The Australian Rock Art Archive

Lost World of the Kimberley

Ian Wilson

Ian Wilson graduated in history at Magdalen College, Oxford, England, in 1963 and studied art at Oxford’s Ruskin School of Art during the same period. It was his interest in art and art history which led to the publication of his first book, the international best-seller Turin Shroud, in 1978. Since then he has written more than twenty books, during which he and his wife moved to Australia in 1995. Lost World of the Kimberley, his first Australian book, is currently the only commercially published book on the Bradshaw Paintings (as distinct from specialist, collector’s editions), available anywhere in the world. Breaking controversial new ground in describing actual sites where examples of the paintings are to be found in the Kimberley, Lost World introduces the reader to the Bradshaw painters’ astonishing technical expertise, and explores the mysteries of the people’s origins, when they lived, and what happened to them. It reveals the various factions, both ultra-wealthy whites and politically active ‘blackfella’ Australians , who are currently making restrictive claims upon the paintings, and voices concerns for the paintings’ long-term conservation in a region now notorious for randomly-lit bushfires.

Lavishly illustrated with colour photographs, mostly by Ian’s wife Judith, Lost World of the Kimberley was published by Allen & Unwin, Sydney in early February 2006. It is currently available in the UK through Orion publishers, and in good bookshops throughout Australia , price $35. The book can be ordered internationally via the Allen & Unwin website:

Lost World of the Kimberley (Book version)
Lost World of the Kimberley (E-book version)