Experts enlisted as Preminghana petroglyph return draws nearer, with precise location found

A Tasmanian stonemason is this week determining the best way to remove about two tonnes of concrete backing from the rock carvings in storage at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart.

Making matters difficult is a lack of records regarding the method of removal from the 1950s, including no documentation of the type of concrete used after they were carved away.

The carvings at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery are ready to be repatriated, but ALCT manager Rebecca Digney said it was their preference for all of the carvings to be returned at the same time.

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She said once the concrete was removed from the back of the petroglyphs stored in TMAG, the ALCT would be able to begin the process of returning them to their ancestral home at Preminghana on the far North-West Coast.

"We will be able to re-fix the petroglyphs to that site using a specialist technique. It allows for the whole rock art gallery to be completed in the way our ancestors intended," Ms Digney said.

Rock art repatriation and sandstone experts based across Australia have assisted in recommending how the petroglyphs could be returned, which had guided the ALCT's plans.

Sand has increasingly covered the rock art gallery at Preminghana, but recent excavation had been able to determine their precise location.

Once returned, the sand would be allowed to cover the art as a way of protecting them from the elements - given their susceptibility to erosion - and also prevent any potential vandalism.

Ms Digney said the return had great meaning for the community.

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"The repatriation is symbolic, but it's also about repairing the damage of the past," she said.

"It's a missing piece, and it's intended to remain in its entirety. It's about bringing something home that should never have been taken in the first place."

Preminghana was among the portions of Tasmanian land handed back to the Aboriginal community and can be visited with the permission of the ALCT.

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