Paul S.C.Taçon

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  • Chair in Rock Art Research and Director of the Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit (PERAHU), Griffith University
View of the area in which the new fertiliser factory will be constructed and from which the three rock art panels were removed. In the background is the gas plant that will power the fertiliser factory. Benjamin Smith

Murujuga’s rock art is at risk – where is the outrage?

Benjamin Smith, The University of Western Australia; Joakim Goldhahn, The University of Western Australia, and Paul S.C.Taçon, Griffith University

Archaeologists speak out against the removal of three rock art panels to pave the way for the construction of a new fertiliser factory in Western Australia.
Large painting of a crocodile attributed to Majumbu along with two child hand stencils. Photograph courtesy of the Melbourne Museum, object 019930, object size 2.94m by 1.03m

Returning a name to an artist: the work of Majumbu, a previously unknown Australian painter

Paul S.C.Taçon, Griffith University; Andrea Jalandoni, Griffith University; Joakim Goldhahn, The University of Western Australia; Kenneth Mangiru, Indigenous Knowledge; Luke Taylor, Griffith University, and Sally K. May, University of Adelaide

Majumbu’s work sits in the Melbourne Museum, but until now he has not been named as the artist.
The bark painting depicting a barramundi that Namadbara created for Spencer at Oenpelli in 1912 and that he identified in the interview with Lance Bennett in 1967, now in Museums Victoria Spencer/Cahill Collection (object X 19909).

Paddy Compass Namadbara: for the first time, we can name an artist who created bark paintings in Arnhem Land in the 1910s

Joakim Goldhahn, The University of Western Australia; Gabriel Maralngurra; Luke Taylor, Australian National University; Paul S.C.Taçon, Griffith University, and Sally K. May, University of Adelaide

The Spencer/Cahill Collection at Museums Victoria contains approximately 170 bark paintings – and now we can name one of the artists behind them.
Josie Maralngurra touching her hand stencil made when she was around 12. In the background are three white barramundi fish figures with red line-work also created by her father Djimongurr. Photograph by Fiona McKeague, copyright Parks Australia

Friday essay: ‘this is our library’ – how to read the amazing archive of First Nations stories written on rock

Laura Rademaker, Australian National University; Gabriel Maralngurra; Joakim Goldhahn, The University of Western Australia; Kenneth Mangiru, Indigenous Knowledge; Paul S.C.Taçon, Griffith University, and Sally K. May, University of Adelaide

Australia’s stunning galleries of rock art are vast repositories of knowledge that can teach us much.
Adventurer Francis Birtles in his car with a man identified as Indigenous artist Nayombolmi. National Library of Australia

Aboriginal art on a car? How an Indigenous artist and an adventurer met in the 1930 wet season in Kakadu

Joakim Goldhahn, The University of Western Australia; Paul S.C.Taçon, Griffith University, and Sally K. May, Griffith University

One was a celebrity adventurer, the other was a skilled Indigenous artist who painted everything in sight. A new look at old photographs confirms their meeting.
Rock paintings from the main gallery at Djulirri in Namunidjbuk clan estate, showing traditional Aboriginal motifs as well as European boats, airplanes, and more. Photo by Sally K May.

Threat or trading partner? Sailing vessels in northwestern Arnhem Land rock art reveal different attitudes to visitors

Sally K. May, Griffith University; Daryl Wesley, Flinders University; Joakim Goldhahn, The University of Western Australia, and Paul S.C.Taçon, Griffith University

Pictures of boats and ships in rock art at the northwestern tip of Australia show the European incursions from the 1800s — but also the much earlier and lesser known sea trade with southeast Asia.
December 1972: Billy Miargu, with his daughter Linda on his arm, and his wife Daphnie Baljur. In the background, the newly painted kangaroo. Photograph by George Chaloupka, now in Parks Australia's Archive at Bowali.

‘Our dad’s painting is hiding, in secret place’: how Aboriginal rock art can live on even when gone

Joakim Goldhahn, The University of Western Australia and Paul S.C.Taçon, Griffith University

How does rock art matter? New research finds it can act as a kind of intergenerational media –even when no longer visible to the eye.
Many threats – the lower paintings at this site at Malarrak in Arnhem Land are being removed by feral animals rubbing against the wall. Paul Tacon

Australian rock art is threatened by a lack of conservation

Paul S.C.Taçon, Griffith University

Australian rock art is under threat from both natural and cultural forces impacting on sites. But what saddens me the most is that there is so much government lethargy in Australia when it comes to documenting…
A close up of one of the hand stencils found in the prehistoric caves in Indonesia. Kinez Riza

40,000 year old rock art found in Indonesia

Paul S.C.Taçon, Griffith University; Adam Brumm, Griffith University, and Maxime Aubert, Griffith University

Rock art dated to a minimum age of almost 40,000 years has been discovered in the Maros region of southern Sulawesi, Indonesia. This is an incredible result, published in Nature today, because one of the…

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