Picturing Change and Changing Pictures: Contact Period Rock Art of Australia

Re‐evaluating the timing of the Indonesian trepang industry in north‐west Arnhem Land: chronological investigations at Malara (Anuru Bay A)

“…Whether these complex interactions with Macassan trepang fishing fleets, and their influences noted by other researchers on Arnhem Land Indigenous society can be detected in the archaeological record is of significant interest to archaeologists (Clarke , ; Clarke & Frederick ; Clark & May ; Mitchell , , ; Taçon et al . ; Wesley & Litster ).…”

Ships and Maritime Activities in the North-eastern Indian Ocean: re-analysis of rock art of Tham Phrayanaga (Viking Cave), southern Thailand

“…Among the Semang of Lenggong, Perak, Malaysia, for instance, rock art and designs on objects were often non‐figurative in traditional times but after contact much figurative rock art was produced, with a focus on the new people, their modes of transport and some of the things they introduced (Mokhtar and Taçon, : 459). The same is true of Aboriginal Australians of central Australia, such as the Arrernte (Taçon et al ., : 207–214). The sudden shift from non‐figurative to figurative art needs to be investigated in other parts of the world and for previous periods of the past as it may give us insight into reasons for change in rock‐art styles in much more ancient times.…”

“…Of the three human figures, two are shown with one hand on a hip. At the Semang rock‐art sites of Perak, Malaysia and Aboriginal sites of various parts of Australia it was common to depict Europeans with one or both of their hands on their hips (see for example Mokhtar and Taçon, ; Taçon et al ., ). Thus the scene likely shows Europeans with the horse, rather than Thais, Malays or indigenous people of the region.…”

Rock art evidence for Macassan–Aboriginal contact in northwestern Arnhem Land

“…These images are historical records-a visual narrative of contact experience-and are part of a much wider and important body of rock art that informs us of past crosscultural contact from an informed, Indigenous perspective (for example, see Taçon et al 2012). In this sense they are a form of historical documentation that is visually based rather than text based.…”

“…It is no surprise then that evidence for this relationship also appears in rock art at Malarrak, a complex of multiple rock shelters. All of the paintings depicted at the four main shelters within Malarrak were comprehensively documented between 2008 and 2010 as part of the Australian Research Council project 'Picturing Change' (Taçon et al 2012). This rich record reveals many examples of contact rock art including European watercraft, smoking pipes, a building, guns, horned animals and even a drinking mug.…”