Different Kalkadoon rock art sites deep within the Selwyn ranges carbon dated at 17,500 years old.

Kangaroo or emu blood was mixed with the red ochre so it absorbed deep into the rocks.

     

    

   

 

 

 

Kalkadoon rock art site near the Argylla ranges. This site was a Kalkadoon family site indicated by the childrens handprints (4,5) and is next to a beautiful permanent water hole. One of these photo's (8) shows rock art that was at least 60 metres up the cliff face. Photo's 1 and 2 show a cliff wall 20 metres high which at one point in time were completely covered by rock art but with the passage of time only feint markings are visible apart from one section that is clearly visible. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

Kalkadoon petroglyphs or rock carvings which have been carbon dated at 37,500 years old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a memorial to the Kalkadoon and Mitakoodi people. One of the plaques reads " You who pass by are now entering the ancient tribal lands of the Kalkadoon, dispossessed by the European, honour their name, be brother and sister to their descendants".

Sadly over the years this memorial site has been vandalised several times and even been blown up with dynamite. A memorial just down the road to Burke and Wills has not been defaced once.

 

 

Kalkadoon signs as you are entering Mt.Isa, Queensland.  

 

 

 Kalkadoon meeting place sign. My Great, great grandmother Annie Connelly held ceremonial dances in Kalkadoon country in Mt.Isa, Queensland.

    

 

 Kalkadoon tribal council keeping place.

 

  Photo with Aunty Barbara Sam, Uncle ken Isaacson and myself.  

 

My Great Uncle chairman of Kalkadoon Communities, Uncle Doug Bruce.

 

 

Kalkadoon artist                     Kalkadoon Elder

      Barbara Sam.                            Clive Sam.

 

  

 Elder & archeologist           Didgeridoo being made

Ken Isaacson with my          from the coolibah tree.

      sister Kaycie.

 

  

Permanent waterhole and Kalkadoon camping place deep within the selwyn ranges.              

 

 

Unexplained hovering lights shot at night time.         

 

                           

High above the waterhole.                         Looking down at the creek that flows

                                                                                   into the waterhole.

 

      

Sunset at the Selwyn ranges with camp fire.         

 

 

   Old Kalkadoon campfire place,             Kalkadoon black bassalt mining quarry

            age undetermined.                                            6,000 years old.

 

  

 Permanent waterhole and                   Bustard Turkey.

Kalkadoon camping place

 near the Selwyn ranges.

 

 

 Kalkadoon cave entrance deep in the              Rest time after a long hard                

                 Selwyn ranges.                                            walk and climb.

 

 

 Many caves are dotted along this mountain where the Kalkadoons camped.

 

 

 Looking out from the caves entrance you could see for miles around on the open plains.

 

            

Yellow ochre in rock form before being crushed and used as a paint.        

 

     

        The far off Selwyn ranges.                                 The Argylla ranges.         

 

       

               Battle ranges.                                The steep slopes of Battle Mountain.         

 

                

              Mount Remarkable.                                    White quartz mountain.            

 

             

 Open flat plains in Kalkadoon country.        Old Kalkadoon campfire place.                  

 

 

Possible burial place. Tree reads "J.R.Flood 14.12.1872 then GH".                   

 

 

      Balancing rocks.                 Volcanic mud flow 

                                                     captured in time.

 

      

Engraving reads 1885 - 1907, Duck hole - Fishers camp.           

 

 

 Fisher's cattle yard aged at 128 years old.                  

 

 

                            

 Permanent waterhole and kalkadoon camping place near the Argylla ranges.

  

 

 

 

 Tree near Fishers cattle yard reads "J.Miller 1903" and E.S, R.R.C, M.M and D.H.

 

          

 Swim, rock art and beautiful scenery at a Kalkadoon camping place.

  

 

    

   

 

Kalkadoon camping site the Casscades or Three sisters.         

 

               

 Kalkadoon family camping site and permanent waterhole near the Argylla ranges.

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Moondurra.         

 

  

 

 Kuridala abandoned mine. Copper was first discovered and mined in 1884 and had a thriving

population of up to 2,000 people. It closed in 1921 and has been a ghost town since.

 

   

 

Black bassalt Kalkadoon axe blanks and napping site near the Selwyn ranges.

 

 

Sign at the entrance to Kajabbi with my sister, Uncle Ken Isaacson and myself. My Great, Great, Great Grandmother Annie Whip was born in Northern Kalkadoon country at Kajabbi.

 

Outside the old Kajabbi hotel.

 

 

Kalkadoon memorial celebrating 100 years of survival since Battle Mountain. My relative Charles Perkins who started the freedom ride in the late sixties officially unveilled the memorial.

 

 

100 year old cattle holding yard at Kajabbi which used to be the biggest cattle holding yard in the Southern hemisphere.

 

Bower bird nest and playground. The male bower bird would collect shiny rocks and objects and would call to the female enticing her to look at his shiny collection.

 

 

Termite mound that has been eaten out by an echidna.

 

Over 100 year old Chinese market garden. Horses used to walk around a pole and pump water up from the nearby river so the Chinese merchants could water their crops. They would then sell or trade their goods at nearby cattle stations. The last photo shows where they used to have their shelter.

 

 

Kalkadoon rock art deep in Kalkadoon territory. This very special place tells the dreaming story of the white dingo and white wallaby. Visible is Kalkadoon men, the white wallaby, the white dingo (with his tail up), 3 wallabies, a white and red baby wallaby, several emu feet and a cranes foot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Campfire in Kalkadoon country and surrounding scenery.

 

 

 

 

After capturing Kalkadoon warriors and corralling them in a gorge on the 24th January 1883 Sub Inspector Marcus De La Poer Beresford told the Kalkadoons through an interpreter that he would decide their fate in the morning. During the night the Kalkadoons escaped their bonds and armed themselves from a secret cache of weapons that were hidden in the gorge and killed the Sub Inspector and 3 of his native troopers with the fourth trooper walking twenty miles with a spear in his thigh to raise the alarm.

 

1920 steam boiler that was used to pump water to the Mt.Cuthbert mine.

 

 

White, red and yellow ochre in rock form before being crushed and used for painting.

 

Photo with Uncle Cecil Moonlight (son of king Mick Moonlight) and Uncle Ken Isaacson.

 

 

Photo with Uncle Cecil Moonlight and Aunty Dorrie Prowse.

 

Permanent natural spring that has water in it even through the driest times not far from Mount Isa and rock art at the site.

 

 

Rock art including kangaroo tracks not far from Mount Isa.

 

 

Lake Moondarra stone axe quarry is a large complex of mining pits, archaeological sites, campsites , axe quarries and napping sites and covers an area of 8 square kilometres and was the biggest stone axe quarry in Australia. The Kalkadoon people traded their high quality stone axes that were in high demand in aboriginal prehistory because of the strength and craftsmanship of the axes. Ground axe technology is believed to be around 35,000 years old and this site is believed to be more than 6,000 years old. Kalkadoon axes from Mt.Isa have been found as far away as Southern and Western Australia. Stone axe blanks were napped and shaped and then taken to lake Moondarra and sharpened using a grinding stone with water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Napping sites.

 Old Kalkadoon campfire site.

 Kalkadoon grinding stone.

   Lake Moondarra.

 

Rock art site in a cave just above a waterfall deep in Kalkadoon country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Rock python, gaurdian of the cave.