Abstract. This paper describes items of material culture depicted in Bradshaw paintings of the Kimberley region, north-west Australia. The depicted items can be closely matched with recent examples of Aboriginal ceremonial paraphernalia in the Kimberley and elsewhere in Australia, particularly Arnhem Land. In fact, the degree of correspondence indicates that Bradshaw paintings depict people in dance and ceremony. The paper concludes that the ceremonial inventory of the early Kimberley artists exhibits strong continuity with that of recent Aboriginal peoples and that there is no need to evoke outsiders to explain the elegance of Bradshaw paintings.