Some really, really old Aboriginal art

A Catholic mass is no match for Aboriginal rock art when it comes to the passage of time.

     There are a few sites around Baralaba which boast ancient rock paintings and I first visited this site back in 1988.  The art is hand prints only and I was keen for the kids to visit.  

Baralaba rock art

     I explained to Seffy and Kibby anthropologists have estimated some Aboriginal rock paintings to be 40,000 years old.  While both Kibby and Seffy know place value to hundreds of millions, it is understandable that my claims were met with puzzled expressions.  They know my pastel paintings have developed mould after a few years and sketching paper yellows with age.

     ‘We're going to see some really, really old Aboriginal art.’

     They were satisfied with that.

     When we visited Laura in 2012 we did a tour with Tom and saw some rock art.  I marvelled at the diversity of subjects; kangaroos, spirits, pig, a gun, a figure wearing a hat and a miner’s tool. After all, the region had mines, tin I recall.

Laura art. A miner's tool.

Tom, Seffy and Kibby

      Some of the Laura paintings appeared to be painted over others.  The art was sophisticated and taken together, painted a picture that spoke a thousand words. I am ignorant when it comes to Aboriginal art, but I felt the paintings were underscored by the tragedy of colonisation, of whites using the gun to take control. 

     The Baralaba hand prints, on the other hand, had a youthfulness about them as if a teenager was bored one day and experimented with leaving his or her mark.  It was only a thought, perhaps the product of a fertile imagination.

     I would have liked to have seen other rock paintings while I was in Baralaba, but time was limited.  I did wonder if other paintings included guns.  I hope to return to Baralaba and learn more about this tiny town.  When I do, the Aboriginal paintings will still be there.