Using ochres to make paint © 2013 Education Services Australia Ltd, except where indicated otherwise. You may copy, distribute and adapt this material free of charge for non- commercial educational purposes, provided you retain all copyright notices and acknowledgements. 1 Year 2, unit 3: Mixing things together Lesson 3

Ochre is naturally tinted clay used to make pigments (colours) for painting. Here are examples of red and white ochre. The black lumps are charcoal. 2

Grinding ochres into powder takes time and patience. 3

After grinding, ochre is mixed with a binding material. 4

Pandanus baskets were made from dried leaves and vines and then painted with ochre. 5

A cross boomerang made from wood and vine and painted with ochre. 6

A rainforest shield made from wood and painted with ochre. 7

A rock painting using ochre. This rock art is in the West Kimberley region in Western Australia. ©Grant Dixon/Getty Images 8

Slide no.Image titleSource/author details 2Natural ochres and charcoal© Joseph Sambono 3Pounding red ochre© Queensland Museum, Gary Cranitch 4Mixing red ochre© Queensland Museum, Gary Cranitch 5Pandanus baskets, 1912–13Image reproduced courtesy of Museum Victoria 6Indigenous cross boomerang from Cairns area, 1900Image reproduced courtesy of Australian Museum 7Rainforest shield, c1980sImage reproduced courtesy of Museum Victoria 8Aboriginal rock art in gorge of lower Charnley River, West Kimberley © Grant Dixon/Getty Images Image acknowledgements 9