I can’t believe it was Saturday I posted last.
It has been a mad week at work. I seem to be home late almost every night and hit the sack soon after.
Still even long days give me a couple of hours to work on my WIP. I have read it all through a couple of times an am still shuffling sections around and writing bits and pieces to link those sections.
So I guess I’ve sort of begun working on a second draft, but it really doesn’t feel like it.
Now for something different I’m going to share some more piccies from our second day at the Grampians.
In the afternoon we headed towards another spot about ten kilometers (6 miles) from the Ngamdjidj rock shelter.
It was still fairly early so I paused to photograph these odd flower buds
High on the flanks of the hill under a rock ledge very like this
is the Gulgurn Manja Aboriginal rock shelter.
In the shelter is more rock art.
Pictures of emu footprints
Seemingly abstract symbols
And what I think makes this place most special.
For Gulgurn Manja means “hands of the young people” in the local Aboriginal language.
The rock surface is covered with hand prints made by children between the ages of 8 and 12 over many generations.
It is like these young people have left part of themselves in the landscape.
I found it very magical.
10 comments:
I love the way that these hand prints almost MAKE the person observing them want to reach out and put their own hands on the inprint of the one before it...literally "touching the past"
Oh wow!!! I love that these rocks are preserving the memory of these young people! How magical and beautiful and eternal!! Lovely!
Thanks for sharing these fab pics and good luck with your revisions! Take care
x
I so love coming here. You always make it so magical. I love those little handprints. Reminds me of my daughter's school projects. I have her hands in paint for every year so there's 5 so far adorning the wall.
Magical indeed. You are a marvelous spokesperson for your country. :)
Wow! I love the hand prints. That is so cool! Good luck with the wip. =)
It's a really moving post Al - makes you want to put your own hand over theirs and touch someone across all that time and distance!
Do you suppose it was some kind of 'coming of age' ritual?
Those hand prints certainly do capture the imagination, don't they? I love the way they act as an almost tangible link to the past. Magical. Thank you so much for showing them to us.
Magical is the exact right word! Glorious pics :)
Lovely pics! I love rock art. I always think it's like old graffiti :)
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