Abstract. This paper is based on a survey of 217 rock art sites in the Kimberley district in the north of Western Australia. A distinctive period of art production, the ‘bichrome period’, is described, which occurred between the production of the oldest monochrome ‘classic Bradshaw figures’ and that of the more recent polychrome Wandjina paintings. One hundred and eight bichrome anthropomorphs were seen at 39 sites. They are unique in that they, alone, are associated with the depiction of an artefact that resembles a ‘hooked stick’. A similar artefact is depicted in the rock art of the Kakadu region.