Yidumduma Bill Harney, and the Wardaman of Australia
Between 2006 and 2017, WRAR dedicated 10 field-seasons documenting rock art sites and the associated traditional knowledge of Senior Wardaman Elder Yidumduma Bill Harney in the Victoria River District of the Northern Territory of Australia.
Through a series of fortunate events Western Rock Art Research members David Lee and Charlotte Anderson met Yidumduma Bill Harney, who requested their help to record the rock art in Wardaman Country and more importantly, his traditional knowledge of the sites and images. Mr. Harney was hopeful that careful documentation of this information would preserve it for future generations.
Photos: Yidumduma Bill Harney in Wardaman country, Australia. Photo credits: David M. Lee
Due to the relatively late invasion of Australia by Europeans, detailed knowledge of many of the traditional life-ways continued into the middle of last century, and continues today. In a very few areas like Wardaman Country, this knowledge includes fine-grained, site-specific information associated with the spectacular paintings, drawings and engravings that cover rock-shelter walls, boulders and cliff faces. Sadly, this type of knowledge has been lost across most of the globe, despite the fact that forager peoples everywhere created somewhat similar images. Each different language-group developed their own stories, songs and ceremonies to help them explain the cosmos and the earthly journey from birth to death and beyond. Each culture is rife with illuminating details unique to that culture, but upon close examination it becomes clear that underlying many Indigenous belief systems are commonalities: a Creation Time when humans and animals conversed and learned from one another; a world that was unformed and fluid until powerful Ancestral Beings created mountains, rivers and seas, and all that inhabit them; that humans learned from those Beings and honor them by caring for country.
The knowledge of how the paintings and engravings in Wardaman Country help to tell these and other stories can give us insight into Indigenous rock art everywhere that was a part of the lives of our ancestors going back perhaps to our earliest awakenings in Africa. Back to humanity’s Creation Time.
Each of the field-seasons consisted of two to three months of 8 to 10-day stretches camping on Wardaman Country, separated by one to two days restocking in the gritty frontier town of Katherine, which is the provisioning hub for locals and travelers across this section of the Northern Territory. Most of their time was spent alone together in that vast open country, camping, recording and surveying. Occasionally they would be joined by colleagues who helped with the recording, and by Yidumduma who would work with them at each site, giving an overview or ‘Long Story’ and then sharing his traditional knowledge concerning every panel of engravings or paintings. Forty-nine sites were recorded in this fashion, and another 111 were recorded but were too far for Yidumduma to visit (he was in his late 70s when the project began).
Photos: Yidumduma Bill Harney in Wardaman country, field recording. Photo credits: David M. Lee
Photos: flora, fauna, and landscape appreciation in Wardaman country. Photo credits: David M. Lee
