Huts and stone arrangements at Hilary Creek, western Queensland: Recent fieldwork at an Australian Aboriginal site complex

Lynley Wallis,Mia Dardengo,Heather Burke,Dennis Melville,Bryce Barker,Geoffrey Jacks,Robert Jansen,Iain Davidson,Andrew Schaefer,Anthony Pagels

doi:10.25120/qar.24.2021.3799

Abstract

This paper reports on an Aboriginal site complex, incorporating hut structures, ceremonial stone arrangements, an extensive surface artefact assemblage of lithics and mussel shell, and a silcrete quarry, located along Hilary Creek, a tributary of the Georgina River in western Queensland, Australia. At least two phases of occupation are indicated. The most recent huts have their collapsed organic superstructure still present, while those of a presumably earlier phase are distinguished as bare, circular patches of earth which are conspicuous amongst the ubiquitous gibber, with or without stone bases, and lacking any collapsed superstructure. Immediately adjacent to the huts and also a few hundred metres away are clusters of small stone arrangements, and about 2 km to the southwest, along the same creekline, is another series of larger, more substantial stone arrangements; these features speak to the importance of the general Hilary Creek area for ceremonial purposes. Radiocarbon dating reveals use of the Hilary Creek complex dates to at least 300 years ago; the absence of any European materials suggests it was likely not used, or only used very sporadically, after the 1870s when pastoralists arrived in the area, and when traditional lifeways were devastated by colonial violence.

Highlights

Perhaps because it lacks the romantic allure of the desert proper and typically does not possess rockshelters containing deep sedimentary sequences, far western Queensland has only sporadically drawn archaeological attention (e.g. Artym 2018; Barton 2001; Border and Rowland 1990; Davidson 1983, 2008; Davidson et al 1989, 1991, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2020; Hiscock 1988)
The Hilary Creek site complex consists of three main areas: Hilary Creek Site 1 (HCS1) and Hilary Creek Site 3 (HCS3), both of which included artefacts, huts and stone arrangements positioned in relatively close proximity on opposite sides of the same gibber exposure, and Hilary Creek Site 2 (HCS2) comprising only stone arrangements and located about 1.8 km distant from the other two locales (Figure 1)
Towards the end of the fieldwork an additional three Type 2 huts were located 300 m to the southeast along another of the braided stream channels in the area labelled as HCS3; time constraints precluded these huts being recorded in detail, though the stone arrangements at HCS3 were photographed and are described below

Summary

Introduction

Perhaps because it lacks the romantic allure of the desert proper and typically does not possess rockshelters containing deep sedimentary sequences, far western Queensland has only sporadically drawn archaeological attention (e.g. Artym 2018; Barton 2001; Border and Rowland 1990; Davidson 1983, 2008; Davidson et al 1989, 1991, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2020; Hiscock 1988). In Queensland Kreij et al (2018) have explored stone fish traps in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Fitzpatrick et al (2018) have investigated stone arrangements on Lizard Island and Barker et al (2016) have documented stone arrangements on Mine Island In this same vein, Wallis et al (2017) reported on huts near the Marion Downs Station airstrip, about 60 km southwest of the township of Boulia in the traditional lands of the Pitta-Pitta people. Documented by Davidson et al (1989), these circular structures all have substantial bases of stones and sometimes their interiors retain elements of collapsed wooden superstructure They were argued by Wallis et al (2017) to have been domestic structures built by Aboriginal people to a deliberate pattern, being positioned to afford protection from inclement weather

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Discussion

Conclusion