Vibrant red, yellow and white ochre emblematic images
dynamically adorn eastern Barossa rock shelters and caves,
avid depictions of past wisdom
intended for future generational learning
created by entrusted artisans.
Inferred extrapolations of meanings only possible
of foundational dreamtime stories,
formal ceremonies and hunting vistas.
Their creators devastated by smallpox
and other ravaging infectious diseases
within twenty years of ruinous overwhelming colonisation,
after surviving and flourishing for millennia
in the extremes of rain, storms, heat and drought.
The messages precise definitions
mournfully erased with their authors.
