Bradshaws
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- For the railway timetable, see Bradshaw (or its originator, George Bradshaw).
The Bradshaws are a distinctive style of rock art found in the Kimberly region of Western Australia. They are named after the pastoralist Joseph Bradshaw who was the first european to discover them in 1891, whilst searching for grazing land for his cattle. The Bradshaws are also known as Gwion Gwion by the local Aboriginal people which means before our time.
Scientists estimate that there may be more than 100 000 sites spread over 50 000 sq. km of the Kimberlys. In 1996 one of the paintings was dated by analysing an ancient wasp nest covering it (using thermoluminescence). The nest was found to be over 17 000 years old. This makes the Bradshaws at least as old as the paintings in Lascaux, France, the earliest known example of rock art.
Debate rages as to who actually created the art. On one side of the debate is Grahame Walsh, an amateur archeologist and the leading expert on the Bradshaws with over 1.2 million images he has amassed over 21 years studying them. His hypothesis claims that the Bradshaws were painted by a culture predating present day Aboriginies. On the other side, are the mainstream scientific community who believe that it is completely plausible that the art was produced by the local people.