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Marking resistance? Change and continuity in the recent rock art of the southern Kimberley, Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Sue O'Connor ,
Jane Balme ,
Jane Fyfe ,
June Oscar ,
Mona Oscar ,
June Davis ,
Helen Malo ,
Rosemary Nuggett  and
Dorothy Surprise
Sue O'Connor
Affiliation:
1Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, ACT 0200, Australia (Email: sue.oconnor@anu.edu.au)
Jane Balme
Affiliation:
2Archaeology M405, School of Social Sciences, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia (Email: jane.balme@uwa.edu.au; jane.fyfe@uwa.edu.au)
Jane Fyfe
Affiliation:
2Archaeology M405, School of Social Sciences, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia (Email: jane.balme@uwa.edu.au; jane.fyfe@uwa.edu.au)
June Oscar
Affiliation:
3PO Box 43, Fitzroy Crossing, WA 6765, Australia (Email: mwrcceo@bigpond.com)
Mona Oscar
Affiliation:
3PO Box 43, Fitzroy Crossing, WA 6765, Australia (Email: mwrcceo@bigpond.com)
June Davis
Affiliation:
4Muludja Community, PO Box 322, Fitzroy Crossing, WA 6765, Australia
Helen Malo
Affiliation:
4Muludja Community, PO Box 322, Fitzroy Crossing, WA 6765, Australia
Rosemary Nuggett
Affiliation:
5Mimbi Community, PO Box 75, Fitzroy Crossing, WA 6765, Australia
Dorothy Surprise
Affiliation:
5Mimbi Community, PO Box 75, Fitzroy Crossing, WA 6765, Australia
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Abstract

Enhanced by recent survey, the authors define new kinds of rock art along the Lennard and Fitzroy rivers in Western Australia—black pigment and scratch-work images featuring anthropomorphic figures with elaborate head-dresses. These are shown to belong to the Contact period and represent the response of Indigenous artists to European land-taking by recalling and restating traditional themes from earlier times.

Keywords

AustraliaKimberleyContact periodrock art
Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 87 , Issue 336 , 1 June 2013 , pp. 539 - 554
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2013

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