Palm breach

form ended with the last ice age in Europe, it persisted until very recently in Australia, although examples of twentieth century work are rare and may have been influenced by outsiders. Incredibly, this latest find comprises a continuous historical record from 15,000 years ago to 50 years ago. Thus it is that, alongside ancient depictions of classic rock art images such as human hand outlines, boomerangs, kangaroos and the now extinct thylocine (Tasmanian tiger), there are nineteenth and twentieth century innovations such as a biplane, steamships, a World War 2 battleship and guns. Other unusual works include portraits of a missionary, a sea captain and traders. It is extraordinary to think, in this age of immediate obsolescence, that this single location was used continuously for 15,000 years to document the events of daily life. It is always surprising and thrilling when the unexpected is found The sites are significant not just for the sheer volume of art work, or the incredible time span they represent, but also because they provide indisputable evidence that indigenous Australians, at least in Arnhem Land, did not live in isolation from the time of their arrival there until the Europeans discovered Australia in the eighteenth century. There are paintings of Macassan proas — trading boats from Sulawesi (now part of Indonesia) — as well as Chinese trading ships, which suggest that local indigenous groups were in contact with outsiders for hundreds of years before the British arrived. The area is a prime site for mining exploration and will also no doubt attract tourists eager to see at first hand what may be the longest continuous historical record in existence. Lamilami and the researchers are concerned that these rock walls may be damaged and eroded unless urgent action is taken, and funding provided, to preserve this implausible, precarious historical record. Exotic pests, long a problem, are becoming increasingly troublesome as global trade develops, climate changes, and pressure on funds needed to tackle the problem grows. One species currently causing particular concern is the red palm weevil. A pest, originally from South East Asia, spread by the trade in palm trees, has claimed its latest victims in its move across the Middle East and Europe, where it is causing millions of dollars of damage to both food and ornamental crops. Council authorities in Malaga, at the heart of Spain's tourist industry, announced last month that Canary palms …