Mulka's Cave Aboriginal rock art site: its context and content

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 8 years ago

ABSTRACT – The Mulka's Cave Aboriginal site, within "The Humps" Nature Reserve near Hyden, Western Australia, was recorded in detail prior to an overall tourist-orientated development of the Reserve. The site features 452 motifs, an extremely high number for the region where most sites have fewer than 30 motifs. The artwork is dominated by 275 handstencils, with 40 sprayed areas, 23 handprints, 23 paintings, 3 drawings and a single object stencil produced with a wide range of colours. The high diversity of art attributes is unusual in a region where the rock art is dominated by red handstencils. The site appears to have been of considerable importance to the Noongar people in the past and remains significant to them today. Its significance to the broader Western Australian community is evidenced by the high number of tourists it currently receives.