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settlers in these parts, for the ruins of a long-habited dwelling- 

 house stand within a few hundred yards of their position, which, 

 is easily visible and accessible. But if observed they seem 

 to have been forgotten, for those who, more recently, have lived 

 many years in the locality — even the owners of Yatalunga — 

 had no knowledge of their existence till they were recently 

 brought to notice by Mr. Percy Ifould. This gentleman, in 

 company with two fellow-students of the School of Mines, quit-e 

 recently discovered the larger of the two shelters in the course 

 of a geological excursion. On a second visit the smaller shelter 

 was noticed by Mr. W. Brooks, of Smithfield. 



The shelters are situated about two miles to the north-east 

 of Yatalunga House in a valley in the Barossa Ranges on th« 

 right bank of the South Para, close to a sharp bend in the 

 stream. Here the hillside rises steeply from within a few 

 yards of the river bank; a little lower down, the hill-slope 

 springs from the bank itself. 



My colleague, Mr. Howchin, informs me that the material 

 of the rock, the unequal weathering of which has produced the 

 shelters, varies from a clay slate (phyllite) to a fine-grained 

 schistose rock. This decomposes to a fine impalpable powder 

 making good soil, as evidenced by the abundant growth of 

 grass which it supports 



There are two shelters in which paintings exist. The larger 

 (Plate iii.) is a recess a few yards from, and a few feet above, 

 the normal river bank, and is stated to be beyond the level of 

 the highest flood. This shelter is 15 feet in, length, 6 feet 

 high at its mouth, and about the same in depth. On the 

 rather uneven dark smrface of the back wall are the drawing's 

 numbered 1 — 9 (Plate iv.). They are all done in red ochre, 

 margined with a narrow band of white material. All but one 

 of these are zoomorphic in character, representing animal 

 objects. Of these fig. 1 is clearly a, snake, possibly (from its 

 shape) a death adder, and a lively imagination might conceive 

 it as represented in the act of striking. Fig. 2, from the shape 

 of the head and the "turn up" of the toes, is apparently the 

 figure of a man. I interpret fig. 3 as that of a dog which, 

 notwithstanding its general crudeness, distinctly conveys the 

 idea of active motion. Figs. 4 and 5 — the latter indistinct — 

 represent bird tracks, probably those of the emu. Fig. 6 may 

 perhaps be intended for a sleeJDing lizard, though the limbs are- 

 disproportionately long for this animal. For fig. 7 I have no 

 suggestion to offer, unless it be a design for a corrobboree deco- 

 ration pattern or be one of a class of paintings that will be 



