The Gwion Gwion rock paintings, also called Gwion figures, Kiro Kiro, Kujon, Bradshaw rock paintings, Bradshaw rock art, Bradshaw figures, or the Bradshaws, are one of two major types of rock art found in the north-west Kimberley region of Western Australia. Important groups have shared their own explanations about what the images mean. However, the identity of the artists and the age of the art are still debated by archaeologists and researchers who study Australian rock art. A 2020 study suggests that most of the human-like figures were created about 12,000 years ago, based on analysis of wasps' nests that were painted over. These questions have been discussed since the artwork was first seen and recorded in 1891 by a pastoralist named Joseph Bradshaw, after whom the art was named until recent years. Because the Kimberley region is home to many traditional owners, the rock art is known by many different names in local languages. The most common names are Gwion Gwion or Kiro Kiro/Giro Giro. The art mainly shows human figures wearing items such as bags, tassels, and headdresses.
Gwion Gwion art
Amateur archaeologist Grahame Walsh started working in the area in 1977 and returned many times to record and find new sites until his death in 2007. His work created a database with 1.5 million rock art images and recordings of 1,500 new rock art sites. By studying how paintings overlap and their styles, Walsh created a timeline showing that Gwion Gwion art appears early in the Kimberley rock art history. He suggested this art dates to a time before the Pleistocene. Many ancient rock paintings still have bright colors because bacteria and fungi, like the black fungus Chaetothyriales, have grown on them. The pigments used might have started a long-term partnership between these fungi and red bacteria.
Based on the style of the paintings, Walsh identified two main types of Gwion art, named "Tassel" and "Sash" because of the clothing features. He also found two variations, called "Elegant Action figures" and "Clothes Peg figures."
The Gwion Gwion paintings are spread in unique ways, different from the Wandjina tradition. They are more common in areas with sandstone rocks in the west and central Kimberley but have also been found in scattered places in the east, such as the Napier Ranges and near the eastern edge of the Kimberley. These paintings are usually found in rock shelters with suitable surfaces, unlike Wandjina art, which is limited to a few sites. Gwion Gwion art is rarely painted on ceilings and is instead found on vertical rock surfaces high up in shallow shelters with uneven floors.
The Gwion Gwion paintings mostly show human figures that look like they are floating or moving, such as running, hunting, or dancing. Gender is rarely shown, but muscles in the arms, shoulders, and stomach are often detailed. Recent discoveries showed that the figures appear to face into the rock, a perspective that was previously overlooked. This view is clearer in the rare "Classic Realistic" style, which is the oldest in the timeline. When viewed this way, the "paunches" seen in the paintings are actually on the back of the figures, not the stomach. The figures also wear items like belts, headdresses, and bags, and sometimes show tools like boomerangs and wands. Most figures have a deep purple-red or mulberry color, though some have yellow or white pigments. Their sizes vary, with most between 40 and 50 centimeters tall, and a few reaching up to 2 meters.
The Gwion Gwion art is unusually advanced in both technique and style. Studies show that artists often painted outlines first, then filled them in. Engraving on the rock sometimes followed these outlines, suggesting planning. Some faces have detailed features that look like portraits. The fine details, such as hair strands as thin as 1–2 millimeters, suggest tools like feather quills might have been used. Evidence of restoration has been found, but no changes or corrections during painting. In a study of 66 panels, about 9% of the images were damaged by scratches, stones, or hammering.
Except for "Elegant Action figures," which remain undamaged for unknown reasons, most Gwion Gwion paintings show signs of vandalism, possibly from rituals or defacing. Overlapping images, a type of vandalism, are common in the Kimberley.
Dating
The Gwion Gwion paintings are not the oldest artworks in the region. Earlier art includes simple animal drawings that are estimated to be up to 40,000 years old. The Gwion Gwion paintings are different from this earlier art and appeared after the most recent Pleistocene glacial maximum, which occurred between 26,500 and 20,000 years ago.
Since the mid-1990s, scientists have used special dating methods, such as accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), to determine the ages of the Gwion Gwion paintings. OSL was used when mud wasp nests covered paintings, but this method gives a minimum age, not the exact age of the painting. Results from these methods have shown some differences with earlier timelines. For example, OSL dating of a wasp nest over a tassel Gwion Gwion figure gave a date of 17,500 ± 1,800 years ago. Most scholars agree that the Gwion Gwion artistic style ended about 5,000 years ago. If the date ranges are correct, this suggests the Gwion Gwion tradition lasted for thousands of years. Geoarchaeologist Alan Watchman noted that red paint on a tasselled Gwion Gwion image near the Drysdale River is likely only about 3,000 years old. AMS dating of paint layers on another figure gave a date of 3,880 years ago, showing the Gwion Gwion art is about the same age as Wanjina art. Around 15,000 years ago, Aboriginal people in the Kimberleys began using stone points instead of multi-barbed spears, but this change is not shown in the Gwion Gwion paintings, which still depict multi-barbed spears.
In 2008, rock art was discovered on the north-western coast of the Kimberley that may show a Thylacoleo, a large extinct animal. This was the second known image of a megafauna species by Indigenous Australians. A "clothes peg" Gwion Gwion figure is drawn over the Thylacoleo’s chest, while a "tassel" Gwion Gwion crosses its forearm. In 2009, another image was found showing a Thylacoleo interacting with an "elegant action" Gwion Gwion figure who appears to be using a multi-barbed spear. This image is smaller and less detailed than the 2008 discovery, but experts believe it likely shows a Thylacoleo, not a thylacine. Since Thylacoleo is thought to have gone extinct 45,000–46,000 years ago, this suggests the associated Gwion Gwion art may be of similar age. However, archaeologist Kim Akerman suggests that megafauna like Thylacoleo might have survived longer in wetter areas of Australia, possibly dating the paintings to 15,000–22,000 years ago.
New dating methods may help scientists better understand the age of the paintings. Neuroscientist Jack Pettigrew proposed using DNA sequencing from microorganisms that have replaced the pigment in some paintings as a way to date the art.
Indigenous knowledge
Research about Aboriginal knowledge has grown more in recent years. This growth is mainly seen in the use of Aboriginal names for paintings, which show the languages spoken in the areas where the paintings are found. For example, the Ngarinyin name for the art is Gwion Gwion. Other names include giro giro, used by Aboriginal people in Napier, Broome Bay, and Prince Regent River. Australian rock art researcher David Welch explains that these names are likely different ways of saying Kujon, the name of a bird in a creation story first heard by Schultz in 1938. Aboriginal people are now more willing to share stories about the paintings with outsiders. These stories often describe spirits who created dances still performed today, and the dances include clothing shown in the paintings, such as headdresses, boomerangs, and string. Bradshaws (Gwion Gwion) are also shown in modern artworks sold in the Kimberley region. One well-known Gwion Gwion artist is Kevin Waina.
Colonial discovery and study
Rock art in the Kimberley region was first recorded by George Grey, an explorer from a European country and future governor of South Australia, as early as 1838. This rock art is now known as Wandjina style art.
In 1891, while searching for land suitable for farming in the remote Roe River area, a rancher named Joseph Bradshaw noticed a unique type of rock art on a sandstone cliff. Bradshaw recognized that this style of painting was different from the Wandjina style. Later, he spoke about the art to the Victorian branch of the Royal Geographical Society, describing its fine details and colors such as brown, yellow, and pale blue. He compared its beauty to that of Ancient Egypt.
In 1936, American archaeologist Daniel Sutherland Davidson briefly mentioned these figures in a report on Australian rock art. He noted that Bradshaw’s encounter with the art was short and did not include Aboriginal perspectives. Davidson also pointed out that Bradshaw’s sketches might be inaccurate due to a possible European bias. At the time, no books or articles about this art were published until the 1950s. The rediscovery of the original mural more than 100 years later showed that Bradshaw had accurately copied the art without using photography, and Davidson’s criticisms were not supported by the evidence. As interest in Aboriginal culture grew, researchers in the coastal area began to study the art more closely. However, attention to the Gwion Gwion style was limited. Some researchers who saw the Gwion-type paintings were part of the 1938 Frobenius Institute expedition. Agnes Schultz noted that unlike Wandjina art, Aboriginal people showed little interest in the Gwion Gwion paintings, though they recognized them as images of bush spirits or D’imi.
When asked about the origin of the Gwion Gwion art, the expedition’s Aboriginal guide explained:
"Long ago, a black bird named Kujon painted on the rocks. He struck his beak against the stones until they bled, and with the blood, he painted. He painted only human-shaped figures, which probably represent spirits."
Anthropologist Robert Layton noted that researchers such as Ian Crawford, who worked in the region in 1969, and Patricia Vinnicombe, who worked there in the 1980s, were told similar stories about the Gwion-type art. Since 1980, more organized efforts have been made to locate additional Gwion Gwion rock art sites in the Kimberley.
The fossil record of climate and vegetation during the last ice age is limited but still provides useful information. When the Kimberley region was first inhabited about 40,000 years ago, it had open tropical forests and woodlands. After about 10,000 years of stable weather, temperatures dropped, and winds became stronger, beginning the ice age. During the coldest period, 25,000 to 15,000 years ago, sea levels were 140 meters (460 feet) lower than today, with the coastline stretching 400 kilometers (250 miles) farther north-west. Australia was connected to New Guinea, and the Kimberley was separated from Southeast Asia by a strait about 90 kilometers (56 miles) wide. Rainfall decreased by 40% to 50% in some areas, and lower carbon dioxide levels meant plants needed twice as much water to grow. The Kimberley and nearby areas were covered by large grasslands, while woodlands and dry scrub covered the land joining New Guinea to Australia. Southeast of the Kimberley, from the Gulf of Carpentaria to northern Tasmania, the land was covered by extreme deserts and sand dunes. Less than 15% of Australia supported trees, with semi-arid savannahs in coastal areas and cold steppe and alpine grasslands in Tasmania. Evidence suggests that Aboriginal populations may have decreased during this time, with only a few areas, called "refugia," supporting both vegetation and people. When the ice age ended, the Kimberley region developed a tropical monsoon climate until a major climate event in the mid-Holocene weakened or stopped summer monsoon rains for about 1,500 years.
The change in artistic styles between the older Gwion Gwion and the newer Wandjina style is linked to a severe drought that began when the wet season collapsed 5,500 years ago. The Gwion Gwion style ended around this time, possibly within 500 years. The Wandjina style, which shows cloud and rain spirits, appeared 3,800 to 4,000 years ago, coinciding with the end of a long drought and the return of rain that shaped the region’s current climate. The lead author of a research paper, Hamish McGowan, suggested further study into the cultural changes and the possibility that another group replaced the Gwion Gwion artists. However, Peter Veth, a professor of Kimberley rock art at the University of Western Australia, criticized the paper for claiming that climate changes and art style shifts indicate the end of a culture. Veth argued that the connection between climate changes and the shift from Gwion Gwion to Wandjina art is likely a coincidence, as evidence shows no break in human presence in the Kimberley. He also noted that similar changes in Aboriginal art styles have occurred elsewhere in Australia and that there is no linguistic evidence to support the arrival of a new group in the area.
Controversies
Research about Gwion Gwion art is controversial, and experts have not reached agreement. Most of the debate focuses on Walsh’s ideas about when the art was made, who created it, and whether Aboriginal people are its descendants. His views caused criticism in the mid-1990s because they could weaken legal claims by Aboriginal people in the Kimberley region. Disagreements about the art’s age and whether non-Indigenous people made it have made Gwion Gwion rock art one of the most debated topics in Australian archaeology.
Walsh believed the Gwion Gwion art was made during a time he called the Erudite Epoch, before Aboriginal people lived in Australia. He suggested the art might have been created by a group from Indonesia who were later replaced by the ancestors of today’s Aboriginal people. He based this on the complexity of the art compared to other styles in the Kimberley, like the later Wandjina art.
Some media reports highlighted Walsh’s claims about mysterious groups. Pettigrew noted that the Gwion Gwion paintings show people with "peppercorn curls" and small size, similar to San people. He theorized that Africans might have traveled to Australia after the Toba eruption 70,000 years ago using reed boats and eating baobab fruit. However, most Australian archaeologists disagree, believing the art was made by Aboriginal people. Dr. Andrée Rosenfeld argued that the art’s style matches modern Aboriginal art, not non-Aboriginal styles. The Australian Archaeological Association stated, "No evidence shows that early Australians were not the ancestors of today’s Aboriginal people," and added that such ideas promote racist stereotypes.
Aboriginal people criticized Walsh for ignoring their cultural explanations of the art. Crawford wrote that an Aboriginal elder called the paintings "rubbish," a term in local Indigenous English that can mean someone too old or young to be active in culture or something not dangerous, like non-venomous snakes.
Most scholars believe Aboriginal people made the Gwion Gwion art. Michael Barry’s analysis found no connection between the art and overseas prehistoric styles, but similarities with art in Arnhem Land and other parts of Australia. Some historians and amateur researchers still suggest foreign origins, but these views are not widely accepted.
In many Gwion Gwion paintings, Tassel and Sash figures appear to be dancing or acting in rituals. Michaelson et al. suggested these might show shamanistic practices or creation ceremonies. Eucalyptus leaves, which can be used as a mind-altering drug, are often shown with moving figures.
Michaelson et al. cited A. P. Elkin’s research, which found similarities between Aboriginal and Tibetan shamanism. Elkin noted that shamanism may have originated in North Africa 50,000 years ago, with women originally leading rituals, later taken over by men. Aboriginal women have said men took over roles once performed by women. This is supported by similar words for female shamans in many languages. Michaelson noted that older Gwion Gwion art shows female figures with breasts, while later art shows male figures in leading roles. Pettigrew linked some symbols in the art to those used by Sandawe people to show hallucinogen experiences, suggesting both cultures used psilocybin-induced trances.
However, few researchers believe shamanism was part of Aboriginal culture. George Chaloupka, an expert on Aboriginal rock art, said, "Shamaniacs rule the world…It’s just another orthodoxy basking in its five minutes of sunshine." Walsh dismissed the idea of female shamans in Gwion Gwion culture, saying prominent breasts in female images were likely chest-band decorations.
Since 2009, fire prevention efforts by Western Australian government agencies have damaged over 5,000 of the 8,742 known Gwion Gwion artworks. A survey by Lee Scott-Virtue found that up to 30% of the art was destroyed by fire.