Recent paintings

Europeans first visited Walinynga in the late 19th century, but interest in the cave intensified following visits by anthropologists Norman Tindale (1957) and Charles Mountford (1969) to record the rock art. Alarmed by a proposal to open a museum at Walinynga and expose sacred images to the public, in 1974 the elders covered the paintings with a layer of new motifs that included emus, footprints and concentric circles. This ensured the integrity of the site, yet made it available for both religious and tourism purposes. Photo: June Ross, University of New England