Aboriginal Art Symbols - Kangaroo Footprint
The Aboriginal art symbol for a kangaroo is like parallel spikes with outward facing barbs which suggest the tracks of creature's hind legs.
The Aboriginal art symbol for a kangaroo is parallel lines with outward facing barbs that suggest the tracks left in the sand by the creature's hind legs.
-
Sometimes this symbol has a line between the tracks to represent the trail of the kangaroo's tail in the sand.
-
Kangaroos often feature in traditional Aboriginal art as part of a hunting or ‘Dreaming’ story. They appear in symbolic form as track patterns or as illustrations of the creature itself.
-
Aboriginal hunters stalk kangaroos not only for their meat and skins, but also for the rest of their carcass to produce tools, string, pouches and water containers. This conservational use of the entire creature is captured in Aboriginal X-Ray paintings that depict both the exterior appearance of the animal and its interior musculoskeletal structure.
-
Male kangaroos are called 'bucks', 'boomers' or 'jacks', while females are called 'does', 'flyers' or 'jills'. Young kangaroos are called 'joeys' and a group of kangaroos is called a 'mob'.
