The Library catalogue is a powerful searching tool. Use a basic keyword search to get quickly to the resources you will find on the shelves.
In a highly visual subject you are often looking for that "something" that will give you an idea or set you off on your own path of discovery. While not the most efficient way for carrying-out research, under many circumstances browsing the shelves may bring you the results you want. The following Dewey Numbers will help if this is the case.
Dewey numbers
- Art, Aboriginal Australian = 759.089915
- Social Groups - Australian Aborigines = 305.89915 (You will need to refer to the indexes in these books and search under the term "art".)
- Rock art = 709.0113
Keyword Searching
Subject Headings
- Aboriginal Australians -- Art
- Aboriginal Australians -- Art -- 20th century
Reference Material
Collection Highlights
Aboriginal Art and Spirituality by Rosemary Crumlin & Anthony Knight. Australian Aboriginal art is primarily spiritual. The sacred art of the aboriginal people, however, goes even further, and expresses the actual laws and rites by which the Australian Aborigines live.
Art on a string: Aboriginal threaded objects from the Central Desert and Arnhem Land.This book introduces the aesthetic and symbolic power of necklaces and other threaded objects made by Australian Aboriginal artists from the Central Desert and Arnhem Land.
Contemporary Aboriginal art: a guide to the rebirth of an ancient culture / Susan McCulloch. Revised edition
Dreaming their way: Australian Aboriginal Women Painters. This book highlights the work of 33 artists and their important contributions to contemporary painting and represents communities across the continent.
Desert crafts: Anangu Maruku punu by Jennifer Isaacs.
How Aborigines invented the idea of contemporary art: writings on Aboriginal contemporary art edited & introduced by Ian McLean.
Ilan Pasin: this is our way. Torres Strait Art. This book provides, for the first time, a Torres Strait Islander perspective on the history, customs, legends and artistic expressions of a people who exist as minority within the minority of Australian Aboriginals.
Papunya: a place made after the story. The beginnings of the Western Desert Painting Movement by Geoffrey Bardon & James Bardon. What started as an exercise to encourage the Aboriginal schoolchildren to record their sand patterns and games grew to involve, at the peak of creativity, as many as thirty tribal men and elders. The Western Desert Painting Movement provided the rest of the world with new ways of seeing.
Robinson's cup. In 1835 the people of Bothwell, Tasmania presented a Cup to George Augustus Robinson in appreciation for establishing a conciliation with local aboriginal people. An exhibition at QVMAG by contemporary aboriginal artists presented their interpretation of the cup and the story around it.
Tjukurrtjanu: origins of Western Desert art by Judith Ryan & Philip Batty