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Quinkan Country

Australia · Oceania

A line drawing, not a photograph of this site — generated artwork.

SpectacleExceptional

This text was written with AI. How this is made

One of Australia's great rock art regions, named for the spirit beings that haunt its galleries.

Sandstone escarpments around Laura, in far north Queensland, carry one of Australia's richest concentrations of rock art: painted, stencilled and engraved figures spread through shelters and overhangs across some 230,000 hectares. The country is named for the Quinkan spirit beings that recur across its galleries — tall, thin Timara and squat, heavy Imjim. Rock art here has been recorded at about 27,000 years old, with occupation older still, and the tradition runs on into the contact era.

Age
~27,000 yrs
Period
Pleistocene–Recent
Setting
Rock shelter
Art form
Paintings
Discovered
1960
Status
Open (Split Rock; Guided Tours Elsewhere)

The art

Notable Features
  • Timara and Imjim spirit figures
  • Rock art recorded at c. 27,000 BP
  • National Heritage listed in 2018
Depicted Subjects
Spiritual BeingsHuman FiguresAnimalsAnimal tracesHand Stencils

How it was made

Ochre paintingHand stencilRock carving
Made with
Red ochreWhite pigmentYellow pigment

How we know its age

Stratigraphic context

Rock art carries no signature and no date. These are the methods that put an age on this site. How these methods work

Plan a Visit

AccessThis cave can be visited.
Links
Hours & prices change — always confirm on the official site before travelling.

Sources

  1. 1.Quinkan rock artWikipedia
  2. 2.Quinkan Country, Peninsula Developmental Rd, Laura, QLDAustralian Heritage Database

Further reading

Where to go next

⧗ See it on the timeline⌖ See it on the discovery timeline
Photographs via Wikimedia Commons — image credits. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.