ABORIGINAL DRAWINGS AT BUNDANOON, N.S.W. — THORPE. 327 



Most of the animals drawn in charcoal at Bandanoon have 

 been represented in rock carvings and figured by Mr. W. I). 

 Campbell. 4 Special attention may be directed to the following. 

 Shields occur frequently as carvings, likewise fish and turtle, 

 whilst gravings of the human figure aie freely made along with 

 other objects of natural history. 



From these comparisons it will be apparent that the Aborigines 

 did not depict certain objects with pigment and carve others, 

 hut all were produced by either method. 



As far as the Bundanoon pictographs are concerned, I do not 

 think the objects have any ritual significance or esoteric meaning. 

 Their presence may be accounted for in the following manner. 

 "Art," we are told, "is the expression of human emotion in 

 drawing, music, ornamentation, etc." Perhaps in the personnel 

 of a tribe one or more of its members possessed a penchant for 

 drawing, and the artistic taste has expressed itself on these 

 rough walls. 



Some of the objects are fairly true to nature, others again are 

 below the average of Aboriginal art. 



Fig. 3, Shelter No. 1, is a characteristic attituele of the lacer- 

 tilians, while the corrobboree has often been depicted better 

 elsewhere. The nearest approach to the pictures which form the 

 subject of this paper are those drawn on bark (in colours) from 

 Essington Island, North Australia, and figured by Dr. J. 0. Cox. 5 



A series of charcoal drawings was figured by .Mr. Bassett 

 Smith, ' ; discovered by him at Parry Island, North-West Aus- 

 tralia. 



A great deal has been written and figured on this subject, 

 namely, the mural art of the Australian Aborigines, and [ have 

 sought out some references which may be useful for comparison 

 and study. 



Mr. It. Brough-Smyth, in his voluminous work, 7 records many 

 instances of animals, etc., depicted in caves. E. M. Curr 8 also 

 mentions the occurrence of shelter pictographs. While brief 

 reference is made to the subject in their " Northern Tribes," 5 



3 Roth— Lor. at., fig. '2S0. 



^Campbell — Aborig. Carvings of Port Jackson & Broken Bay (Mem. 

 Geol. Survey N.S.Wales, Eth. Series, i., L899). 



5 Cox -Proc. Linn. Soe. X.S.Wales, iii., 1878, pt. ii., pis. xv.-xvi. 

 n Bassett-Smith — Lor. cit. 



7 Smyth — Aborigines Vict, ii., 1878, p. 222 (appendix). 



8 Curr — Austr. Race, i., I8S6, p. 95 ; ii., pp. 403 and 476. 



9 Spencer and Gillen — Northern Tribes Cent. Austr., 1904, p. 716. 



