Rock art of the Esperance region and its place in the Noongar traditions of south-west Western Australia

Abstract

This paper presents a formal analysis of the two known rock art sites in the Esperance region of Western Australia - Marbaleerup and Boyatup - and compares and contrasts them with the characteristics of 43 other known rock art sites in the Noongar lands. The Esperance region lies at the eastern edge of the traditional lands of the Noongar people, a language and landholding group who occupy the southwest corner of the Australian continent - Noongar country. The peripheral location of the Esperance Nyungar lands and their proximity to neighbouring non-Noongar groups gives rise to questions about how its rock art compares to other Noongar rock art. The analysis seeks to determine the prominent formal characteristics of the art at Marbaleerup and Boyatup: do they share some or all of the characteristics of Noongar rock art? The results suggest that Esperance Nyungar rock art is consistent with that clustered around the north-eastern periphery of Noongar country. On this basis we propose the existence of an Eastern Noongar rock art tradition Show more