Petroglyphs and pictographs

Rock art is the oldest human art form that survives today. The first humans arrived in Australia between 65,000 and 80,000 years ago. Australian rock art has been dated to around 30,000 years ago. But there might be much older rock art sites on the continent. For First Nations peoples in Australia, rock art sites are records of their ongoing history since time immemorial.

First Nations peoples created and continue to create different kinds of rock art. Petroglyph and pictograph rock art are the two main forms.

To create a petroglyph, people engrave rock by pecking, hammering or chipping away at a surface to make an image. These images have shapes like circles, arcs, dots or animal tracks.

To create a pictograph, people paint minerals like charcoal, clay, chalk and ochre on a rock surface. People can use dry or wet colours to create pictographs, by using their fingers or brushes (made from chewed sticks or hair) to paint with. In pictographs, you see images you can recognise more easily, like humans or animals. Petroglyphs can be found around Australia, but pictographs survive only in sheltered areas like caves.

Rock art can be simple or very complex. The type of artwork used depends on the individual artist and their cultural group.

Why is rock art important?

All cultures on earth use pictures to tell stories. From the time they arrived in Australia, First Nations peoples used artworks in sacred and public places to record their stories.  

First Nations peoples continue to pass down knowledge about rock art today. This tradition has continued for thousands of years, sometimes directly from the original artists themselves. First Nations peoples consider many rock art locations to be sacred sites.

Rock art is therefore an extremely valuable historic, artistic and spiritual resource.