Walga Rock facts for kids

Walga Rock, also known as Walgahna Rock or Walganna Rock, is a huge rock made of granite. It is located about 48 kilometers (30 miles) west of Cue, Western Australia. It is one of the biggest single granite rocks in all of Australia.

This rock is very important to the Wajarri Aboriginal people. They are the traditional owners of this land. Inside a cave at Walga Rock, there is a large collection of ancient Aboriginal art.

The Mystery Ship Painting

One of the most interesting things at Walga Rock is a painting of what looks like a sailing ship. This ship painting is on top of older artworks. Below it, there are lines of writing that look like a foreign language, but no one has figured out what they say.

The Aboriginal art gallery itself is amazing. But the ship painting has caused a lot of talk. This is especially true because Walga Rock is about 325 kilometers (202 miles) from the coast! People have wondered how a ship painting ended up so far inland.

Who Painted the Ship?

There are a few ideas about who painted the ship:

• Some believe it was drawn by survivors from old Dutch East India Company (VOC) ships. These ships, like the  Batavia or  Zuiddorp, were heavily armed and had three masts. They might have crashed on the coast, and survivors could have traveled inland.
• Another idea is that it's a "contact painting." This means Indigenous Australians saw a ship on the coast. Then, they moved inland and painted what they remembered seeing.

What Does the Painting Show?

People who think the painting shows a VOC ship believe the middle mast of the three shown is broken. It looks like it fell overboard. You can also see lines for climbing the rigging (called ratlines) and ropes holding the masts up (stays). There are seven openings along the side of the ship that look like gunports.

Could it be the SS Xantho?

Some researchers have wondered if the painting might show a different kind of ship. They think it could be the SS Xantho, an early steamship that worked in Australia's northwest. This ship was important because it was the first coastal steamer in the state.

It's possible that the "gunports" on the Walga Rock painting are not for guns at all. They might be square or rectangular windows (called scuttles) that could open. Ferries often had these windows for passengers to get fresh air when the water was calm and it was hot below deck. When the SS Xantho was built in 1848 as a ferry, it was designed to be similar to another ship, the PS Loch Lomond, which had these types of ventilation windows.

The Sammy "Malay" Story

A local historian, Stan Gratte, did research based on talks with old residents. This research suggests the Walga Rock painting was made around 1917. At that time, a man named Sammy "Malay" (also known as Sammy Hassan) arrived in the area.

Sammy Hassan was likely one of many "Malay" pearl divers. These workers were brought to northwest Australia in the early 1870s. For example, 140 boys aged 12-14 were brought on the SS Xantho from Batavia. Some of these workers were left behind when the SS Xantho sank in 1872.

While there are many examples of Aboriginal art showing ships on the Western Australian coast, the Walga Rock painting is one of the furthest inland.

Recently, visitors from Malaysia saw the painting. They thought the four lines under the ship might be Jawi, which is a Malay-Arabic script. However, research into this idea has not found a clear link.