Quinkan rock art refers to a large body of locally, nationally and internationally significant Aboriginal rock art in Australia of a style characterised by their unique representations of "Quinkans" (an Aboriginal mythological being, often spelt "Quinkin"), found among the sandstone

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...

s around the small town of

Laura, Queensland Laura is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Laura had a population of 228 people. It is the centre for the largest collection of prehistoric rock art in the world, including Quinkan ...

(aka Quinkan region or Quinkan country).Cole,N & Buhrich, A 2012 Quinkan Country was inscribed on the

Australian National Heritage List The Australian National Heritage List or National Heritage List (NHL) is a heritage register, a list of national heritage places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia, established in 2003. The list includes natural and ...

on 10 November 2018.

Location

The

Australian Heritage Commission The Australian Heritage Commission (AHC), was the Australian federal government authority established in 1975 by the ''Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975'' as the first body to manage natural and cultural heritage in Australia until its de ...

's 1980 entry on the register of the national estateAustralian Heritage Commission 1980 describes the Quinkan rock art as being located across 230,000 hectares of rugged

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

plateaux and escarpments 4 km south east of Laura and 50 km west of

Cooktown Cooktown is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. Cooktown is at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland where James Cook beached his ship, the Endeavour, for repairs ...

. Selected sites are open for visits by the public, through guided tours with local Aboriginal guides organised by the Quinkan Regional Cultural Centre. Split Rock, approximately 15 km south of Laura, is currently open to self-guided visitors for a small fee. The Quinkan Reserves, owned by Aboriginal Trustees, are closed to public access.

Significance

The Australian Heritage Commission's 1980 national estate entry describes the Quinkan rock art as constituting "..some of the largest bodies of prehistoric art in the world. The paintings are generally large and well preserved, and engravings of great antiquity occur. The Quinkan art is outstanding both in variety, quantity and quality." The two brothers, George Musgrave and Tommy George dedicated their lives to protecting the rock art and teaching a number of younger Aboriginal Traditional Owners about the history and stories relating to their connection to the land and rock art of the Quinkan region.

Description

Rock art types include painting, stencil and engravings. Painting is generally in a figurative style, with people, animals and their tracks and mythical beings are depicted, usually in one or two colours.

Red ochre Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...

dominates although white, yellow, black and a rare blue pigment also exist. Engravings of both figurative and abstract styles are found throughout Quinkan country. Cultural heritage of the Quinkan region also includes story places, campsites and other evidence of Aboriginal people's long occupation history. In the 1870s the

Palmer River Gold Rush During the Australian gold rushes, starting in 1851, significant numbers of workers moved from elsewhere in History of Australia, Australia and overseas to where gold had been discovered. Gold had been found several times before, but the Colo ...

brought a large influx of European and Chinese miners into Quinkan country, with thousands of miners traversing through here between the goldfields and the port of Cooktown. Despite the violent clashes that took place between miners and Aboriginal people, and the subsequent attempts at control of Aboriginal people by government policy, a highly significant

connection to country The concept of country, as an identity or descriptive quality, varies widely across the world, although some elements may be common among several groups of people. Rurality One interpretation is the state or character of being rural, regardles ...

and culture by Aboriginal people remains.

Gallery

Image:Quinkan2.jpg Image:Quinkan4.jpg Image:Quinkan5.jpg Image:Quinkan6.jpg

References

{{Reflist

Bibliography

(1980
Quinkan Country, Peninsula Development Road, Laura, Queensland, Australia. Initial Entry on the Australian Heritage Commissions Register of the National Estate, now entry upon the Australian Heritage database
accessed 20 January 2013 * Australian Parliament House of Representatives Standing Committee on Environment and Conservation (1979) Preservation of the Quinkan Galleries, Cape York Peninsula : report from the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Environment and Conservation, March 1979. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service * Cole, N. (1995). "Rock Art in the Laura-Cooktown Region, S.E. Cape York Peninsula", Tempus Vol. 3. St. Lucia, Qld: Anthropology Museum, University of Queensland * Cole, N. (2003) "Laura rock art, Cape York Peninsula: A model of regional style" Adoranten 5-22. * Cole,N & Buhrich, A (2012
"Endangered Rock Art: Forty Years of Cultural Heritage Management in the Quinkan region, Cape York Peninsula" Australian Archaeology Number 75
* George, T. & Musgrave, G. (1995) Our country, our art, our Quinkans. Laura: Ang-gnarra Aboriginal Corporation * George, T & Musgrave,

Accessed 22 January 2013 * Morwood, M & Hobbs, D (eds) (1995

Tempus Volume 3. Anthropology Museum, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane. * Nulty,D & Conway,J (2010
"Tour Guide Manual for the Laura Rangers" Guidebook produced for the Laura rangers, South Cape York Catchments, and Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management
Accessed 20 January 2013 * Rosenfeld, A, D Horton & J Winter (1981) Early Man in North Queensland: Art and Archaeology in the Laura Area. Canberra: Terra Australia 6, Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies. * Rosenfeld, A (1982) "Style and Meaning in Laura Art: A Case Study in the Formal Analysis of Style in Prehistoric Art" Mankind vol 13, pages 199-217 * Sutton,P (2011
"Cape York Peninsula Indigenous Cultural Story:Preliminary Outline". Paper produced for the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management
Accessed 20 January 2013 * Trezise, P.J (1969) ''Quinkan Country: Adventures in Search of Aboriginal Cave Paintings in Cape York''. A.H. & A.W. Reed, Sydney. * Trezise P.J (1971) Rock Art of South-East Cape York.

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

External links

Short Introduction to the Quinkan Reserves with text by Thaipan Aboriginal elders

Copy of 1979 Appeal to 'Save Quinkan Rockart', including description of the Quinkan as Aboriginal spiritual beings, plus Quinkan National Park proposal

Quinkan and Regional Cultural Centre website

"Quinkan Country - Queensland's Aboriginal Rock Art Capital", Cooktown Chamber of Commerce & Shire Council webpage
Rock art in Australia Far North Queensland Archaeological sites in Queensland Australian Aboriginal mythology Cultural landscapes of North-East Queensland Australian National Heritage List