This short scientific note by archaeologist Kate Morse was published in the Records of the Western Australian Museum (1984). It reports the discovery of two painted hand stencils in Old Kudardup Cave, about 6 km north-west of Augusta. Local amateur cavers found them in 1982, and a Museum party recorded them in 1983. Both are left hands in reddish-brown ochre, on the cave wall near the entrance, and both are faint and weathered.
Chert artefacts found on the cave floor suggest the cave was visited long ago, possibly before rising sea levels cut off the source of the stone. The author cannot say whether the stencils are the same age as the artefacts. If they are, they could date from the Late Pleistocene to Middle Holocene. They are the first known painted rock art in a south-western Australian limestone cave. The find is significant because the region had been considered to have almost no Aboriginal art sites.
Note: The inclusion of this document in our digital archive is for reference and research purposes only, and the Margaret River & District Historical Society does not necessarily endorse all content, viewpoints, or specific conclusions presented within it.