Introduction
Predating the ancient pyramids there lived and still exist a people with the longest recorded cultural history on earth. Central to Aboriginal beliefs is an intimate understanding of the surrounding natural environment. Mountains, deserts and waterholes are symbolic footprints, testimony to the actions of ancestral spirits in the ‘dreamtime’, a time outside of time, before man existed.
The Dampier rock art covers an area of 42 km spanning 45 islands, and is world’s largest corpus of rock art and standing stones. Perhaps constituting over one million images, the petroglyphs range from geometric designs relating from the cosmos and to vivid depictions of prehistoric animals such as the
fat-tailed kangaroo and the Tasmanian devil. Read more
The now extinct fat-tailed kangaroo.
Dampier has a resonance beyond that of indigenous heritage as it is one of man’s great scientific achievements. The site belongs to all people.
The Dampier Rock Art Precinct is itself one of the world’s great treasures. The site’s significance in indigenous heritage relates to the very foundation of Australia and some of the world’s oldest cultures. The eyes of the world are now firmly on Australia who must demonstrate that it respects the need to conserve this amazing scientific and spiritual place.
Tom Perrigo, CEO National Trust of Australia (WA)
Etched out of solid granite, the petroglyphs on the Burrup Peninisula in remote North-West Australia are from 6-30,000 years old.