delightful and ancient figures: ‘tassel Bradshaws’ become Mambi or Ngunuru Gwions, ‘sash Bradshaws’ are now Yowna Gwions, ‘elegant action figures’ are Dynamic Gwions, and ‘clothes peg figures’ are Wararrajai or Dalal Gwions.