WEST KIMBERLEY PLACE REPORT - Department of Sustainability ...

significant evidence on the paleo-environment, human adaptation to climate
change, marine resource use, development of symbolic behaviour and the
antiquity of long distance exchange. Given the highly significant nature of
these investigations, coupled with the argument that the west Kimberley is
one of the most likely points through which humans first entered Australia,
future archaeological surveys in the region may reveal sites of even greater
scientific and archaeological significance. The exceptional preservation
conditions offered by the Devonian reef complex also support the likelihood
of further significant discoveries.
The coastline from Cape Londonderry to Cape Leveque and the Devonian
reef complex have outstanding heritage value to the nation under criterion
(c) for their potential to yield significant new archaeological information
contributing to an understanding of Australia's natural and cultural
history.
Rock paintings as a source of information about climate, ecology and
technology
The fine graphic detail of the painted motifs in the Wanjina-Wunggurr
homeland and the Balanggarra native title claim area provide invaluable
insights into a number of nationally important areas of research including
climate change and species extinction; early Aboriginal material culture and
technology development; and the interactions between Aboriginal people
and outsiders. The exceptional illustrative nature of the rock paintings has
the potential to provide information at a level of resolution currently absent
from the archaeology. Welch (1993, 29) supports this view, noting that early
Kimberley rock art 'gives us an enormous insight into the material culture of
early Australians'. While the rock paintings of Arnhem Land and the Kakadu
region are also highly informative, Morwood (2002, 162) suggests that the
Kimberley region may have greater potential in demonstrating changes in
weapons used, accoutrements and ideology.
The rock paintings of the Wanjina-Wunggurr homeland and the
Balanggarra native title claim area have outstanding heritage value to the
nation under criterion (c) for their potential to yield information that will
contribute to an understanding of climate change and species extinction;
early Aboriginal material culture and technology development; and the
interactions between Aboriginal people and outsiders.
Natural disasters in the late Holocene
Recent research in the Kimberley linking comets and tsunamis to Indigenous
oral histories, painted rock images and stone arrangements provides exciting
opportunities for future collaborative investigations between archaeologists,
geologists and the Traditional Owners.
The west Kimberley coast between Cape Londonderry and Cape Leveque
has outstanding heritage value to the nation under criterion (c) for its
potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of
the nature and the effect of mega-tsunami events.
Contact, change and continuity
Asian–Australian interaction
Indonesian fishermen, commonly referred to as Macassans, have been
visiting the west Kimberley coast for perhaps hundreds of years to harvest
marine resources including pearl and trochus shell, turtle shell, clam meat,
shark fins and trepang, also known as sea cucumber or bêche-de-mer
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