UNIVERSITY researchers and a group of First Nations Australians are working together to document ancient art in the bark of boab trees.

Prof Sue O’Connor, from the ANU School of Culture, History and Language, said many of the carved boab trees are already several hundred years old and there is urgency to produce high-quality recordings before “these remarkable heritage” trees die.

Carvings in the boab trees tell the stories of the king brown snake (or lingka) dreaming in the Tanami Desert, which straddles the border of WA and the NT.

After more than two years of fieldwork, the research team from ANU, the University of WA and the University of Canberra, working alongside five traditional owners, found 12 trees with carvings.

“Unlike many Australian trees, the inner wood of boabs is soft and fibrous and when the trees die, they just collapse,” Prof O’Connor said.

“Sadly, after lasting centuries if not millennia, this incredible artwork, which is equally as significant as the rock art indigenous Australians are famous for, is now in danger of being lost.”

Traditional owner Brenda Garstone said it’s important indigenous knowledge and stories are not lost and continue to be shared for generations.

“We are in a race against time to document this invaluable cultural heritage,” said Garstone.

Prof O’Connor said Australian boabs have never been successfully dated.

“They are often said to live for up to 2000 years but this is based on the ages obtained from some of the massive baobab trees in South Africa which are a different species,” said O’Connor.

“We simply don’t know how old the Australian boabs are.

“It is vital we obtain some direct ages for these remarkable Australian trees, which help tell the story of First Nations Australians and are the source of a rich cultural heritage.

“There are hundreds of boabs visible on Google Earth, which we didn’t manage to get to on this trip. They remain to be checked for carvings on our next Tanami adventure.

“We hope that our research will bring the art in the bark of these remarkable trees to many more Australians so that they can be appreciated for generations to come.”