Rock Art Research

The region of northwest Australia from the Daly River to the Fitzmaurice and Victoria Rivers is relatively poorly understood in rock art terms especially compared to the two well-known rock art provinces of Arnhem Land (Northern Territory) and the Kimberley plateau of northern Western Australia. It has been argued that the Mimi and/or Dynamic figures of the former and Gwion figures of the latter must be related because of a series of shared characteristics, but the lack of information from the region between the two has been seen as problematic. During a project to record rock-markings at Indigenous Australian cultural heritage places near the major settlement of Wadeye and along the Fitzmaurice River, we found instances of pictograms with similarities to those reported for Arnhem Land, the Keep River area to the immediate southwest, and the Kimberley plateau. Here we detail some of the distinctively hued anthropomorphs recorded at shelters located on both sides of the Fitzmaurice River and explore their similarities with those from other regions. Among the shared characteristics are anthropomorphous figures with slender ‘limbs’ and large ‘headdresses’; apparent absence of or limited surface pigmentation; and ‘wine-red’ hues ranging from dark purple to light red. Following discussions of dating and terminology we evaluate a model proposed to account for the similarities of these figures across the northwest of Australia.