Studies into the presence and absence of post-European contact rock art within Indigenous communities are particularly relevant to questions of colonial impact and influence. However, it is the presence of post-contact motifs and introduced subject matter that typically takes precedence in these studies. In this paper, we focus on the absence of post-contact paintings of European ships in Torres Strait (northeastern Australia) rock art. This absence is curious, given that Torres Strait peoples first encountered European ships over 400 years ago, yet the only paintings of watercraft are of their own double outrigger canoes. Furthermore, ethnographic information suggests many painted canoes were spirit canoes used by spirits of the dead, and European mariners were considered spirits of the dead who travelled in ‘ghost ships’. Despite apparent epistemological and ontological congruence between Islander and Kaurareg canoes and European ships, we argue the latter were conceptually and metaphysically different to spirit canoes and thus fell outside of the representational (rock art) genre of watercraft that was limited to spirit canoes. The lack of Torres Strait post-contact rock art reveals that reasons for the inclusion of introduced subject matter in post-contact rock art are likely to extend beyond simple exposure to, and familiarity with, so-called new subject matter.

中文翻译：

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缺席的存在：为什么托雷斯海峡（澳大利亚东北部）的接触后岩石艺术不包括欧洲船只的绘画？

研究土著社区中后欧洲接触岩画的存在与否与殖民影响和影响的问题特别相关。然而，它是在场这些研究中通常优先考虑的接触后主题和介绍的主题。在本文中，我们重点关注缺席托雷斯海峡（澳大利亚东北部）岩石艺术中欧洲船只的接触后绘画。这种缺席很奇怪，因为托雷斯海峡人民在 400 多年前首次遇到欧洲船只，但唯一的船只画作是他们自己的双支腿独木舟。此外，人种学信息表明，许多彩绘独木舟是死者灵魂使用的灵魂独木舟，欧洲水手被认为是乘坐“幽灵船”旅行的死者灵魂。尽管岛民和 Kaurareg 独木舟和欧洲船只之间存在明显的认识论和本体论一致性，但我们认为后者在概念上和形而上学上与精神独木舟不同，因此不属于仅限于精神独木舟的代表性（岩石艺术）船只类型。