The Grampians rock art sites
Home to the most astonishing rock paintings in Victoria
Nga Keenatt to Gariwerd
The indigenous people call the Grampians Gariwerd. Aboriginal people have lived in and around Gariwerd for at least 22.000 years. Plenty of food was available on the plains around Gariwerd and it provided them with shelter during the last Ice Age and in winter.
View on Halls Gap
from one of the beautiful lookouts.
Badema Djilga - try, taste and feel culture
In the fully Aboriginal owned and operated Brambuk Culture Centre in Halls Gap, you find a lot information about the life, the history and the significance of Gariwerd to the Djab wurrung and Jardwadjali. The design of Brambuk (pronounced Bram-book) reflects the five Koori communities which have links with Gariwerd. It is located about two kilometres to the South from Halls Gap.
Experience and learn about the Koori culture in the Brambuk centre. Try boomerang throwing, learn how to play the Didjeridoo, do a Bush Tucker tour or just sit around the fire while enjoying Aboriginal dancing.
Explore a wide range of artistic expressions left at the Aboriginal rock shelters in Grampians. If you are visiting the Grampians do not miss out to visit some of the rock shelters here. The Grampians contain an enormous amount of identified rock art sites, about 80 percent of all in Victoria, and some of them open to the public. There are five great sites you can visit.
The first and most significant site to the Koori is the Bunjil shelter not far away from Stawell. It is the one most accessible and shows a painting of Bunjil with his two little helpers. This is a men business site only. Indigenous woman are not allowed to go there.
The Brambuk Culture Centre offers a tour to the Bunjil shelter which far more rewarding than visiting the site on your own. You can learn about the creation story of Gariwerd in the Dreaming Theatre and the significance of the shelter to the people of Gariwerd.
The remaining four site can be found in groups of two. Two in the northern and the other two in the western Grampians.
The Gulgurn manja Shelter with about 190 motifs is the richest art site in the north of Gariwerd. The major motifs used in Gariwerd are dots, bars, lines, animal tracks, human figures, hand prints and stencils.
Ngamadjidj a little to the south west features a group of white human like figures.
Billimina and Manja are close to the Buandik campground. Ballimina is one of the largest art sites in Victoria. Manja outlines 90 hand stencils more than everywhere else in Victoria.