Aboriginal people throughout Australia have always used ochre for ceremonial body painting, traditional rituals & as a paint for artefacts & message diagrams associated with their nomadic lifestyle.
The History of Ochre. The history of the use of ochre is fascinating. Ochre was one of the first pigments to be used by human beings. Pieces of haematite (a compact form of iron oxide), worn down as though they had been used as crayons, have been found at 300,000 year old sites in France & Czechoslovakia. The first Australian Aboriginal art collected by European people was in the form of ochre on eucalyptus bark, long before the use of canvas & linen & acrylic paints. Traditional Aboriginal Paint. Paint used traditionally by Aboriginal artists consisted of a pigment, such as ochre or a coloured organic material, and a binder. Ochre is a very finely textured natural rock coloured by iron oxide. Aboriginal artists grind this material and mix it with water to make a paint.  Ochre Pigments and Paint. Ochre was the most important painting material used traditionally by Aboriginal people. It is mined from particular sites and is a crumbly to hard rock heavily coloured by iron oxide. Most have been carbon dated with ages between 10 000 and 40 000 years (the effective limit of carbon dating), and one site had what appears to be an artists palette of ochres-dated 18 000 years old. The use of ochre pigments is thus a very long tradition in Australia. ABORIGINAL OCHRE ART. The ochre painters of the Kimberley, Western Australia, have carried on a tradition of which they are fiercely proud. The Dreaming Stories, the affiliation with their land are depicted in the medium of the ochre and natural pigments which abound in their area. Indigenous Aboriginal paint was traditionally made from ochre, which are natural earth pigments from rocks. In rock form, the ochre has a crumbly to hard texture, the rock that ochre comes from is heavily coloured by iron oxide and includes the colours yellow, red and brown.  Traditional Aboriginal Painting Methods. Contemporary Aboriginal artists use a considerable variety of materials and techniques in painting. Some of these materials are rooted strongly in tradition-such as the use of ochres in the Kimberley and, to a lesser extent, ochres on bark from Arnhem Land. Most have been carbon dated with ages between 10 000 and 40 000 years (the effective limit of carbon dating), and one site had what appears to be an artists palette of ochres-dated 18 000 years old. The use of ochre pigments is thus a very long tradition in Australia. Aboriginal people throughout Australia have always used ochre for ceremonial body painting, traditional rituals & as a paint for artefacts & message diagrams associated with their nomadic lifestyle. The first Australian Aboriginal art collected by European people was in the form of ochre on eucalyptus bark, long before the use of canvas & linen & acrylic paints. Ochre and the earth pigments [edit]. Ochre is a family of earth pigments, which includes yellow ochre, red ochre, purple ochre, sienna, and umber. The major ingredient of all the ochres is iron(III) oxide-hydroxide, known as limonite, which gives them a yellow color. Modern ochre pigments often are made using synthetic iron oxide. Pigments which use natural ochre pigments indicate it with the name PY-43 (Pigment yellow 43) on the label, following the Colour Index International system. Limonite, a mineraloid containing iron hydroxide, is the main ingredient of all the ochre pigments. Ochre is a type of hard clay made from old sediments collecting in an area. Then over time drying out and becoming compressed by yet other sediments. It is found in many places in the world and comes naturally in many different colors. These colors include red, pink, yellow, white and Blue which is rare and is found in caves and along the coast. Most ochre is found between the Kimberleys in Western Australia and Alice Springs in the center of the Northern Territory. The use of ochre is particularly intensive: it is not unusual to find a layer of the cave floor impregnated with a purplish red to a depth of eight inches. The size of these ochre deposits raises a problem not yet solved. Modern ochre pigments often are made using synthetic iron oxide. Pigments which use natural ochre pigments indicate it with the name PY-43 (Pigment yellow 43) on the label, following the Colour Index International system. Limonite, a mineraloid containing iron hydroxide, is the main ingredient of all the ochre pigments.
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what is aboriginal ochre