Earlwood Aboriginal Art Site
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| Earlwood Aboriginal Art Site | |
|---|---|
| Location | Earlwood, New South Wales, Australia |
| Official name | Earlwood Aboriginal Art Site; Aboriginal Art and Midden |
| Type | state heritage (archaeological-terrestrial) |
| Designated | 27 November 2009 |
| Reference no. | 1801 |
| Type | Art site |
| Category | Aboriginal |
Earlwood Aboriginal Art Site is a heritage-listed Aboriginal cultural site at Earlwood, Earlwood, a suburb in Sydney, Australia. It is also known as Aboriginal Art and Midden. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 27 November 2009.[1]
Prior to European settlement the Cooks River Valley was the home of a number of clans of the Aboriginal people. The Gameygal lived on the northern side of Botany Bay, between present day La Perouse and the mouth of the Cooks River. To the north of the Cooks River between South Head and present day Darling Harbour lived the Cadigal people and the Wangal people lived in an area between the Parramatta River and the Cooks River from Darling Harbour to Rose Bay. To the south of Botany Bay in the coastal area including Kurnell and Cronulla and the south coastal strip to Nowra lived the Gweagal people. While there is some argument about the location of land of the Bidiagal clan, there is some evidence that this clan lived in the area between the southern bank of the Cooks River and the northern bank of the Georges River. It is also thought the Cooks River formed the boundary between two dialect groups, the Bidiagal and the Gweagal. Previous reports on the Aboriginal past of the area where the Art site is located have suggested that it was occupied by the Bidiagal.[2][3][4] The potential association of the Bidiagal people with the site should not be discounted as a result of this lack of historical detail as after the collapse of the clan structure due to the smallpox epidemic of 1788 and general impact of European invasion, individuals travelled beyond the pre-1788 traditional boundaries.[1]
While the age of the midden and rock paintings is at present unknown as no archaeological investigation has been conducted, it is accepted that the site was regularly used by the Aboriginal people of the local area as they travelled between sites of ceremonial importance and sources of food and water that changed with the seasons. It is thought that the warmer months were spent nearer the coast and the cold months of winter were spent further inland.[5][1]
Throughout Australia traditional Aboriginal people practised art making in the places on their land that they visited in their seasonal travels. Rock art includes engraving, painting using ochres and charcoals, hand printing and stencilling of hands, feet and objects such a boomerangs, small animals kangaroo paws etc. Hand stencils and prints are the most common and feet appear to be the least common motifs for stencilling. The art site at Earlwood contains stencilled hands and feet. The stencils were made by spraying from the mouth a mixture of white ochre and water over an individual's hand.[1]
It is not known with certainty why traditional Aboriginal people made stencils or other art on particular rock formations although discussion with Aboriginal people has indicated that it is highly likely that the reasons differed from region to region throughout Australia. Possible motivations for the practise include that it may have been a way of indicating that the group had been in that place and where they had moved on to or that art was made as part of a ritual or ceremony held in that place. Alternatively stencilling may have been done to show a person's or group's bond with an area of land. The making of artwork and stencils may have been a way of connecting with ancestral beings, embodied in the natural features of the country including rock outcrops such as the one in Earlwood. The practise of stencilling may have been the way in which older, initiated members of a group introduced the ancestral being to younger group members. The initiated members stencilled the forearm and hands on the rock embodying their ancestors and younger members had their only their hands stencilled. The foot stencils are a rare phenomena and the significance of these cannot be definitely determined although they may indicate direction or were casual occurrences.[1]
While land closer to the town of Sydney was relatively quickly carved up as land grants to settlers in the first years of the European colony, the land on the southern side of the Cooks River was not subject to land granting until 1904. It was not until 1808 when a number of very large land grants were made over land which traditionally provided Aboriginal people access to the resource rich area of the Georges River, Kurnell Bay and Salt Pan Creek that land became the reason for conflict between the Bidiagal and European settlers. In 1809, an attack was made on two farms at Punchbowl led by a Bidiagal man named Tedbury. Tedbury was the son of Pemulway who had led perhaps the best known campaign of resistance in the Sydney Basin including a spear attack on Governor Phillip's game keeper, a man renowned for his hostility to the Aboriginal people of the Sydney area. Pemulway and Tedbury spoke the Bidiagal dialect, and are known to have come from around Botany Bay.[3][1]
The attack at Punchbowl was the last reported act of Aboriginal resistance to European settlement in the Cooks River Valley. In the following years as a result of alienation from their land and its resources and being subject to the devastation of European infectious diseases, the Aboriginal population in the area dramatically reduced. In 1845 it was reported to the New South Wales Legislative Select Committee that there were only 3 people of the Botany Bay clan and only fifty Aboriginal people were living in the area between the Cooks and Georges River.[5][1]
During the 19th Century European settlers transformed the land along both banks of the Cooks river as farms were established for grazing and raising a family's food needs, and also for other industries such as tanning, production of sugar, the harvesting of timber, and also the production of lime from the many middens which had been left by the Aboriginal people of the area for thousands of years. Lime was a scarce and necessary commodity for European settlement in the early year s of the colony.[6][1]
The part of Earlwood in which the Aboriginal Art site is located was bought at auction between 1835 and 1836 by Abraham B. Pollack. Polack acquired the eight grants totalling 790 acres (320 ha). By the 1880s the estate was being subdivided and the area subsequently became increasingly urbanised.[7][1]
Despite the disturbance of the environment there is abundant evidence of pre-contact Aboriginal occupation of the area including the rock art and midden site. The rock art site was first recorded by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) in 1974[8] and a later anonymous drawing of the rock art site is dated c.1970.[9][1]
Description
The Aboriginal Art site at Earlwood comprises a midden in a rock shelter with stencils of hands and feet on the rock walls of the shelter. There are 23 white hand stencils, two of which also depict forearms. Also included are two white foot stencils, a rare occurrence in the Sydney area and throughout Australia. The Midden is largely undisturbed although soil and rubbish lie on top of the midden.[1]
The site is situated within the context of a rock outcropping from the sandstone ridgeline which dominates the landscape on the south side of the Cooks River valley at Earlwood.[1]
The art is situated inside the rock shelter, which is open on its north side, looking out over the Cooks River valley. The midden deposit is situated at the mouth and on the floor of the rock shelter. Mature plantings which previously screened the rock shelter have been removed, exposing the rock shelter and midden to the elements. The site suffers from weed growth, in particular the midden deposit, which has been disturbed (at least at the surface) by the manual removal of weeds.[1]
The painted stencil art is situated on the walls inside the rock shelter. The first formal recording of the site was made in 1974 by NPWS.[8] The recording was not detailed, possibly due to obscuring vegetation, and noted only "5 very faint hand stencils, some very indistinct charcoal lines".[1]
An informal recording of the site by a former neighbour was conducted prior to this (c.1970), and recorded at least 10 hand stencils within the rock shelter.[9] A more detailed recording, including survey sheet, drawing and photographs, was made in 1979.[9] The 1979 recording noted that there were 23 white hand stencils, of which two also showed the forearms. The recording also noted 2 foot stencils. The recorder noted that stencils at the south end of the shelter were covered by dust, and were therefore not fully recorded, and that potentially more stencils would be found in that area under the dust. The 1979 recording also noted that the shell midden was probably about 4 feet deep, was littered with rubbish, but generally undisturbed at that time. Observed shells included Anadara trapezia (Sydney Cockle), Pyrazus ebeninus (Hercules' Club Whelk) and Crassostrea commercialis (Sydney Rock Oyster). The recording also noted that a former neighbour had collected about 20 stone flakes from the site (prior to NPWS legislation protecting Aboriginal relics).[1]
The most recent formal investigation of the site was conducted for the purposes of a 2005 Archaeological Assessment.[4] The Assessment noted that the site's condition "appears similar to that observed on previous visits - although the midden deposit may be more disturbed than previously noted". In addition to the shell species previously observed, the Assessment also noted the presence of Trichomya hirsuta (Hairy Mussel). The Assessment noted the presence of Sydney cockle and whelk shells on the surface elsewhere on the site, but in the context of building debris, and likely to have been moved downhill (by erosion or other disturbance). The Assessment indicated that "the rock shelter was probably the focus of midden making/consumption activity in the landscape", and therefore a curtilage 15 metres (49 ft) from the rear boundary would include "all possible locations at the front of the shelter where intact deposit may be located sub-surface".[1]
Having regard to the painted stencils, the 2005 Assessment recorded what is possibly a third foot stencil. The Assessment noted that the site "would benefit from a detailed recording (including hand and foot stencil measurements and proper description, and the relationship between the motifs being recorded)".[1]
Condition
As at 11 June 2009, the site has been deteriorating over time due to a lack of protection and poor site management practices. The midden deposit has been disturbed by erosion and the manual removal of invasive weeds. The visibility of the stencils within the shelter has deteriorated over time (observation based upon comparison with the 1970s recordings and subsequent records of site visits by Council officers). This process appears to have accelerated since screening vegetation was removed from around the rock shelter. Though it has been disturbed, the depth of the midden deposit is uncertain, and is likely to have archaeological potential. An Archaeological Assessment of the site[10] has indicated that archaeological potential is restricted to the area identified as the curtilage for the site. Though shell fragments have been observed mid-slope and at the street frontage of the property, these have been stray finds likely resulting from erosion and other disturbance. The 1979 recording of the site[9] noted that a former neighbour had once collected stone tool fragments from the site. There is no record of flaked stone tools or debitage being observed on the site since then.[1]
Modifications and dates
The phasing of the painted stencils is uncertain, i.e. whether they were produced within a discrete period of time, or whether they were the product of several phases of painting over a longer period of time. The date(s) of the midden and rock art cannot be ascertained without further investigation. None of the art indicates evidence of contact with Europeans.[1]
Further information
The surface of the midden deposit has been disturbed by erosion and the manual removal of weeds. The painted stencils have not been physically harmed by vandalism, though litter has been observed within the rock shelter. The visibility of the paintings however has deteriorated due to weathering as a result of the lack of protective screening. Expert advice is required to determine whether the effects of weathering can be reversed in order to recover and preserve the stencils.[1]
Anecdotal information indicated that there were other Aboriginal sites on adjoining properties, including engravings on a rock surface at the top of the cliff directly behind the site, but which had been destroyed by development at least by 1979.[9][1]
