Anbangbang gallery: Why is this Kakadu rock art so significant?

At the Anbangbang rock art gallery in the Northern Territory’s Kakadu National Park, the Aboriginal rock art is simple. But the cave paintings cover thousands of years. The styles used and items depicted act as a historical record.

There are supposedly more lightning strikes in Kakadu National Park than anywhere else on the planet. And the being responsible for them is depicted right in front of us.

Namarrgon is the lightning man. He makes the big thunderstorms happen. And according to the sign next to it, he broke incest laws and later became Ginga, the great saltwater crocodile.

That’s the information provided. It hints at a far bigger story, but outsiders don’t have the required level of knowledge to be told it. If you come to see the Aboriginal rock art in Australia’s Northern Territory looking for answers, you are only likely to leave with a brain firing with questions.

Visiting the Anbangbang Gallery at Burrungkuy (Nourlangie)

The Anbangbang Gallery is found at Burrungkuy (Nourlangie) at the eastern edge of the Kakadu National Park. In Kakadu alone, there are more than 5,000 documented rock art sites. Beyond, in the permit-only, rarely visited expanses of the Arnhemland, there are tens of thousands. People have been using these shelters for at least 40,000 years, decorating in the process. The most visible layers of rock art are often on top of other paintings going back much further.

Cave art at Anbangbang rock art gallery

It doesn’t take long to realise that there’s far more to the rock art than just admiring pictures on cave walls. The art is inseparable from the history, the culture, the geology and the environment. And while sometimes it is basically acting as restaurant menu – many of the paintings are of food – at others it is playing a key role in the indigenous view of the world. Here, society is structured in complex ways than outsiders struggle to comprehend, while huge amounts of information about the world, life and morals are passed on through stories. The versions of the stories we hear are ultra-simplified versions of convoluted tales that can be told over hours.

“Knowledge is layered,” says Venture North’s head guide Dave McMahon. “You have to know everything at one level before getting some of the next.”

But the art itself in historic sites like Anbangbang has a story. And some of that can be worked out through science and study. It’s possible to use carbon dating, for example, to date fire remnants and stone tools found near the rock shelters.

Aboriginal rock art styles

Dave points to a kangaroo drawn in a simple, naturalistic style. “That’s probably about 5,000 years old,” he says, explaining that the style can give a clue to how old it is. Around 1,500 years ago, a more technical style came in, which depicted the internal organs.

But the content also helps. The change in climate around 1,500 years ago, which made Kakadu the hot, wet place it is now, brought in major change. If a boomerang is depicted, for example, you know it’s from before that time. “If you threw one now, you’d just hit a tree,” says Dave.

Some content indicates far more recent times, however. There’s a figure painted entirely in white, and it looks like he has his hands in his pockets – something that must have seemed strange to the indigenous people when Europeans first arrived. And next to him is a white man’s weapon – a gun. See one of them on a shelter, and you know it’s less than 200 years old.

Other key rock art sites in Australia’s largest national park include Ubirr. And, if you want live birds and crocodiles rather than painted ones, try birdwatching in the Mamukala wetlands or a Yellow Water cruise.

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