Earlwood Aboriginal Art Site is a heritage-listed Aboriginal cultural site at Earlwood, City of Canterbury-Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia. It is also known as Aboriginal Art and Midden. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 27 November 2009.
History
Prior to European settlement the Cooks River Valley was the home of a number of clans of the Aboriginal people. The Gameygal lived on the northern side of Botany Bay, between present day La Perouse and the mouth of the Cooks River. To the north of the Cooks River between South Head and present day Darling Harbour lived the Cadigal people and the Wangal people lived in an area between the Parramatta River and the Cooks River from Darling Harbour to Rose Bay. To the south of Botany Bay in the coastal area including Kurnell and Cronulla and the south coastal strip to Nowra lived the Gweagal people. While there is some argument about the location of land of the Bidiagal clan, there is some evidence that this clan lived in the area between the southern bank of the Cooks River and the northern bank of the Georges River. It is also thought the Cooks River formed the boundary between two dialect groups, the Bidiagal and the Gweagal. Previous reports on the Aboriginal past of the area where the Art site is located have suggested that it was occupied by the Bidiagal. The potential association of the Bidiagal people with the site should not be discounted as a result of this lack of historical detail as after the collapse of the clan structure due to the smallpox epidemic of 1788 and general impact of European invasion, individuals travelled beyond the pre-1788 traditional boundaries.
While the age of the midden and rock paintings is at present unknown as no archaeological investigation has been conducted, it is accepted that the site was regularly used by the Aboriginal people of the local area as they travelled between sites of ceremonial importance and sources of food and water that changed with the seasons. It is thought that the warmer months were spent nearer the coast and the cold months of winter were spent further inland.
Throughout Australia traditional Aboriginal people practised art making in the places on their land that they visited in their seasonal travels. Rock art includes engraving, painting using ochres and charcoals, hand printing and stencilling of hands, feet and objects such a boomerangs, small animals kangaroo paws etc. Hand stencils and prints are the most common and feet appear to be the least common motifs for stencilling. The art site at Earlwood contains stencilled hands and feet. The stencils were made by spraying from the mouth a mixture of white ochre and water over an individual's hand.
It is not known with certainty why traditional Aboriginal people made stencils or other art on particular rock formations although discussion with Aboriginal people has indicated that it is highly likely that the reasons differed from region to region throughout Australia. Possible motivations for the practise include that it may have been a way of indicating that the group had been in that place and where they had moved on to or that art was made as part of a ritual or ceremony held in that place. Alternatively stencilling may have been done to show a person's or group's bond with an area of land. The making of artwork and stencils may have been a way of connecting with ancestral beings, embodied in the natural features of the country including rock outcrops such as the one in Earlwood. The practise of stencilling may have been the way in which older, initiated members of a group introduced the ancestral being to younger group members. The initiated members stencilled the forearm and hands on the rock embodying their ancestors and younger members had their only their hands stencilled. The foot stencils are a rare phenomena and the significance of these cannot be definitely determined although they may indicate direction or were casual occurrences.