Heritage value of rock art on the Cape York Peninsular: assessment of criterion iii for Cape York World Heritage nomination [Confidential]

The cultural tradition of complex dancing tableaux, long song series, body-masks and suspended sculptural installations associated with hero cults like I'wai is not found anywhere else in Australia including among the Aboriginal societies in the central part of Cape York (Thomson 1933; Sutton 2011). These cultural traditions provide exceptional testimony for the long term cultural interchanges between New Guinea and Australia. They also demonstrate that despite such interactions Aboriginal people on Cape York maintained their way of life. Although hero cults are incorporated into the ceremonial life of the region's coastal peoples, their culture is clearly Aboriginal and not Melanesian