In October 2025, the Australian Research Council announced Rock Art Australia as a successful recipient of the five-year Australian Research Council Linkage Project in collaboration with the Manilakarr Traditional Owners and Njanjma Rangers in Western Arnhem Land, led by Professor Chris Clarkson from Griffith University and his team.

Human Responses to Post-Glacial Sea Level Rise at Red Lily, Arnhem Land, will explore how dramatic post-glacial sea level rise reshaped landscapes, environments, and human societies in the Greater Red Lily Lagoon area.

Co-designed with the Manilakarr Traditional Owners and Njanjma Rangers, and supported by the Northern Land Council, the project integrates archaeological, environmental, and rock art research with Indigenous knowledge to document past cultural responses to climate change and inform future heritage and land management.

This collaborative research will create significant opportunities for Traditional Owners and generate new scientific and cultural records.

RAA is proud to support this collaborative work and congratulates all partners involved, including members of our Science Advisory Council, Professor Chris Clarkson, Dr Tristen Jones, Associate Professor Bastien Llamas, and Dr Helen Green, as well as RAA-supported researchers, including Dr Damien Finch and Dr Kasih Norman.

In October 2025, the Australian Research Council announced Rock Art Australia as a successful recipient of the five-year Australian Research Council Linkage Project in collaboration with the Manilakarr Traditional Owners and Njanjma Rangers in Western Arnhem Land, led by Professor Chris Clarkson from Griffith University and his team.

Human Responses to Post-Glacial Sea Level Rise at Red Lily, Arnhem Land, will explore how dramatic post-glacial sea level rise reshaped landscapes, environments, and human societies in the Greater Red Lily Lagoon area.

Co-designed with the Manilakarr Traditional Owners and Njanjma Rangers, and supported by the Northern Land Council, the project integrates archaeological, environmental, and rock art research with Indigenous knowledge to document past cultural responses to climate change and inform future heritage and land management.

This collaborative research will create significant opportunities for Traditional Owners and generate new scientific and cultural records.

RAA is proud to support this collaborative work and congratulates all partners involved, including members of our Science Advisory Council, Professor Chris Clarkson, Dr Tristen Jones, Associate Professor Bastien Llamas, and Dr Helen Green, as well as RAA-supported researchers, including Dr Damien Finch and Dr Kasih Norman.

“We expect this work to reveal how people thrived through massive environmental change, how they adapted their technology, art, and lifeways when the seas rose and the land transformed beneath their feet. The most exciting parts will be working on Country together and linking the ancient rock art stories to the scientific record of sea-level rise, showing how creativity and resilience have always gone together in this remarkable landscape.” Professor Chris Clarkson.

In November 2024, Dr Tristen Jones (University of Sydney) presented at Rock Art Australia’s annual Science Advisory Council Research Workshop, providing an overview of the collaborative research partnerships between the Manilakarr Clan, including Senior Traditional Owner Mr Alfred Nayinggul and the Nayinggul families, the Njanjma Rangers, and researchers such as Dr Daryl Wesley and Dr Ian Moffat (Flinders University) and Dr Mel Marshall (University of Notre Dame Australia), and Jones herself, who have supported work on Country alongside the Traditional Owners over the past 15 years.