Days 13, 14: Quinkan Rock Art and Laura Dance Festival

19th, 20th June, 2015

After brekkie we packed up and headed into Laura for our lunchtime Quinkan Rock Art Tour. That was amazing! Our guide, Johnny, took us in his Landcruiser through Crocodile Station to aboriginal lands. For the past 35,000 years the people would spend the dry season at the coast fishing, then shelter here in the hundreds of caves that honeycomb the sandstone escarpment during the rainy season. This occupation constitutes the longest continuous art and culture in the history of mankind.  It was awe inspiring! Johnny also related customs and ways of life he’d been taught as a child, referencing the artwork frequently as this, and the songs and ceremonies of the group, is how their life was recorded and passed on to the next generation.

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Altogether an enjoyable and informative experience not to be missed.

To see more photos of from our Quinkan Rock Art tour please CLICK HERE.

From there we headed out to the Festival grounds, about 10K south of Laura. The camping is on the grounds over an extensive area. Despite it being open for camping for a couple of days and there being hundreds of campers there over a very large area we managed to find the perfect site a short walk from the action!

The Laura Aboriginal Dance Festival is held every second year and highlights the songs and dances of the many Cape York Peninsula communities.  We all loved the dancing and I’ll let the photos tell their story. We stayed Friday and Saturday nights.

To see the many fantastic photos from the Dance Festival CLICK HERE.

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