Australian Aboriginal Art: 60,000 year old living archive.

Australian Aboriginal art is the oldest continuous artistic tradition in the world, with roots stretching back at least 60,000 years. It is far more than aesthetic expression; it is a living archive of law, story, spirituality, and identity. Every dot, line, and pigment is part of a system of knowledge that connects people to Country, to ancestors, and to each other.

For Aboriginal peoples, art is inseparable from culture. It is a means of recording and transmitting the Dreaming — creation stories that explain the origins of the land, animals, and people, and the laws by which they live. Art is not only a visual language but also a tool of teaching, memory, and ceremony. Many works cannot be fully understood outside their cultural context; they carry layers of meaning known only to those initiated into certain knowledge.

Aboriginal art is incredibly diverse, reflecting the hundreds of nations across the continent.

Rock Art: Found across Australia, from the Gwion Gwion and Wandjina figures in the Kimberley to ochre depictions in Arnhem Land, rock paintings and engravings are among the earliest known forms of human storytelling.

Dot Painting: Originating in the Central and Western Desert movements of the 1970s, dot painting uses intricate patterns to obscure sacred knowledge while still conveying Dreaming narratives.

Cross-Hatching (Rarrk): Common in Arnhem Land, this style features fine parallel lines that create shimmering, layered surfaces, often representing ancestral beings and their journeys.

Bark Painting: A tradition particularly strong in northern Australia, bark paintings use natural ochres on eucalyptus bark to depict stories of Country and Dreaming.

Body Painting and Sand Drawing: Temporary art forms used in ceremony, where designs painted on the body or drawn into the earth connect participants directly to spiritual ancestors and ritual law.

The 1970s marked a turning point when artists at Papunya, a remote settlement in the Northern Territory, began painting ancestral designs on canvas using acrylics. This became known as the Western Desert Art movement and brought Aboriginal art into international galleries. From there, art centres across the country flourished, supporting artists to share culture on their own terms.

Aboriginal art is not simply “Australian art”; it is a world art form. It embodies tens of thousands of years of continuity, resilience, and adaptation. It asserts sovereignty over land and culture while also engaging with global audiences. Importantly, it continues to be owned and controlled by Aboriginal people themselves, who use it as a medium to tell their own stories, preserve their law, and affirm their unbroken connection to Country.