The Aborigines of Australia

by R.N. Richard Sadleir

These figures and others cut in rocks are found in several parts of Australia, thus doing away with the supposition that they may have been the production of strangers who have landed on portions of the shore, as figures have been found on the eastern shores by Sir George Grey, and also near Sydney, not only on rocks but on trees. How many of these have been engraven on hard rocks with the want of suitable implements it is difficult to divine.

Sir George Grey’s description of some of these is remarkable, a rough sketch of one of which I subjoin, being a figure painted on the roof of caves. This figure is painted on a black ground so as to produce a stronger effect, and covered with the most vivid red and white; its head encircled with bright red rays inside a broad stripe of brilliant red, crossed by lines of white, and then crossed again with narrow stripes of deeper red; the face painted white, the eyes black, surmounted by red and yellow lines; the body and hands outlined with red, the body being curiously painted with red stripes and bars. The dimensions were—head and face, 2 feet; width of face, 17 inches; length from bottom of face to navel, 2 feet 6 inches.

There were other paintings in the cave vividly coloured—one with four heads, joined together with a necklace, but having no mouths, and good-looking, executed on a white ground. Length, 3 feet 6 inches; breadth across two upper parts, 2 feet 6 inches; lower heads, 3 feet 1½ inch.

There were several other paintings of singular character—one being a disc representing a kangaroo as an offering to number one; also spears thrown at some unknown object; the impress of a hand; an arm in the black wall, so as to appear extended round some one in the cave, inviting him to some more concealed mysteries.

In another cave, approached by steps, until they reached a central elevated stone slab, supporting a slab to uphold the roof, was a seat at the extremity. The principal figure was that of a man 10 feet 6 inches in length, clothed from the chin downwards in a red garment reaching to the feet, the hands and feet being painted of a deeper red; the face and head were enveloped in a succession of circular bandages or rollers.

These were vividly coloured yellow and white; the eyes were alone represented on the face, no nose nor mouth. On the bandages were a rolled series of lines, painted in red, regularly done, as if to indicate some meaning. Its feet reached just in front of the natural seat, while its head and face stared grimly down on the floor of the cavern. There were numerous figures of kangaroos, emus, turtles, snakes, &c., on the sides of the cave.

From the appearance of grease on the roof just over the seat, Sir Geo. Grey conjectures that at certain times some doctor or chief man sits there, and that the cave is resorted to in cases of disease or witchcraft; footsteps were seen about the place. The figures are remarkable; the rays of the sun, as we may suppose, emanating from the head, would lead to the belief of the worship of Baal, the God of Fire; while some of the names of the tribes partly support this idea, such as Binbal, Pundyil, &c., &c., &c.

The other figures are clothed from head to foot. This is singular, as the natives have no such garments, their opossum cloak having no sleeves, and not reaching to the feet as here described.

That these caves may be places of worship, like the caves in India, is not improbable, especially when we see the offering of the kangaroo, and the seat for some presiding person, priest, or doctor. The whole no doubt is mysterious, but we hardly think that these people could be entirely destitute of some form of religion, when we take these cave figures into consideration, with the ceremony of initiating young men to manhood, the exclusion of women, prohibition of certain food, their belief in spirits and a future condition, the deification of their chiefs into stars, the deification of heroes, and even of the lowest reptiles and animals.

One figure, representing a whale, was carved near Dawes Battery, Sydney, besides many figures carved on rocks and cut on trees—a kind of picture-painting. On another rock there was a figure of a man 10 feet high, wearing a light red robe, close at the neck, reaching to his feet. He had a pair of eyes, and his face was surrounded by a circle of yellow, and an outward circle of white edged with red.