62 G 
PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 
(1.) In stencilling figures of the human hand or other objects on 
the walla of caves, a smooth surface was selected. The palm of the 
hand was then placed firmly on the rock, with the fingers and thumb 
spread out, and the required colour, generally pipeclay, red ochre, or 
pow'dered charcoal, was squirted or blown over it out of the mouth. 
This method of drawing was also adopted in many instances in 
representing implements of the chase, such as boomerangs, toma- 
hawks, waddies, &c. 
(2.) In the impression method the colour to be used was mixed 
with water, or with oil obtained from fish or birds, in some kind of 
native vessel, into which the palm of the hand was lightly dipped, and 
then pressed against the surface of the rock. On the removal of the 
hand the coloured imprint of it was left clearly defined. 
(3.) Objects to which neither of the preceding methods would be 
applicable were drawn in outline in the required colours. In some 
cases the objects were merely outlined, in other instances they were 
shown in solid colour all over, whilst in others the space within the 
margin of the outlines was shaded by strokes of the same colour or a 
different one. Judging by the appearance of the lines in several of 
the figures drawn by this method, I think it not unlikely that, before 
commencing the drawing, the surface of the rock was damped with 
water or moistened with animal oil, and that then a piece of the 
required colour, as a lump of red ochre, or pipeclay, or charcoal, was 
held in the hand of the operator, and the necessary lines drawn with 
it upon the rock. 
For completo specimens of all the different kinds of painting 
practised by the aborigines, see Fi^s. I to 8, Plate 11., annexed to my 
paper on “ The Aboriginal Bock Pictures of Australia,” published in 
the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, 
Queensland Branch, vol. x., pp. 46-70. 
Carvings, how Produced , — Two methods appear to have been used 
bv the natives in producing rock carvings: (1.) That most generally 
adopted was to cut the required figure on the surface of the rock with 
some sharp-pointed instrument. (2.) The other method was to trace 
on the rock the object to be drawn, and then to grind it out by 
repeated rubbing with a piece of hard stone or pebble along the out- 
line which had been traced. 
(1.) A number of holes were first made close together along the 
outline of the figure to be drawn, and these were afterwards connected 
by cutting out the intervening spaces, thus making a continuous 
groove of the required depth and width. Judging by the punctured 
indentations made in the rock in cutting out the lines of these figures, 
I conclude that the natives had a hard stone or pebble, chipped or 
ground to a point, and used as a chisel. 
(2.) In the Murchison district of West Australia, I am informed 
that outlines of the human foot and other designs arc found scratched 
upon the surface of granite rocks. These outlines have apparently 
been worn into the surface of the stone by repeated rubbing with a 
hard sharp-pointed pebble held in the hand of the operator. 
Probable Age and Significance . — From reliable sources I have 
satisfied myself that rock painting was practised by the aborigines for 
many years after New South Wales was first occupied by the English 
