Leigh Oates

This painting represents an area on the west coast of Tasmania from Preminghana and south down along the coast. This area was a popular hunting ground and signs can be still seen today of how food was caught, prepared and eaten. The white shapes represent the stones where the old fellas would make their seal hides. The four red oxide areas in the corners represent the seal hides themselves. This is where they would remove the stones to make a pit so they could hide in out of site from the seals. When the seals fell asleep in the warm sun they would sneak up out of the hides and club the seals for food. The sea is represented by the blue area separating the two areas of stone. The red oxide area through the centre is the mark left by the seals as they were dragged away from the waters edge (the drag mark can still be seen today). The eleven shapes in the painting are just some of the petroglyphs found in this area and they are an extremely important part of Aboriginal people’s connection to the past and are some of the oldest engravings found anywhere in the world.