One of two signposted Aboriginal rock art sites along the Carnarvon Gorge Main Track, Cathedral Cave is regarded as the the largest and most spectacular cultural site along the track. The enormous, wind-eroded overhang is 77.5m in length and 32.5m deep over 30m high, with multiple timber platforms providing access to the art. Excavations of the site in 1965 and 1975 revealed four distinct occupation layers, and a bark coffin was discovered in a cavity in the cliff face prior to 1940.
Cathedral Cave has a total of 1,669 motifs located in a broad band covering the entire length of the site from ground level to a maximum height of 6.85 metres; there may have been more stencil motifs below the current ground level which have not survived. The site has some European damage, including carved initials with names and dates, going back to 1918.
The rock art consists of stencils, paintings, dry pigment drawings and engravings:
- Stencils – 995
- Drawing – 1
- Paintings – 27
- Engravings – 646
Stencils, a painting and engravings are also found on four of the large fallen boulders along the steep slope in front of the cliff wall.
Stencils
Just under half of the rock art at Cathedral Cave is stencils, and these are dominated by hand stencils in red ochre.
| Motif | Red | Yellow | White | Black | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hand (left) | 337 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 355 |
| Hand (right) | 240 | 10 | 250 | ||
| Hand (other) / arm | 199 | 16 | 3 | 218 | |
| Foot | 30 | 2 | 32 | ||
| Animal paw | 9 | 9 | |||
| Axe | 5 | 5 | |||
| Club | 9 | 9 | |||
| Boomerang | 53 | 1 | 1 | 55 | |
| Spear / Shield | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||
| Disc | 52 | 52 | |||
| Unidentified | 6 | 6 | |||
| Indistinct | 5 | 5 | 10 | ||
| 937 | 50 | 4 | 3 | 995 |
Among the many hand and forearm stencils are ten “double handed” forearm stencils, which are unique to the Carnarvon National Park area.
As well as hand stencils, there are nine clubs and 53 boomerangs – potentially recording the individual weapons of a group of hunters (Dons Maps).
The two (repeated) axe-shaped stencils in red ochre may depict a type of wooden ‘Lil-Lil’ club: a “Wooden club with a straight body and a wide flat head that projects on the concave side” (Museums Victoria). It was thought to have been made and used only in south-eastern Australia, through New South Wales and the directly adjacent parts of Victoria and Queensland and there are few surviving examples of this weapon (one is on display in Museums Victoria.
Elkin (1940) also describes “a painting of an implement known as a ‘kidney smasher’ It was made of wood and had a hook-like curve and the aggressor was said to strike his victim in the kidneys with it.” It’s not clear whether he was referring to this motif.
A less common motif is a disc and “disc + stem”: they could be stencils of eggs or zamia (cycad) seeds, or shell pendants (called “che-ka-ra”). These are also found at The Tombs rock art site. On the same panel are some emu print and a pair of kangaroo prints.
One of the red ochre stencils is said to bwe of a musket, according to signage at the site, representing post-colonisation “contact culture”.
Drawing
The single drawing is either a human figure – or an “evil spirit which tormented our people and has been pecked at driven away from the land (Park Queensland). The figure is not easy to see, being superimposed with many stencils.
Paintings
There are not many painted motifs; the most prominent of the 27 paintings are ten grids in red ochre. The meaning of these is unknown: Goddard and Mitchell (1941) suggested they possibly repreresented the Zamia fruit, an important source of food for the aboriginal people of the South West. They have been described as fishing nets, and have been associated Aboriginal burial sites.
| Motif | Red | Yellow | White | Black | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grid | 10 | 1 | 4 | 15 | |
| Cross | 1 | 1 | |||
| Linear figures | 5 | 1 | 6 | ||
| Emu Track | 1 | 1 | |||
| Wash | 4 | 4 | |||
| 21 | 1 | 5 | 27 |
Like those in the Cathedral Cave, the grid motifs are in red, yellow and whitre ochre.
Engravings
There are over a hundred grooves in the wall, as well as over 200 animal and human tracks.
| Motif | TOTAL |
|---|---|
| Cup and ring | 30 |
| Human Track | 27 |
| Macropod Track | 191 |
| Animal Track | 98 |
| Emu / Bird Track | 83 |
| Outline design | 11 |
| Groove | 118 |
| Hole / Circle / Oval | 88 |
| 646 |
There are seven axe grinding grooves on a rock shelf at the far south-western end of the site.
Getting to the Cathedral Cave Aboriginal rock art site
The signposted Art Gallery site is along the Carnarvon Gorge Main Track, 9.1km from the Visitor Centre. A set of timber stairs leads up to the high overhang, which is 6 metres above and 20 metres in distance from the left bank of Carnarvon Creek.
More information
- Parks Queensland – Carnarvon Gorge – Nature, culture and history
- Parks Queensland – Cathedral Cave
- Don’s Maps – Carnarvon Gorge
- Museums Victoria Collection – Lil-lil | Club
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