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Ubirr is a rock formation within the East Alligator region of
Kakadu National Park Kakadu National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia, southeast of Darwin. It is a World Heritage Site. Kakadu is also gazetted as a locality, covering the same area as the national park, with 313 people recorded liv ...
in the
Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
of
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, and is known for its
rock art In archaeology, rock art is human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters; this type also ...
. It consists of a group of rock outcrops on the edge of the Nadab floodplain where there are several natural shelters that have a collection of Aboriginal
rock paintings In archaeology, rock art is human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters; this type also m ...
, some of which are many thousands of years old. The art depicts certain creation ancestors as well as animals from the area such as
barramundi The barramundi (''Lates calcarifer'') or Asian sea bass, is a species of catadromous fish in the family Latidae of the order Perciformes. The species is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific, spanning the waters of the Middle East, South ...
,
catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...
, mullet, goannas, long-necked turtles, pig-nosed turtles, rock ringtail possums, and wallabies. From the top of Ubirr rock there is a panoramic view of the floodplains and escarpments. Ubirr is approximately 40 km from
Jabiru The jabiru ( or ; ''Jabiru mycteria'') is a large stork found in the Americas from Mexico to Argentina, except west of the Andes. It sometimes wanders into the United States, usually in Texas, but has been reported as far north as Mississippi. ...
along a sealed road. The road is low-lying, so access can be restricted during periods of heavy rain. A short walk from the car park takes visitors past the main art sites to the foot of Ubirr Rock. The rock faces at Ubirr have been continuously painted and repainted since 40,000 BCE. Most paintings there were created about 2000 years ago. Some have been repainted right up to modern times. There are three main galleries of art accessible to visitors. National Park rangers, many of them Indigenous, give talks at all of these sites.


Main gallery

The main gallery is perhaps the most photographed, and contains many examples of "X-ray art". Also in the main gallery can be seen paintings of white men with their hands on hips, and, high up, Mimi spirits, who are so thin that they can slip in and out of cracks in the rock. It is a puzzle how the artists managed to reach these bits of rock to paint the Mimi spirits. The local explanation is that the Mimi spirits painted the pictures themselves, and brought the rock down to ground level to do so. At the northern end of the main gallery can be seen a painting of a
thylacine The thylacine ( , or , also ) (''Thylacinus cynocephalus'') is an extinct carnivorous marsupial that was native to the Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmania and New Guinea. The last known live animal was captured in 1930 in Tasman ...
, or Tasmanian tiger, which has been extinct in the area for about 2000 years, and attests to the antiquity of the paintings.


Rainbow Serpent Gallery

This is the most sacred site at Ubirr, and is traditionally a women-only site, although this rule is relaxed for non-indigenous tourists. This is the spot visited by the
Rainbow Serpent The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many different Aboriginal peoples. It is a common motif in the art and religion ...
or "Garranga'rreli", during her path across the top end of Australia, during the Dreaming. As she crossed the land, she "sang" the rocks, plants, animals, and people into existence. This path, or
songline A songline, also called dreaming track, is one of the paths across the land (or sometimes the sky) within the animist belief systems of the Aboriginal cultures of Australia which mark the route followed by localised "creator-beings" in the Dre ...
, is still a sacred path to the indigenous people who live in northern Australia.

Panorama from Ubirr


Gallery

Image:Ubirr_Kakadu_National_Park_Australia.jpg, Ubirr Image:Aboriginal_Art_Australia(6).jpg Image:Aboriginal_Art_Australia.jpg


See also

*
Kakadu National Park Kakadu National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia, southeast of Darwin. It is a World Heritage Site. Kakadu is also gazetted as a locality, covering the same area as the national park, with 313 people recorded liv ...
*
Flora of Kakadu National Park This is a list of plants commonly found in Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory of Australia. Where known, common names are given in English and in Gun-djeihmi, a commonly spoken indigenous language in the area, are given in parentheses. ...
*
Protected areas of the Northern Territory The protected areas of the Northern Territory consists of protected areas managed by the governments of the Northern Territory and Australia and private organisations with a reported total area of being 24.8% of the total area of the Northern Te ...
* ''
Terminalia ferdinandiana ''Terminalia ferdinandiana'', most commonly known as the Kakadu plum and also called the gubinge, billygoat plum, green plum, salty plum, murunga, mador and other names, is a flowering plant in the family Combretaceae, native to Australia, wid ...
'' (Kakadu plum) *
Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...


Footnotes


External links


Aboriginal Art
Learn more about Aboriginal culture in Kakadu

by Renaud

Map of Kakadu National Park including art sites {{coord, 12, 24, 34.06, S, 132, 57, 33.36, E, region:AU-NT_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title Landforms of the Northern Territory Rock formations of the Northern Territory Kakadu National Park Rock art in Australia