Thread: Graffiti the graffiti?

Which brings another issue...

Chambers Pillar is what comes to mind.

Here is what wiki has to say:

Chambers Pillar (Aboriginal name 'Idracowra' or 'Etikaura') is a sandstone formation some 160 km south of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. Erosion by wind and rain has left an isolated pillar of 350 million year old sandstone, rising 50 metres above the surrounding plain.
John McDouall Stuart was the first European to see Chambers Pillar, reaching the site in April 1860, and naming it after James Chambers, one of his South Australian sponsors. During the subsequent 147 years numerous visitors have added graffiti by carving names in the soft sandstone at the base of the pillar. This is proving a dilemma for the government body responsible for its conservation; at what age is graffiti of historical importance and not just graffiti?

and the NT Govt.

John MacDouall Stuart first
recorded the pillar in April 1860
whilst travelling north on his first
attempt to cross Australia. He
named it after James Chambers,
one of his South Australian
sponsors.
Until the coming of the railway in
the 1920s, the Pillar was a
landmark in the desert on the long
overland journey from Adelaide to
Alice Springs. Many of those
early travellers have left a record
of their visit in the soft, white
sandstone including John Ross
and Alfred Giles both in 1870.
More recently, visitors have
added their names or graffitied the
rock face. This is illegal and
lessens the historical significance

of the Reserve.

A good point by Steve. Perhaps when vandelism is a tool??? Perhaps the subjective value of its aesthetics? Is age a factor?

Such as around the Dig Tree perhaps?

I wonder how many aboriginal artworks dating back many, many years were actually just kids buggerizing around. Or egyptian heiroglyphs for that matter