450 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 



to Mr. T. A. Bradshaw, the officer in charge of the telegraph station 

 at Ahce Springs, sending him a copy of Mr. Worsnop's report and 

 a reproduction of his plate xii., asking Mr. Bradshaw to send me a 

 photograph of the paintings at Ooraminna rock-hole. He ac- 

 knowledged my letter, and after a long interval he got a chance 

 to comply with my request. In August, 1907, he wrote to me from 

 Alice Springs as follows : — 



" I availed myself of an opportunity occurring last week to visit the 

 Ooraminna (or Uraminna) range and waterhole, 30 miles southerly from 

 here, taking my camera with me. I had to exercise great patience to secure 

 a photograph of the drawings you refer to, as they are on the sloping roof 

 of the cave. I had to watch until the sun shone between two boulders on to 

 the floor of the cave, and then take the picture with reflected light. I forward 

 you a copy of the result, hoping it will be of interest ; anyhow it will dispose 

 of Mr. Worsnop's elaborately uniform and fanciful design. (Plate 12). 



" The cave is situated at the north-west end of the waterhole, and is 

 about 15 feet long, going back about 10 feet into the rock. The height of 

 the roof from the floor at the outside or front would be about 7 feet, rapidly 

 decreasing downwards, until at the back, some 10 or 12 feet distant, the 

 roof and floor join together. The roof, like the rest of the cave, consists of 

 desert sandstone, and has not been painted white, as stated by Mr. Worsnop, 

 but is in its natural state. The greater part of the roof or ceiling is covered 

 with sketches, of which my photograph represents about a fourth, and is a 

 fair sample. (See fi^. 3). They are drawn in white, yellow, and red ochre, 

 and there is no trace of a regular design of any kind. There are a few similar 

 markings on some sheltered rocks outside the cave, but no human hands or 

 feet, either inside or outside, unless they are so faint as to be unrecognisable 

 as such." 



I also asked Mr. Bradshaw to try and obtain a photograph of 

 the " sculptured rocks " described by Mr. Worsnop at the junction 

 of Sullivan's Creek with the Finke River (p. 144 and Plate 19). He 

 replies : — 



" I have not seen them, and am not likely to be in that neighbourhood 

 to inspect them. 1 am of opinion, however, that Mr. Worsnop's Plate 19 is 

 too regular to be reliable, and would advise inspection by some capable 

 person." 



At p. 142, Vol. 6, Mr. Worsnop further states : — • 



" At Buckland's tableland, in Central Queensland, on the banks of 

 \ardoo Creek, is a high cliff, and on its face is a magnificently executed 

 picture, representing a lake of fire, out of which are stretched dusky brown 

 arms in hundreds . . . The hands are elevated as in the agonies of 

 death, as though a host were engulfed in a seething lake of fire . . . 

 Every joint can be seen, and each looks alive . . . The whole picture is 

 about 70 feet across . . . The groundwork of this grand picture is 

 painted in pigments of red, white, blue and 5?ellow, giving the general effect 

 of a mass of sulphurous fire." 



I sent a copy of the above to a resident of the district indi- 

 cated, and asked him to make inquiries. He reported that Nardoo 

 Creek is about 60 miles southerly from Springsure, in the county 

 of Denison, Queensland. On the smooth natural face of an over- 

 hanging rocir, sheltered from the rain, a large number of hands 

 are stencilled in the way commonly adopted by the natives, as well 

 as a few other devices. He says there is nothing remarkable about 

 the work, and that to call it a " magnificent picture." or that it 

 represents " a seething lake of fire," is a ludicrous misdescription. 



