East Alligator River, Arnhem Land, NT. Photo: Samantha Hamilton
Welcome to Rock Art Australia’s Spring eNews 2024
During the past few months, I have had the privilege of meeting with many university researchers, Aboriginal community members, partners, donors and supporters in Victoria, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, South Australia and in France.
I learnt more about current research programs and heard people’s ideas about future opportunities.
Some of the most encouraging conversations were those with the next generation. I met with young people at the Kalumburu Remote Community School, in the far north of Western Australia, and with the Empowered Young Leaders, at the Regional Forum and Annual General Meetings of the Kimberley Land Council, the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre, Kimberley Language Resource Centre and Aaarnja.
In Perth, I met with existing collaborators and in Darwin and northwest Arnhem Land I spoke with potential new partners. In Victoria, I travelled to Gippsland to meet Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation representatives, and other project partners, about the new Australian Research Council project: Before and after the Last Ice Age: GunaiKurnai archaeology along the Snowy. At Flinders University, Adelaide, I witnessed the recreation of past landscapes using gaming technologies.
In France, I met with academics and rock art cave owners who shared how research is performed and funded, and how the public engage with rock art through tours of replica caves and digital exhibitions. I received lots of positive feedback about how unique Rock Art Australia is as a supporter of rock art research and the impact of the work we do.
A common theme which emerged from my conversations around the country is the desire and need to expand collaborative rock art research to all states and territories in Australia. The areas of research interest include the documentation, management and preservation of rock art sites, including the need to develop collaborative conservation and data management strategies.
Another common theme was the need to share the outcomes of this collaborative research through education programs in Aboriginal communities and schools across Australia through the curriculum; and with the public through books, films, virtual reality technologies and exhibitions.
There is a genuine desire to increase people’s understanding of the national and international significance of Australia’s rock art because of the depth and breadth of stories it holds about our history and our place within a global narrative.
Rock Art Australia is committed to expanding support for collaborative rock art research across the country to meet these priorities and we look forward to maintaining and developing new partnerships to continue this vital work.
To deliver these priorities we have engaged new team members Nick Flood as Operations Manager and Anisha Angelroth as Marketing & Communications Manager. Please join me in welcoming them.
Nick Flood. Operations Manager
Anisha Angelroth. Marketing & Communications Manager
Rock Art Australia would also like to thank Simone Kerley for her contribution as Events and Administration Manager over the past three years and wish her well with future endeavours.
Finally, I would like to sincerely thank Deidre Wilmott and Nolan Hunter for their dedication as Directors of Rock Art Australia.
Nolan is a Bardi man with strong links to his people, culture and traditions along the Dampier Peninsula. Nolan served on the RAA Board for 10 years and shared a vast amount of knowledge and experience from his extensive professional background in strategy, governance, partnerships, and business operations, working in commonwealth and state government departments, in Aboriginal corporations and the private sector, nationally and internationally.
Deidre served on the RAA Board for over 14 years and shared a wealth of knowledge from her extensive leadership experience in law, politics and business, working in the government, corporate and not-for-profit sectors. Deidre enabled RAA to establish new partnerships and helped oversee and guide RAA through many of the key initiatives, which have been instrumental to RAA’s success. Deidre will continue to support RAA as an Emeritus Director.
Nolan Hunter
Deidre Wilmott
I trust you will enjoy reading this newsletter which includes updates about current research programs, past and future events and activities, and ways in which you can get involved to support our work.
It also includes tributes to Kim Akerman and George Negus for their collaborations with Rock Art Australia and dedication to rock art research.
I look forward to continuing to meet you all at future events around the country. Please check our website and social media posts for details about activities near you.
On behalf of Rock Art Australia’s Directors and the team we wish you a peaceful and happy Christmas and New Year.
Best wishes,
Samantha Hamilton. CEO
Science Advisory Council
In September this year, we warmly welcomed Dr Helen Green as the new Chair of Rock Art Australia’s (RAA) Science Advisory Council (SAC). We thank Professor Andy Gleadow FAA, AO for his leadership and generous commitment as the outgoing Chair.
Professor Gleadow joined the SAC in 2007 and was appointed Chair in 2013. During this time he led Australia’s largest rock art dating project (2014-2024) with Kwini Traditional Owners on the Unghango clan estate in Balanggarra Country in the north-east Kimberley.
While Professor Gleadow has stepped down from his role as the Chair of the SAC, he continues as a valued Director on the RAA Board. He will also continue to share research findings from the Rock Art Dating Project through our national lecture series across Australia with Traditional Owner Ian Waina.
Dr Helen Green is a Research Fellow in the School of Geography Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at The University of Melbourne holding Rock Art Australia’s Fellowship in Rock Art Dating from The Ian Potter Foundation and a John McKenzie research fellowship from The Faculty of Science.
Dr Helen Green is a Research Fellow in the School of Geography Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at The University of Melbourne holding Rock Art Australia’s Fellowship in Rock Art Dating from The Ian Potter Foundation and a John McKenzie research fellowship from The Faculty of Science.
Helen’s research has focused on analysing mineral accretions using a range of geochemical techniques to characterise and understand the formation processes occurring in relation to rock art pigments in northwest Australia’s Kimberley region. These techniques include uranium-thorium dating, radiocarbon dating, and stable isotope analysis along with analytical techniques such as X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy, electron microprobe analysis and others.
Using this knowledge Helen is adapting both radiocarbon and uranium-series dating techniques to oxalate and phosphate bearing layered mineral accretions, with an aim of generating bracketing ages for different rock art styles comprising the established rock art sequence in the Kimberley region.
Our SAC is made up of a diverse group of researchers from across Australia with expertise in a range of disciplines. The council meets regularly and advises the Rock Art Australia Board about our research program, including new strategic grant applications. To find out more about the SAC click the Science Advisory Council button below.
Rock Art Australia Minderoo Chair in Archaeological Science represents Australia at a Technical Meeting at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna
Inside the IAEA Photo: Rachel Popelka-Filcoff
International delegates. Professor Popelka-Filcoff pictured in centre of group with yellow scarf.Photo: Rachel Popelka-Filcoff
In September, Professor Rachel Popelka-Filcoff, Rock Art Australia Minderoo Chair in Archaeological Science, University of Melbourne, represented Australia at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an agency of the United Nations (UN) in Vienna and co-chaired the Technical Meeting on Expanding the Stakeholder Base of Nuclear Techniques for Forensic Science: Novel Applications and Niche Areas.
The focus of the meeting was on the role nuclear analytical techniques for the authentication of: (1) forged, fake or looted objects; (2) artefacts subject to illicit trafficking and (3) return or repatriation of artefacts.
Professor Popelka-Filcoff presented her research on methods that can provide data for repatriation of cultural heritage and highlighted the Australian archaeological science perspective and best practice in a worldwide forum.
Key outcomes from the meeting were a report with internationally accepted recommendations from the participants. She also met with the Australian Ambassador to the UN in Vienna, His Excellency Ian Biggs, and discussed the importance of Australian archaeology, rock art, culture and science.
For more information about the International Atomic Energy Agency click on the button below.
Research Project Update
Rock Art Australia is expanding our research program beyond the Kimberley, fulfilling our commitment to uncovering Australia’s rich history.
We are now working across the country and internationally, in Western Australia, the Northern Territory, New South Wales, Victoria and Indonesia funding five groundbreaking seed projects, and supporting two major multi-year Australian Research Council-funded projects.
These projects explore new questions, foster partnerships, and utilise cutting-edge technology to uncover Australia’s rich heritage.
We trust you will enjoy reading updates from a few of these projects below.
Victoria
Before and after the last Ice Age: GunaiKurnai archaeology along the Snowy
Cloggs Cave, GunaiKurnai Country. Photo: GLaWAC
In early September, RAA CEO Samantha Hamilton travelled to the foothills of the Australian Alps to meet with project partners of the new Australian Research Council five-year project: Before and after the Last Ice Age: GunaiKurnai archaeology along the Snowy.
We sincerely thank Russell Mullett and his team at Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC), and the Gunaikurnai Traditional Owner Land Management Board for their hospitality. We also thank lead researcher Professor Bruno David for his assistance in coordinating the three-day schedule.
The delegation was invited to explore significant sites, including Steamer Landing and Sperm Whale Head on the Gippsland Lakes, Eagle Point Bluff, Buchan Caves Reserve (one of 14 national parks and reserves jointly managed by GLaWAC and Parks Victoria), and Cloggs Cave. This area is notably home to the remarkable discovery of two small, perfectly preserved fireplaces that reflect the ritual installations documented in nineteenth-century ethnography, confirming ritual activity dating back at least 12,000 years.
At the request of GLaWAC, the project, Before and after the Last Ice Age: GunaiKurnai archaeology along the Snowy has now brought together a team of world-class scientists, researchers, and land managers from Monash University, the University of Queensland, the University of Adelaide, the University of Melbourne, the University of Waikato, the University of New England, the University of Savoy, and Rock Art Australia to further explore the area around the unearthed ritual site.
The project will also include on-Country community cultural heritage research training and public education initiatives.
For further information about the discovery of the ritual fireplaces, you can download ‘Archaeological evidence of an ethnographically documented Australian Aboriginal ritual dated to the last ice age’, co-authored by Russell Mullett and Bruno David, in Nature Human Behaviour.
Western Australia
Kimblery Rock Art Virtual Reality (VR) Program for immersive learning, research, conservation and engagement
Students from the Kalumburu Remote Community School trying on VR headsets. Photo: Samantha Hamilton
Drysdale River, WA Photo: Louise Shewan
Dr Louise Shewan, Senior Research Fellow in Archaeological Sciences, in the School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Melbourne, is leading an extraordinary effort to digitally preserve Indigenous rock paintings in the eastern Kimberley.
The ‘VR team’ visited the remote Barking Owl camp site in July 2022, camping alongside the Drysdale River. There, they captured thousands of ultra-high-resolution photographs using cameras and drones, which have since been turned into 3-dimensional computer models that faithfully capture the rock shape to sub-cm accuracy, and the art panel paintings and other surface features to sub-mm accuracy and high colour accuracy. The 3-D models can be viewed on computer screens, projectors, and most importantly for this project, Virtual Reality (VR) headsets.
In July this year, RAA CEO and board members joined members of the VR team and travelled to Kalumburu in the Kimberley, to meet with the community. Part of this visit included spending time with the students from the Kalumburu Remote Community School – one of Australia’s most remote schools – to share some of the results of the project.
Dr Shewan met with Principal Simon Duncan and organised four classes of primary, middle years and senior school students to explore Kimberley rock art and the Drysdale River environment in VR. Pairing up, the students shared the headsets and enthusiastically viewed a series of immersive 360-degree movies and 3D models of rock art galleries and the landscape around the sites.
The students were able to stand on a sandbar in the middle of the Drysdale River and recline in a rock shelter to view exquisite Wanjina images painted on the rocky ceiling, while hundreds of insects chirped in the background. The students could also view a panel of Gwion paintings and navigate across the galleries and zoom into the fine details of the artwork.
Dr Louise Shewan and Dr David Barnes (Inertial Frames) are planning to capture more rock art sites and create further VR content and to revisit the school again in the near future. They will also spend time with the teachers and share more of the VR content and how to use it in the classroom setting.
We wish to thank the Kalumburu Remote Community School and Principal Simon Duncan for their hospitality in facilitating the visit, and all the kids for their fantastic participation! It was inspiring to meet the next generation of rock art stewards and we look forward to working together.
Dr Louise Shewan, Senior Research Fellow in Archaeological Sciences, in the School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Melbourne, is leading an extraordinary effort to digitally preserve Indigenous rock paintings in the eastern Kimberley.
The ‘VR team’ visited the remote Barking Owl camp site in July 2022, camping alongside the Drysdale River. There, they captured thousands of ultra-high-resolution photographs using cameras and drones, which have since been turned into 3-dimensional computer models that faithfully capture the rock shape to sub-cm accuracy, and the art panel paintings and other surface features to sub-mm accuracy and high colour accuracy. The 3-D models can be viewed on computer screens, projectors, and most importantly for this project, Virtual Reality (VR) headsets.
In July this year, RAA CEO and board members joined members of the VR team and travelled to Kalumburu in the Kimberley, to meet with the community. Part of this visit included spending time with the students from the Kalumburu Remote Community School – one of Australia’s most remote schools – to share some of the results of the project.
Dr Shewan met with Principal Simon Duncan and organised four classes of primary, middle years and senior school students to explore Kimberley rock art and the Drysdale River environment in VR. Pairing up, the students shared the headsets and enthusiastically viewed a series of immersive 360-degree movies and 3D models of rock art galleries and the landscape around the sites.
The students were able to stand on a sandbar in the middle of the Drysdale River and recline in a rock shelter to view exquisite Wanjina images painted on the rocky ceiling, while hundreds of insects chirped in the background. The students could also view a panel of Gwion paintings and navigate across the galleries and zoom into the fine details of the artwork.
Dr Louise Shewan and Dr David Barnes (Inertial Frames) are planning to capture more rock art sites and create further VR content and to revisit the school again in the near future. They will also spend time with the teachers and share more of the VR content and how to use it in the classroom setting.
We wish to thank the Kalumburu Remote Community School and Principal Simon Duncan for their hospitality in facilitating the visit, and all the kids for their fantastic participation! It was inspiring to meet the next generation of rock art stewards and we look forward to working together.
Shadows of Time: Understanding Fading Pigments in Kimberley Rock Art
Sandstone blocks with painted model ochre that will be used in Faris’ experiments with oxalic acid. Photo: Faris Ruzain
Rock art in the Kimberley is primarily composed of ochre, a blend of natural minerals, including iron oxides and clay, which gives the artwork its distinctive red, yellow, and orange hues.
Recent field observations have noted a concerning loss of colour on some rock art panels, with portions of the once vibrant rusty-red art fading to stark whites.
The paintings most vulnerable to bleaching are typically located at the top of the rock art panels, where the wall meets the roof of the shelter, often near distinctive glossy rock coatings known as “glazes.” Research conducted by Faris Ruzain and Dr. Helen Green suggests that these glazes were likely formed over thousands of years by microbes living on the rock surfaces through a process called biomineralization. Their findings indicate that the production of these glazes involves significant amounts of oxalic acid.
Ruzain and Green propose that a similar process may be responsible for the formation of these glazes on the rock shelter walls, with oxalic acid secreted by the microbes potentially playing a key role in bleaching the paintings. This hypothesis has since led to the successful application of a Rock Art Australia Strategic Grant to fund Ruzain’s latest project.
In this project, Ruzain painted model ochre onto commercial sandstone blocks which will be subjected to concentrations of oxalic acid known to be produced by microbes. By using X-rays, Ruzain aims to measure the physical and chemical changes in the ochre painted on to these sandstone blocks, allowing for a deeper understanding of the extent of damage caused by oxalic acid.
He hopes that his research with model ochre will improve the understanding of the biochemical challenges that threaten Kimberley rock art. By examining these micro-level processes, Faris Ruzain believes we can develop more effective preservation practices for the rock art, ensuring its protection for future generations.
New South Wales
NSW Aboriginal Heritage Office Site Information Database
White ochre hand stencils in sandstone overhang with associated midden. Photo: AHO
Red ochre hand stencils showing graffiti. Photo: AHO
The Aboriginal Heritage Office (AHO) is an award-winning initiative that continues to set high standards for how local NSW governments can work towards improved management and protection of Aboriginal heritage.
The AHO vision is to help protect irreplaceable Aboriginal heritage sites across northern Sydney and Strathfield for generations to come through an Aboriginal Heritage Management Framework at the local government level. This framework incorporates site management, education, and community liaison. The AHO aims to be a successful role model for local governments across NSW.
There are around 900 recorded Aboriginal sites in the partner councils of the AHO, including Lane Cove, Ku-ring-gai, North Sydney, Northern Beaches, Willoughby, and Strathfield. These sites encompass art sites, engravings, burials, artefact scatters, grinding grooves, and extensive shell middens. They hold national and international significance, with some sites dating from 4,000 to 30,000 years old.
Urban sites are heavily affected by modern and historic dense population traffic, pollution, and development. There is a deficit of information about Aboriginal cultural history across northern Sydney, making many of these sites the only remaining record of a well-resourced and culturally rich population.
The AHO has spent 25 years recording Aboriginal sites across the northern part of Sydney and Strathfield. The project funded by Rock Art Australia aims to create a database to preserve information regarding these rare and fragile sites.
Having this information in a searchable database with privacy layers can enhance the ability of the AHO and partner council staff to make informed decisions in sensitive areas. This also opens new opportunities for greater engagement with members of the Aboriginal community and university researchers.
South Australia
A data driven approach to virtual cultural landscape simulation using Unreal Engine
While in Adelaide, RAA CEO Samantha Hamilton met with Associate Professor Liam Brady and Dr Jarrad Kowlessar and learnt about the use of gaming technologies to help us better understand the context in which rock art was created at a site in Arnhem Land.
Inside The Void, Flinders University Photo: Jarrad Kowlessar
Image above from right to left: Ted Wynn, Director, Alumni and Advancement; Cameron Mackness, Void Lab Coordinator and Digital Media Business Development Officer; Jarrad Kowlessar, Lecturer in Archaeological Science; Samantha Hamilton, RAA CEO Photo: Liam Brady
Please click on the button below to read the full project report prepared by Dr Kowlessar.
Rock Art Research Funding
Rock Art Australia is dedicated to protecting, preserving and promoting Australian rock art through western science and Aboriginal cultural knowledge.
To learn more about Rock Art Australia’s research priorities and how to apply for RAA research funding, please visit our website by clicking the button below.
For general enquiries please contact: grants@rockartaustralia.org.au
Rock Art Education
Mike Donaldson’s 3-volume book set in the Tennant Creek Library Photo: TCL
Rock Art Australia recently supported Westbooks to distribute 900 sets of the exquisite 3-volume book set of Kimberley Rock Art by Mike Donaldson to libraries, schools, universities, and prisons across Australia.
Filled with images of stunning scenery and incredible rock art from the Kimberley, we trust the books will foster curiosity in current and future generations, to explore and understand our Australian history and the significant Kimberley region of Western Australia.
We have received overwhelming positive feedback about the impact these books are having, and with permission we are delighted to share a couple of messages of thanks that Rock Art Australia and Westbooks have received:
“We would sincerely like to thank Rock Art Australia and Westbooks for the amazing donation of the Trilogy of Kimberley Rock Art Books to Chrysalis Montessori School. These are fantastic resources for our library and gratefully received. Our children will gain a great understanding of our Australian history from these magnificently produced books”. Mark Panaia, Principal at Chrysalis Montessori School, Glendalough, WA
“They are magnificent and will be an asset to our library. Our children are really enjoying learning about our rich history and will love the books”. The Pioneer Village School, Armadale, WA
Opportunity
Rock Art Australia Ian Potter Chair in Rock Art
The University of Western Australia is welcoming applications for the position of Rock Art Australia Ian Potter Chair in Rock Art at The University of Western Australia (UWA).
As the Rock Art Australia Ian Potter Chair in Rock Art you will create and drive ambitious research in Kimberley rock art to maximise public impact and to affect policy change in Indigenous heritage management and conservation.
You will build and maintain relationships, develop partnerships and secure permissions with Aboriginal Corporations and Traditional Owners in the Kimberley to co-develop and co-deliver research and outreach programs based on Indigenous related best practice and ethical research codes, guidelines and standards.
Please head to the UWA website via the button below to download the brochure for full details of the position’s responsibilities, selection criteria and how to apply.
Closing date: 11:55 PM AWST on Wednesday, 4 December 2024.
This position is open to international applicants.
To learn more about this opportunity, please contact Professor Amanda Davies at amanda.davies@uwa.edu.au
Past Events
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT)
David Coltman takes guests behind the scenes to the Digital Imaging Studio, MAGNT.Photo: Ian Hobbs
Rebekah Raymond, Curator of Aboriginal Art and Material Culture with guests for a private tour of the 2024 NATSIAA exhibition, MAGNT. Photo: Ian Hobbs
In August, RAA CEO Samantha Hamilton travelled to the Northern Territory and met with members of the Top End community working in areas of research, land management and conservation, and the arts. As part of the visit, RAA hosted a behind the scenes event at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT). The event shared information and outcomes of the RAA funded MAGNT Rock Art Digitisation Project through tours with Collections Manager (Rock Art) Eve Chaloupka, and Digital Imaging Officer (Rock Art) David Coltman. Guests were also treated to a private tour of the 2024 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) exhibition, guided by the museum’s Curator of Aboriginal Art and Material Culture, Rebekah Raymond.
MAGNT and RAA have joined forces to preserve and digitise approximately 25,000 colour transparencies in the George Chaloupka Archive housed at the Museum.
This archive, renowned locally, nationally and internationally is the most comprehensive visual record and documentation of rock art in the Arnhem Land Plateau region. Chaloupka and Bininj/Mungguy Traditional Owners, who shared vast amounts of cultural knowledge, invested time, trust and goodwill, worked together and developed the fieldwork and research over a thirty-year period.
The preservation of this valuable archive has become increasingly urgent as the physical rock art sites continue to deteriorate due to weathering and the impacts of climate change, rendering some of the imagery no longer visible.
Film Screening
Full House. Photo: Grace Gibson
The panel. From l-r: Sam Harper, Ian Waina, Peter Veth, Samantha Hamilton (standing: roaming microphone volunteer Will Bromage). Photo: Manny Tamayo
In early October, we had the great pleasure of collaborating with the University of Western Australia’s (UWA) School of Social Sciences to screen the documentary Two Ways: The Kimberley Rock Art Legacy, by filmmaker Mark Jones. Over 300 people attended the screening, and many participated in a lively Q&A with panellists Traditional Owner Ian Waina, Dr. Sam Harper, Professor Peter Veth, and moderator RAA CEO Samantha Hamilton.
Thank you to everyone who attended, to INPEX for sponsoring Ian Waina’s attendance and to the University staff and volunteers for making the event a great success.
The Two Ways: The Kimberley Rock Art Legacy is a 45-minute documentary which shares outcomes of past RAA funded research programs including the Kimberley Rock Art Dating and Kimberley Visions projects through interviews, contemporary and archival footage. Guided by Kwini Elder Augustine ‘Boornoornoor’ Unangho, the film highlights the collaboration between scientists and the Balanggarra people. It showcases a blend of science and traditional wisdom, revealing the enduring narratives of art, climate change, and human resilience spanning at least 50,000 years.
National Lecture Series
Two Ways to See: A Rock Art Research Journey. Adelaide lecture
We were pleased to bring our popular 2024 national lecture series and book promotion Two Ways to See: A Rock Art Research Journey to Adelaide and Brisbane recently.
We wish to thank our venue partners The Royal Geographical Society of South Australia, and Griffith University, and all those who attended.
Future screenings and public lectures in venues across the country will be announced in our e-news, on our website, and social media pages.
We look forward to delivering a rich program of events in 2025.
Tributes
In Memory of Kim Akerman
Kim Akerman. Photo provided by Susan Bradley
Kim Antony Akerman has been involved in Australian Aboriginal studies since 1967. He was born in Rabaul New Guinea on 5 November 1947 to parents John and Eve Akerman. John was a doctor and Eve a writer – together they patrolled the Sepik River, Wogeo Island and it was around Goroka and Rabaul that as a young boy, Kim’s interest in Indigenous people and artefacts (which became a passion) was ignited. Kim was a collector all his life. From New Guinea his parents moved the family to Perth for education of their 3 sons.
Kim graduated in 1970 with a Bachelor of Science with Anthropology major from the University of WA. He became an Honorary Associate of the WA Museum and the WA University, and Curator of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. A Research Associate with the SA Museum, and a member of the Research Advisory Committee of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATIS). He was also awarded the title of Adjunct Professor of the Discipline of Archaeology UWA. He held these positions until his death.
In 1984 he was awarded a Fulbright Senior scholarship to Washington State University. Over many years, his employment positions included anthropologist with the WA Aboriginal Affairs Planning Authority, spending much time in both the Kimberley and Pilbara, the Community Health Services (WA) based in Derby.
From 1979 to 1982 he was senior anthropologist for the Kimberley Land Council following which he became a consultant to the Northern Land Council to guide them through the Timber Creek native title claims.
In more recent years, among the many other positions Kim held were Curator of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Hobart; Research Assistant with the South Australian Museum; Senior Curator of the Gallery of Aboriginal Australia National Museum of Australia; Senior Scholar of the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka Japan; Curator of Pre-history Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory; Consultant to the WA Museum on the Repatriation of Culturally significant Objects and Relics to Aboriginal Communities in the West Kimberley and in the Pilbara.
In 2005, he helped repatriate all human remains originating from the Pilbara region and held by Australian Federal and State Agencies to Aboriginal custodians in the Pilbara.
He also consulted the British Museum on the repatriation of Tasmanian Aboriginal cremation bundles. Kim was commissioned to replicate Australian stone implements for the Department of Anthropology National Science Museum in Tokyo.
During the past 20 years, Kim was invited as Guest Lecturer to present at the Berndt Memorial Lecture at UWA; the International workshop on Ethnobotany, Christchurch, New Zealand; ‘Fifty years of Discovery: The Lubbock Lake Landmark’, Texas, USA; the symposium ‘Skilled Production and Social Reproduction: aspects on Traditional Stone Tool Technologies at Uppsala University, Sweden; and he gave the Kimberley Foundation annual lecture in Darwin in 2006, and again in 2015 at the University of Western Australia.
Kim’s many reports and journals particularly in Ethnographic Studies and Surveys in both Western Australia and Northern Territory have been prolific. Aboriginal organisations, state and federal governments and mining companies have employed him to survey and report on the results of his intensive site surveys. He was also recognised as an expert authority and artist on the making of stone, bone, scrimshaw, horn, amber and pearl shell. Museums and international researchers contacted him for his input on the fashioning of early tools in their different societies.
Kim Akerman became quite a legend in the Kimberley in the seventies and eighties and was loved and respected by both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people alike. He lived firstly in Derby, then Fitzroy Crossing where he forged relationships with the Ngarinyin, Worrora, Wunambal, Nina and Bunaba people. Elders such as Sam Woolagoodja, Ken and Janet Oobagooma, Laurie and Daisy Utemorrah, Paddy Neowarra, David Mowljarlai, Albert Barrunga and Sam and Rosita Lovell all became lifelong friends. His friend Johnny Mosquito from Balgo gave him his skin name Tjapangarti after initiation, although around the camps he was often called Hackerman.
When Kim moved to Broome, he forged a great friendship with Paddy Roe, a Nijkina man who became keeper of the law on Jabirr Jabirr land and Kim spent much time In Paddy’s community Goolarabooloo learning the law and in 1987 helping Paddy establish the Lurujarri Heritage trail to encourage the young people of Goolarabooloo to be walking in their country again as had always been done.
In 2008, Kim was invited to join the Kimberley Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Council. He became a much-valued member advising the Board on the applications for research grants that the KFA supported and a great contributor to the SAC’s annual workshops. As Professor Andy Gleadow (former Chair of the SAC) said “There can be very few, if any, left with such a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of people and culture as Kim had. He was a quietly powerful and yet very humble voice on the SAC. His contributions were always important and greatly valued by the rest of the team in our deliberations. He often didn’t say very much, but when he did, it was always positive, always profound and delivered in the manner of a true gentleman”.
Kim’s personal and professional friendship with Peter Bridge of Hesperian Press over the years enabled Kim to publish many books and journals. Peter joined with Kim in publishing his original anthropological works and translations from the Swedish and German masters who explored the Kimberley with the Frobenius Institute in 1938/39 and again in 1954/55.
At the time of his death, Kim was completing a book on Swedish botanist, Erik Mjoberg’s Kimberley expedition in 1910/1911 which will be published by Hesperian.
All his books can be found on the Hesperian Press website including his most recent book, Scales of the Serpent, on the Aboriginal use of pearl shell, which will become a classic and its contents will resonate for generations to come.
As Peter Bridge said, “So passes the last of the great ethnographers of Aboriginal culture. His like will not be seen again”.
Kim’s health had been precarious for some years. He was concerned that anthropological records and artifacts were being locked away by universities, museums and institutions. He believed that knowledge and records of research should be open for all and spent many months digitising his photographs and anthropological records for distribution among multiple institutions to enable access to anybody interested in the research and fieldwork he had carried out for over 60 years.
Kim had two children, Obelia and Josh with his first wife Ann Clare Tully. For the last 30 years, he resided in Hobart with his wife Val Hawkes, whom he met when they were both working at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. They were both fervent collectors.
He will be sorely missed by both the Board of Rock Art Australia and its Scientific Advisory Council, as well as many other institutions, academics and friends from all over the world.
Australia can be proud of his great legacy.
Vale Kim Akerman, Tjapangarti.
Susan Bradley, OAM
Director, Rock Art Australia
The passing of Kim Akerman is the passing of an era. There have only been a handful of observers, collaborators and champions of Aboriginal society, religion, symbolic practice and material culture that have reached the same degree of immersion as Dr Akerman.
Initiated into desert society and engaged in myriad cultural landscapes and movements across the Kimberley and Western Desert since the 1960s, Kim was a superb documenter and communicator. Always generous and expansive as an intellectual, his publications cover the technology and aesthetics of Aboriginal artefacts, the form and spiritual basis of both contemporary and rock art, fishing and hunting technologies, and a suite of art and artefact catalogues – ranging from Rover Thomas to the art of Wanjina to the Vatican collection.
We had just finished a major paper with Kim on the 46,000-year-old shell knives from Barrow Island and another on the production of ancient shell beads traded into the north-west deserts.
Kim’s work and persona will be solely missed by many communities of intertest.
Laureate Professor Peter Veth
In Memory of George Negus
George Negus. Photo provided by Susan Bradley
George has been a friend of Rock Art Australia since the Bush University days. He fell in love with the Kimberley when his life partner Kirsty Cockburn first visited in the mid-eighties. It was the beginning of many Kimberley visits. He absorbed the rock art galleries with both indigenous and non-indigenous friends and these friendships lasted decades.
George has generously assisted, firstly the Kimberley Foundation, and more recently Rock Art Australia, with documentaries, media releases and educational videos and together with film maker, Mark Jones, edited and produced many of the documentary’s RAA has relied upon to spread our message to both the academic and wider world.
George also lent his unmistakable voice to RAA’s film clips, and he compered a number of our fund-raising functions. His wise counsel, in the somewhat difficult communications/media world, was much appreciated as was his intellect, his humour, love and understanding of the Kimberley and its people.
Good-bye and thank you George. You will be greatly missed. RIP George Negus.
Susan Bradley, OAM
Director, Rock Art Australia
Help us Uncover our History
A pair of kangaroos painted in red and white ochre on the ceiling of a rock art shelter in the Kimberley Photo Mark Jones, Balanggarra Aboriginal Corporation and the Rock Art Dating project
Rock Art Australia appreciates the generous support of donors who have contributed to our research programs and welcomes further donations to enable current and future programs.
At Rock Art Australia, we believe the study of rock art is fundamental to understanding Australia’s history and the global narrative of human origins. We therefore believe these significant sites need to be managed and preserved.
In support of this, we are focused on developing long-term collaborations and research partnerships with Aboriginal communities, universities, corporate organisaitons, government agencies and generous donors around the country to develop research projects which have social, cultural, economic and environmental benefits.
It is through your support that Rock Art Australia can fund this fundamental research. We invite you to consider making a tax-deductible donation.
Your gift directly contributes to major scientific breakthroughs in the field, and we simply cannot do it without you.
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