Baiame, a photo from New South Wales, East

Photographer's Note

While holidaying in the Hunter Valley region, in NSW, I had the opportunity of visiting this interesting small Aboriginal site.

The Legend

Baiame is the Great Spirit of the Wanaruah people, who were known to have settled after the Marawancal Tribe, the first people of the Singleton area. Baiame came from the rivers of Dreaming, which is culturally known as the period of creation. He came from the time of the Kangaroo dance, the first dance.

The Wanaruah tradition holds that prior to creation, the Hunter Valley was a vast empty flat area when Baiame awoke and stepped downs onto this land. In doing so he left imprints upon every living thing and also non living features of our local area.

He created all the beautiful things of this land. He created the kangaroo, the wallaby, the emu, the goanna and all the animals of this valley. He carved the river in this valley.

While Marmoo created the pestilence, or evil, Baiame created the bird, Eaglehawk, the protector of this valley to overcome Marmoo.

Baiame carved the lore stones which are all over this land. Baiame appointed persons to look after the lore stones and hand down their messages. They are our elders. The message we send back to Baiame is to tell him to come back and repair the earth.

When Baiame had finished, he returned to the top of the mountains in the far west of the valley and lay down like a sleeping lizard.

Baiame warns us that if all the lore stones are broken then he will return to the river of Dreaming and the land will die. Many lore stones have been broken in this land and Baiame rewarded and punished the men according to their conduct.

The History

The Aboriginal paintings at Baiame Cave have been carbon dated to three thousand years old.

Baiame has his arms out stretched to protect the Aboriginal people that came together in the valley below. He has no mouth as Baiame speaks from the heart.

Location

Baiame Cave is located on a private property at Milbrodale, 27 km south of Singleton, Hunter Valley, New South Wales.

Reference: Tourist leaflet of the Singleton Visitor Information Center

WS1 is a general view of the cave and WS2 a view of valley below.

dareco, leonorkuhn, riclopes, Flavia, cfreire, mcenteesalas, lucasgalodoido, Vato_Law, Docarmo, elmec, stego, xuaxo, belido, jhm, John_F_Kennedy, manatee, paura, siolaw, bakes888, ruisc_pt, jwmunro, Photo65Net, plimrn, pboehringer, Bluejeans, MLINES has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

dareco (17136) 2007-11-11 0:35

I find this picture very interesting. Also the informative note. I have only read about this in books. The WS pictures are also very nice. I like the color and the lighting in this one. Thanks, Karen

bostankorkulugu (42866) 2007-11-11 1:21

the only time i saw similar drawings was in Qobustan, Azerbaijan, but they were waaay much older, around 30 thousand years old as far as i remember...
beautiful documentary shot antonio, tfs...

cheers

korkut

leonorkuhn (16237) 2007-11-11 1:52

Olá Antonio,

Muito interessante esta figura, que parece um canguru com enormes asas. Curiosa mitologia, que também conta com seres criadores e protetores e outros malignos e destrutivos. A imagem está ótima, captada com perfeitos detalhes e cores, excelente enquadramento.

Abraços e um bom domingo!
Leonor

riclopes (35577) 2007-11-11 2:23

Está um espectáculo, este Baiame, António. Cá para mim era um extra-terrestre que visitou os tipos há 3000 anos...O desenho é muito engraçado e aqueles braços enormes a abraçar a gruta são um espanto, cheios de graciosidade, a planar por cima de nós. Excelente exposição e definição dos desenhos. Um post muito interessante.
Ricardo

Flavia (10352) 2007-11-11 5:14

Oi Antonio,

Olhando o deseho faz pansar em um extraterrestre! E interessante conhecer as lendas sobre a criacao do mundo de diferentes culturas.

Abracos,

Flavia

saigon (6443) 2007-11-11 6:59

hola ANTONIO.
impressionnante image!
tres belle presentation que tu nous offre la!
amitiés.....aldo.

cfreire (11741) 2007-11-11 7:06

Olá, Antônio.
Captura muito interessante, ótima nitidez que nos deixa ver os inúmeros detalhes desta cultura. Uma mostra muito rica esta que vc nos apresentou. Os contrastes estão ótimos. Um abraço, Consuelo

mcenteesalas (1618) 2007-11-11 8:48

Ola Antonio, obrigado por nos mostrares mais um pouco do mundo, nao vou dizer, bela composicao ou ponto de vista etc mas apenas vou considerar esta como foto jornalismo, servindo de fundo para o teu texto sobre as grutas Baiame, mas mesmo assim nao vou deixar de elogiar-te, gostei da luz que bate na rocha assim como a sua textura, e claro, nao podia esquecer, os desenhos ancestrais tambem estao fixes, muito obrigado mais uma vez e tchau por agora, cumprimentos, Joao Salas

lucasgalodoido (27698) 2007-11-11 8:56

Olá Antônio!
Acho bem interessante essas pinturas rupestres e ainda bem que estão sendo preservadas. As fotos do WS são aprecidas com as cavernas da região de São Thomé das Letras, aqui em Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Parabéns e Abraço!

Vato_Law (12732) 2007-11-11 12:39

Olá António,
Fascinante história à volta daquilo que nos mostras e desta gruta. Faz-me lembrar umas pinturas rupestres que vi em França há já uns anos (bem largos), é impressionante como elas se mantêm para nos dar a conhecer algo sobre os habitantes do nosso planeta há milhares de anos atrás.
Boa exposição e texturas a que capturaste com esta pequena mas trabalhadora Sony.
Um abraço.
Paulo

elmec (12210) 2007-11-12 1:42

Hello Antonio!
It looks like ghost!
I like this scene, full of mystic details from old past!
Good done!
Best regards!

Docarmo (9767) 2007-11-12 2:28

Olá António,
Excelente conjunto das três fotos + nota informativa.
Bom trabalho, a gente tem uma boa idéia do lugar e do que significa.
Gostei especialmente do WS-2.
Obrigada por partilhar.
MC

stego (24132) 2007-11-12 10:19

Olá António,
Muito interessantes e bem captadas, essas pinturas.
É pena a luz não ter ajudado nos WS's, pois estão muito bem conseguidos em termos de compo e a paisagem é interessante.
Um abraço, José

tabora (0) 2007-11-12 12:53

Bonsoir Antonio,
Une photo pas ordinaire d'un endroit extraordinaire, un joli piqué d'image.
Belle réalisation.
A+ Joseph

xuaxo (6854) 2007-11-12 13:08

Olá António,
Não é uma imagem muito fotogénica, mas o assunto é interessante.
Também gostei de ver os WS.
Boa nota, claro.
Um abraço,
F

dvlazar (6662) 2007-11-12 17:09

Nice warm earthy colours in this picture of genuine Aboriginal artwork. The framing is very good, as well.
Cheers,
Dave

belido (19934) 2007-11-13 2:59

Olá Ribeiro,

trabalho muito bem executado. A nitidez está ótima e nesse caso ela é muito importante para mostrar os detalhes dos desenhos. Os tons quentes também são bem-vindos. Imagem e nota bem feitas!
Abraço,
Carlos
PS: obrigado pelas palavras em minha última postagem.

jhm (211736) 2007-11-13 3:07

Hello Antonio,

Indeed a nice artwork, thanks for your very interesting note.
Full of mystic details from old past with the long arms and the white hands.
Very well done.

Best regards,
John.

John_F_Kennedy (43797) 2007-11-13 3:35

Very interesting note. And an excellent image. Very splendid, beautiful colours and nice sharpness.
Best wishes,
Achim

manatee (4668) 2007-11-13 16:12

Antonio this pic is grate, the note is very informative and the workshop give us more information about the whole pics.
Africa is the place where all the humans born this is a privilege to see this amazing places.

Congratulations

cuneyt-sb (6576) 2007-11-13 22:45

Hi Antonio
Very enteresting, thanks for share this beauty with us,
good capture and good result.

TFS/Kind regards

paura (25802) 2007-11-14 0:30

António,
Muito interessante sua foto, acompanhada de excelente nota.
A apresentação, sob a aspecto técnico, ficou muito boa.

Abraço

Paulo

siolaw (38294) 2007-11-14 23:23

Hola Antonio,
Interesting view of these rupestral paintings, some of the first human artworks, that can be found all over the world... intersting to see the boomerang there too... A close up of some of the paintings would look good too!
Cheers
Laurent

bakes888 (18499) 2007-11-16 1:24

Hi Antonio. Nice insight into Aboriginal culture. Well captured and presented. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers, Paul.

ruisc_pt (11594) 2007-11-16 6:56

De facto impressionante esta imagem bem como a sua mítica história.
O contraste e a vivacidade dão-lhe um impacto pictórico fabuloso.
Um ab.
R

jwmunro (286) 2007-11-16 7:28

Hello Antonio -

After just returning from Petroglyph National Monument in New Mexico I can appreciate how hard it is to photograph the ancient rock art. You have done very well to capture this image technically correct as well as artistically. I had a hard time seeing Baiame but that was not your fault. Well done.

Thank you for sharing.

John

Photo65Net (43144) 2007-11-16 10:49

Antonio,
An interesting post, with great note.
And the picture itself is pleasant, with great graphics and beautiful tones.
Regards,
JB.

plimrn (21344) 2007-11-18 6:08

Ola Antonio,
You captured amazing detail in a very difficult lighting situation; your photo shows all the elements you describe so well. Your WS photos are important in capturing the feel of the place; I particularly like the "Looking up at the cave which could stand alone as a PP.

What a great story; I especially like the part, "he has no mouth, because he speaks from the heart." We do need Baiame to come back and repair the earth.
SAA, Pat

pboehringer (770) 2007-11-22 14:07

Antonio,
a very good post with a lot of educational element that sometimes get a little bit lost at TE. The petroglyphs portraying Baiame with his prtecting arms and the abscence of a mouth is simply fantastic. Thanks a lot for this moment!
Regards, Peter

Greg1949 (9011) 2007-11-22 17:54

Antonio, this is of course a great shot, everything about it is well done. I think it is wonderful what your government has done and is doing to preserve your natural heritage there down under, and I assume these sorts of sites as well. Great capture.

Greg

marietom (34611) 2007-11-23 1:53

Hi Antonio,

Jolie composition, avec des couleurs qui attirent le regard (enfin, le mien !). Bel endroit, et beau témoignage du passé.
Marie

Bluejeans (64251) 2007-11-26 12:17

Ola Antonio ,
Que interessante estas pinturas de caça indigenas com mãos e o boomerang ,estranha a fig. central .
O meu irmão quando teve ai na Australia me ofereceu um boomerang indigena feito a mão , só que o perdi atirei ele com muita força e não vi onde ele caiu :(.
Um abraço Gonçalo

MLINES (12516) 2007-12-15 21:12

Hi Antonio. Good clear capture of this unusual and interesting piece of Aboriginal artwork. I go to this area for work at times but had not heard about this place. TFS. Murray.