1901.] MATHEWS — ROCK PICTURES IX QUEENSLAND. 57 



ABORIGINAL ROCK PICTURES IN QUEENSLAND. 



BY R. H. MATHEWS, L.S. 



(Read April 12, 1901.) 



A number of interesting aboriginal carvings are found on the 

 Burnett river, parish of South Kolan, county of Cook, in the State 

 of Queensland. The drawings are cut upon some flat rocks situated 

 in the wide channel of the river mentioned, at the junction there- 

 with of Pine creek, this point being a little over fourteen miles in 

 a direct line southwesterly from Bundaberg, an important town on 

 the Burnett river. The small township of South Kolan is situated 

 about four miles northwesterly from these carvings, and is the near- 

 est railway station from which they can be reached. The Burnett 

 river, in this locality, consists of a series of large water-holes, be- 

 tween which the stream runs in narrow channels worn in the rocky 

 bed. 



The rocks containing the carvings are a kind of hard sandstone, 

 which during the greater part of the year are quite dry, but in 

 times of floods are wholly submerged. Owing to the latter circum- 

 stance, and long exposure to the weather, many of the drawings are 

 now scarcely distinguishable. Most of the figures are small, vary- 

 ing from a few inches in length to upward of two feet, representing 

 native weapons, animals, human feet, and several nondescript de- 

 vices. The outline of each figure is defined by a groove cut into 

 the hard surface of the rock to a depth varying from one-eighth to 

 one-quarter of an inch, the width of the groove ranging from less 

 than half an inch in the smallest to about an inch and a quarter in 

 the largest specimens. 



The mode of execution was to make a row of indentations or 

 punctures along the outline of the drawing by means of repeated 

 blows with sharp-pointed pieces of hard stone. The distance be- 

 tween the indentations varies from about a third of an inch to half 

 an inch or more, being farther apart in the larger objects. The space 

 between each puncture was subsequently chipped out, thus making 

 a complete groove around the exterior of the drawing. The po- 

 sitions of the punctures are still discernible, being somewhat deeper 

 and wider than the other portions of the groove — remaining as a 



