Indigenous perceptions of contact at Inthanoona, Northwest Western Australia

Inthanoona, a pastoral head station in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, which functioned from the 1860s to the 1890s includes an assemblage of more than 250 rock engravings of which 20% are identifiable contact period motifs. These include images of clothed men and women, guns, horses, sheep, wheeled vehicles, houses and ships. Spatial analysis of the structures, artefacts and engravings on the site supports the conclusion that the contact motifs demonstrate continuity in Indigenous modes of representation and innovation in subjects. They provide direct evidence of Aboriginal participation in, and perceptions of, the pastoral and pearl shell industries of the Pilbara.