Daniel Sutherland Davidson
Perth: Hesperian Press, 2011.

Originally published in 1937 and 1937 in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. “Davidson was the most important ethnographer of his time and his reputation for the quality and quantity of work produced is unmatched. In 1937 F.D. McCarthy described the 1936 volume as “the first monograph of aboriginal rock carvings and paintings”. All subsequent students of Aboriginal Art owe a debt to Davidson’s work. Not only do the volumes extensively cover the rock engravings and paintings but discuss in detail techniques and styles of decoration, on weapons, baskets and containers, pearl shells, baobab nuts, tree carvings, grave posts, bullroarers, churingas, waningas and many others objects. The symbolism and distribution of design elements and originating areas are also discussed. This is an essential volume for anyone with an interest, scientific, aesthetic, or commercial, in Aboriginal art and artifacts.” (publisher’s blurb)