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UNE to conduct research on Burrup Peninsula rock art

October 05, 2006

BurrupArt.thumb.jpgThe University of New England (UNE), with support from Woodside Energy Ltd, is to conduct research on the Aboriginal rock engravings of the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia.

Woodside Energy, as Operator of the North West Shelf Venture adjacent to the peninsula, is offering a three-year scholarship for postgraduate study of the rock art.

The Burrup Peninsula is widely recognised as containing an important concentration of Aboriginal rock art, with more than 10,000 petroglyphs (or engravings) having been officially recorded. Some were created more than 3,800 years ago, and the oldest are estimated to be more than 10,000 years old.

The "Patricia Vinnicombe Memorial Bursary for Rock Art Studies on the Burrup Peninsula, Western Australia" will provide significant funding towards fees, analysis, and a living allowance for a student to conduct three years of PhD research on the art.

Iain Davidson, Professor of Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology at UNE, said the scholarship honoured the memory of Patricia Vinnicombe, a South African archaeologist who had made a major contribution to the study of rock art.

"After moving to Australia in the 1970s, she trained many UNE students in archaeology field methods, and then went to Western Australia where she did pioneering work on the rock art of the Burrup Peninsula and the Kimberley," Professor Davidson said. Dr Vinnicombe died in 2002.

The scholarship is available for any piece of research relating to rock art on the Burrup Peninsula, which is in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

"The student could study the content of the art, or its spatial distribution and associations (including other archaeological evidence), or the chemistry of the rock surfaces – perhaps with a view to developing a dating method," Professor Davidson explained. "Or they could study the impact of heavy industry on the art. Woodside has guaranteed that the research will be as free and open as any other form of university research, and they do not want to influence the outcomes in any way.

"They have done a lot of work already in studying and auditing the art on the Burrup, and are keen to support further study and research in the area."

UNE has a 25-year tradition of teaching the archaeology of Aboriginal rock art. "In offering the scholarship to UNE, Woodside is recognising not only this teaching tradition, but also the quality of our graduates," Professor Davidson said. "Our aim in this collaboration with industry is to obtain the best possible result for all stakeholders in the rock art."

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows, in the foreground, a Burrup Peninsula petroglyph that featured (in a scene with Toni Collette) in the film Japanese Story. The petroglyph depicts a kangaroo.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at October 5, 2006 02:25 PM