Rock Art Tours

Visitors travel to Gunbalanya from all over the world to visit Injalak Hill and experience its outstanding ancient rock art galleries. Injalak Arts has been given exclusive permission by the Traditional Owners to facilitate Rock Art Tours led by trained local guides. The main gallery is the first contact with rock art and is the most intense. It is an extensive shelter featuring layered paintings created over thousands of years. Other rock art gallery sites visited include Yingana or Warramurruggunddji (the Creation Mother) and Andungun (this was told to Charles Mountford) a namarnde (evil) spirit who kills and eats people. The rock art on Injalak Hill reveals facets of Pre-Estuarine, Estuarine and Contact periods identifying them as between 100 and 8,000 years old. In 1912, the Aboriginal Protectorate Baldwin Spencer noted people heading up the hill every evening with smouldering fire sticks. This helps to explain why Injalak Hill boasts such extensive rock art galleries.