Grampians National Park

In western Victoria, sandstone ranges rise from the surrounding plains — a landscape the Jardwadjali and Djab Wurrung peoples have known as Gariwerd for more than 30,000 years. Within these ranges, approximately 200 rock art sites hold over 4,000 individual motifs, some dating back 20,000 years. This is more than 80 percent of all rock art in Victoria, concentrated in a single landscape that remains central to Aboriginal creation stories.

Gariwerd — the ranges European settlers named the Grampians — rises from the western Victorian plains in a series of sandstone ridges, waterfalls, and sheltered valleys that have drawn human habitation for over 30,000 years. The Jardwadjali and Djab Wurrung peoples are the Traditional Owners, and their connection to this landscape is recorded in one of the densest concentrations of Aboriginal rock art in southeastern Australia.

Approximately 200 rock art sites have been documented within the national park. They contain over 4,000 individual motifs — hand stencils, emu tracks, human figures, geometric patterns, and images whose meanings are held by the communities that created them. Five of these sites are open to the public; the remaining 195 are not publicised, a deliberate act of cultural protection that itself communicates something about the relationship between knowledge and access.

The rock art was not decoration. The shelters where it appears were places of habitation, ceremony, and cultural transmission. At Gulgurn Manja — 'Hands of Young People' — the hand stencils include those of children, a detail that transforms an encounter with ancient art into an encounter with ancient childhood. At Bunjil's Shelter, near Stawell, a painting of Bunjil the creator being with his two dingo companions is one of the most significant cultural heritage sites in Australia. The Brambuk Cultural Centre in Halls Gap serves as the gateway to this landscape, offering cultural context that transforms rock art from visual curiosity to living heritage.

Gariwerd has been home to the Jardwadjali and Djab Wurrung peoples for more than 30,000 years. The rock art, spanning 20,000 years, represents the richest concentration of Aboriginal art in southeastern Australia.

Bunjil, the creator being, shaped this landscape during the Dreaming. His painting at Bunjil's Shelter — depicted with his two dingo companions — is one of the most significant cultural heritage images in Australia. The ranges, waterfalls, and rock shelters are expressions of Bunjil's creative act and remain his Country.

The Jardwadjali and Djab Wurrung peoples maintain continuous connection to Gariwerd despite the disruptions of European colonisation from 1840. The Brambuk Cultural Centre represents a contemporary expression of ongoing custodianship.

Gariwerd's thinness comes from density — 30,000 years of human presence leaving 4,000 marks on stone across 200 sites, with only five open to public eyes. The hidden sites deepen rather than diminish the experience.

The power of Gariwerd's rock art is inseparable from its distribution. Only five of approximately 200 sites are publicly accessible. The other 195 exist in the landscape, known to Traditional Owners and researchers, deliberately unpublicised. A visitor walking through the ranges knows that the art they cannot see vastly outnumbers the art they can. This awareness creates a quality of attention unlike any museum or managed heritage site.

At the accessible sites, the art is immediate and unmediated. The hand stencils at Gulgurn Manja are not behind glass. They are on rock, in shelter, in a place where rain and wind have touched them for thousands of years. The hands of children are among them — small, definite, unmistakable. Someone held a child's hand against rock and blew pigment around it twenty thousand years ago, and the outline remains. The connection this creates is not intellectual but physical: hand to hand across millennia.

Bunjil's presence in the landscape extends beyond the shelter that bears his painting. As the creator being of this Country, Bunjil is the landscape — the ranges, the waterfalls, the rock shelters themselves are expressions of his creative act. The painting is not a representation of Bunjil but a mark of his presence in a place that is already his.

The rock art served multiple purposes: ceremonial (possibly associated with initiation rites and funerals), territorial (marking connection to Country), documentary (recording significant events), and spiritual (expressing and maintaining relationship with Dreaming beings).

The rock art tradition at Gariwerd spans at least 20,000 years, with different styles and techniques appearing across different periods. Much cultural knowledge was lost following European settlement from 1840. The Brambuk Cultural Centre, established by the Aboriginal community, represents a contemporary effort to maintain and share cultural knowledge.

Cultural tours, guided walks, and the Brambuk Cultural Centre provide visitor engagement with Gariwerd's Aboriginal heritage.

Ceremonies, initiations, and cultural gatherings have been held in Gariwerd for millennia. The rock art may have been associated with initiation rites, funerals, and seasonal ceremonies.

The Brambuk Cultural Centre serves as a living cultural institution. Guided cultural walks are available. Traditional Owners continue ceremonial practices.

Visit the Brambuk Cultural Centre first. Join a guided cultural walk if available. At rock art sites, sit quietly and allow the art to emerge — the stencils and paintings reveal themselves gradually as the eye adjusts to the rock surface.

Five publicly accessible rock art sites offer direct encounters with ancient art in sandstone shelters. The Brambuk Cultural Centre provides essential cultural context. Guided cultural walks with Aboriginal guides deepen the experience.

Begin at the Brambuk Cultural Centre in Halls Gap. The centre, built and operated by Aboriginal communities, provides the cultural framework that transforms what follows from sightseeing into something more considered. Interactive exhibits, art displays, and storytelling areas share the heritage and Dreaming stories of the Jardwadjali and Djab Wurrung peoples.

From Brambuk, the five publicly accessible rock art sites are distributed across the park. At Gulgurn Manja, a fifteen-minute walk from Hollow Mountain car park leads to a rock shelf bearing painted hand stencils — including children's hands — alongside emu tracks and other symbols. The shelter faces a landscape of ridges and valleys that the artists knew intimately. At Ngamadjidj, near a small waterhole on the western edge of the ranges, remains of campfires and stone tools have been found alongside the art, confirming that this was a place of extended habitation.

Billimina Shelter offers an impressive rock overhang with many red paintings left by Jardwadjali people who camped here periodically. The art is not isolated from its context; it exists within a landscape of use — camping, tool-making, ceremony — that the shelters preserve.

Guided cultural walks with Aboriginal guides, available through the Brambuk Cultural Centre, add a dimension that self-guided visits cannot provide. Walking with someone whose ancestors made the art, in a landscape that remains their Country, changes the quality of seeing.

Start at the Brambuk Cultural Centre before visiting any rock art sites. If possible, join a guided cultural walk. Visit Gulgurn Manja for the hand stencils, then Bunjil's Shelter if time permits. Allow the cultural context from Brambuk to inform what you see at the sites.

Gariwerd holds 30,000 years of human presence in a landscape that remains Country for its Traditional Owners — a place where rock art, creation narrative, and ongoing cultural practice are inseparable.

Gariwerd is recognised as holding the richest concentration of Aboriginal rock art in southeastern Australia. National Heritage listing acknowledges both natural and cultural values. The art spans multiple styles and periods, providing evidence of evolving cultural expression across at least 20,000 years.

For the Jardwadjali and Djab Wurrung peoples, Gariwerd is Country — the landscape shaped by Bunjil, the creator being, and maintained through ongoing relationship. The rock art is not 'art' in the Western sense but a record of this relationship, made over millennia and continuing to hold meaning for contemporary communities. Much knowledge was lost through colonisation; the surviving sites and the Brambuk Cultural Centre are critical to cultural continuity.

The antiquity and density of the art have drawn interest from those seeking evidence of ancient spiritual practices in southern Australia.

The exact purposes of many rock art motifs remain uncertain. The relationship between different art styles and periods is still being researched. Much Indigenous knowledge about the sites was lost during colonisation.

Located approximately 260 km west of Melbourne. Halls Gap is the main base. Brambuk Cultural Centre is the starting point.

Approximately 260 km west of Melbourne (3 hours by car). Halls Gap is the main base within the park. Brambuk Cultural Centre is in Halls Gap.

Halls Gap offers hotels, cabins, and camping. Additional accommodation in Ararat and Stawell.

Respect the rock art by not touching it. Do not seek out unpublicised sites. Follow guidance from the Brambuk Cultural Centre.

The rock art at Gariwerd has survived 20,000 years of weather. It should not be damaged by a single visit. Do not touch the rock surfaces — oils from skin accelerate deterioration of the pigments. Stay on marked paths at rock art sites. The 195 unpublicised sites are protected for cultural reasons; seeking them out disrespects the cultural protocols that govern their accessibility.

Walking/hiking attire appropriate for the ranges.

Photography permitted at public rock art sites. No flash. Do not touch surfaces to enhance visibility for photographs.

None expected.

Do not touch rock art | Do not seek out unpublicised sites | Stay on marked trails | No flash photography | Do not remove any natural or cultural material

Sacred places within a half-day’s reach. Pilgrims often visit them together: walk one, stay for the other.

Lake Mungo

Willandra Lakes, New South Wales, Australia

392.6 km away

Wilpena Pound

Pastoral Unincorporated Area, South Australia, Australia

721.2 km away

Worimi Conservation Lands

Nelson Bay, New South Wales, Australia

1018.0 km away

Mount Wollumbin

Tweed Shire Council, New South Wales, Australia

1410.2 km away

Sources consulted when researching this page. Independent verification by readers is welcome.

1. 01Rock Art in the Grampians - Visit Grampians — Visit Grampianshigh-reliability
2. 02Gulgurn Manja Aboriginal Rock Art Site - Parks Victoria — Parks Victoriahigh-reliability
3. 03Bunjil's Shelter - Visit Grampians — Visit Grampianshigh-reliability
4. 04Grampians National Park - Wikipedia — Wikipedia contributors
5. 05Indigenous History of Grampians - Go West Tours — Go West Tours