REREADING ROCK ART IN THE NORTH OF AUSTRA LIA

Contrary to the claims of some Australian Archaeologists, rock art for ms part of contemporary Aboriginal culture in many areas of northern a nd central Australia, and Aboriginal people can provide informed inter pretations of the art's meaning. Laura, in north Queens land, is rathe r atypical because the Aboriginal community which produced rock art up to the late Nineteenth century was either destroyed or forced to flee the region during the early colonial period. I summarise recent Abori ginal interpretations of the rock art, and evaluate these in the light both of earlier records from the same region, and of general principl es deduced from the ethnographic study of rock art elsewhere in Austra lia. An understanding of iconography, style and context are found to b e the key to an informed reading of rock art. The paper concludes by c onsidering lessons which may be learned from Australian rock art, that may provide a useful guide to the ''reading'' of Upper Palaeolithic r ock art in the Franco-Cantabrian region of Europe.