Drone-mounted lasers helped locate three unregistered Aboriginal rock art shelters in Australia, offering communities another way to document and protect their cultural heritage for future generations.
In Australia’s Blue Mountains, rugged terrain and dense bushland make searching for Aboriginal cultural sites slow, difficult, and expensive.
More than 200 rock shelters containing cultural and archaeological evidence have been recorded there, but only an estimated 10 percent of the region has been surveyed, according to Dr. Amy Mosig Way, a research archaeologist at the University of Sydney and the Australian Museum.
Three shelters enter the archaeological record
Researchers from the two institutions, working alongside the Dharug Custodian Aboriginal Corporation, used drone-mounted lasers to help narrow that search. The technology, called LiDAR, short for Light Detection and Ranging, uses laser pulses to create detailed three-dimensional maps of the landscape, helping researchers detect features hidden beneath bushland and tree cover.
After the drone surveys identified potential rock shelters, Way led teams of students and volunteers into the field to verify their locations and assess whether they contained cultural material. The work confirmed the locations of six registered shelters and identified three previously unregistered ones. The newly recorded shelters contain stone artifacts and rock art, including red hand stencils.
“One of the most rewarding aspects of the Gulamada Project has been creating opportunities for students to gain hands-on experience in cultural heritage research in a community-centered project,” Way said.
The research, published in Remote Sensing, also produced much more accurate shelter coordinates than those listed in the official New South Wales sites register, the Aboriginal Heritage Information Management System (AHIMS).
“This work is exciting because it offers an efficient and accurate way to locate sites in rugged environments, which are notoriously arduous, expensive and time-consuming to survey,” said Dr. Jacob Bongers, lead author of the drone research and a digital archaeologist at the University of Sydney. He is also a former AMF/AMRI Visiting Research Fellow at the Australian Museum.
Caring for Country through shared knowledge
The surveys form part of the Gulamada Project, co-directed by Way and Wayne Brennan, an Indigenous rock art expert at the University of Sydney. Built on the principle of walking side by side, the project brings scientific knowledge and First Nations cultural knowledge together to better understand and care for Country. At the confirmed shelters, Brennan and Erin Wilkins, of the Dharug Custodian Aboriginal Corporation, led the rock art recording.
“From the outset, our vision for the Gulamada Project has been to create a true nexus of science and culture. This work highlights the importance of listening, learning and working together,” Brennan said.
Susan Templeman, the Federal Member for Macquarie, which includes the Blue Mountains, said, “This project demonstrates the power of bringing together First Nations knowledge and new technology to better understand and protect Australia’s rich cultural heritage. I’m proud that the Australian Government’s First Nations Heritage Grants program is supporting important projects like Gulamada here in the Blue Mountains, already renowned for the extraordinary natural and cultural significance within our rugged landscapes.”
Faster searches could help protect heritage
The team says the approach allows Aboriginal communities, archaeologists, and heritage managers to search vast areas of challenging terrain much faster than traditional ground surveys. Used alongside existing knowledge and cultural practices, it could help communities locate, document, manage, and protect cultural sites before they are affected by development, erosion, bushfires, or other threats.
“Importantly, our methodology is helping expand the record of Aboriginal cultural sites in the Blue Mountains and has the potential to be applied in other regions,” Bongers said.
The researchers plan to work with Aboriginal communities to test and adapt the approach in different environments, including the tropical savannas of western Arnhem Land and the semi-arid landscapes of western New South Wales.
Reference: “LiDAR-Assisted Survey Locates Unregistered Rock Shelters in the Blue Mountains, Australia” by Jacob L. Bongers, Wayne Brennan, Erin Wilkins, Lauren Roach, Emily Nutman, Joseph W. Lehner and Amy Mosig Way, 11 October 2026, Remote Sensing.
DOI: 10.3390/rs18203495
The project “The Gulamada Project: Walking side by side: A Nexus of Science and Culture” was funded under the 2023-24 First Nations Heritage Grants program (Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) – grant no. FNHI000045 ($248,610), awarded to Amy Mosig Way & Wayne Brennan (the University of Sydney) in collaboration with Erin Wilkins (Dharug Custodians Aboriginal Corporation).
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