Fig. 44. Pictographic representation of emu-hunt.
In regard to the quaint head-gear which distinguishes these designs, one need not go far from Australia to find something quite analogous, for the Papuans wear an article which is quite similar to what might be suggested by the drawings.
Fig. 45. Flying fox pattern.
We now turn to a more psychological aspect of primitive Australian art, which includes such factors as convention and imagination. These processes lie behind the symbolization of thought which has evolved a means of pictographically conveying messages from one individual to another, or, collectively, from one tribe to another. Through long usage, the artist has learned to reduce the complexity of a familiar, naturalistic design in such a way that, while still retaining its intrinsic interpretation, he is able to demonstrate by a few lines what ordinarily would require an intricate drawing. The ultimate aim of such a system is, of course, to reduce the execution of a design to a minimum of energy and time, without imperilling the correctness of its interpretation. But whilst the artist is designing to simplify the complexity of his thought symbol, the reciprocative factor of assimilation on the part of his fellows is being stimulated. And by means of this joint education, a design, with a simple motive from Nature behind it, might gradually become so conventionalized that the uninitiated fails entirely to grasp its significance.
PLATE XLIV
1. Hand marks in cave, Port George IV, Worora tribe.
2. Foot marks in cave, Port George IV, Worora tribe.