Author Description

The Mount Borradaile region in northern Arnhem Land in the 'Top End' of the Northern Territory contains some of the most stunning rock paintings, not just in Australia but in the whole world. In terms of artistic quality, quantity, colorfulness and excellent state of preservation, this body of rock art is unrivalled. The walls of hundreds of rock-shelters are decorated with innumerable pictures documenting traditional Aboriginal life over many thousands of years. Subjects range from now-extinct animals to twentieth century sailing ships, and art techniques are equally varied, including stencils and the rare use of beeswax to portray the eyes and other features of some figures. As in much of Australian Aboriginal art, the largest and most elaborate paintings with finely drawn internal decoration portray Ancestral Beings from the Dreaming, the era of Creation. Such sites are of significance to Aboriginal traditional owners, who still recount stories describing the travels of the Rainbow Serpent and other Creative Ancestors across the landscape.