Capturing Contact: stories from recent Australian rock art.
Contact period rock art in Australia offers a rare and highly significant insight into the nature of historical interactions and Indigenous engagement with 'outsiders' during the last 400 years. The production of rock art by Indigenous Australians continued throughout recent centuries, often documenting the arrival of Asians and Europeans in various parts of Australia. It provides a first-hand account of Indigenous responses to contact and insights into their, often unpredictable, interest in newly introduced material culture. In this presentation I discuss a nation-wide study of contact rock art than began in 2008 and has continued to inspire new contact period research across Australia and internationally.
Dr Sally K. May Senior Lecturer, School of Archaeology and Anthropology The Australian National University