This thesis documents the history of the ongoing process for developing and refining field recording, archiving and analysis techniques pertaining to rock art and cultural heritage in Australia. The original objective was to investigate every aspect that may permit science-based processes of 'reading' rock art. Information encoded in the iconic elements of certain forms of rock art offers a unique opportunity, not only to advance understanding of changing environments, but also the pertinent processes of cultural and technological adaption. The author, Grahame Walsh, has developed these techniques for the purposes of research, publication, conservation and management of rock art. The recording methodologies discussed in this thesis cover many years, commencing with the most basic technological era of the immediate post-war, spanning the all important advent of computer and digital technology, and ultimately the availability of Global Positioning System technology. Discussion includes both the failed research approaches, as well as the successful techniques and useful technologies, which are currently being used. The original recording and archiving commenced in Queensland, then expanded into a national coverage. For the past 29 years the focus has been on the art and cultural resources of the Kimberley region of Western Australia, where surveys identified one of the world's oldest and most prolific bodies of remarkably preserved art. The infinite examples of motifs recurring in superimposition allowed a Kimberley Rock Art Sequence to be established, where changes in alignment, combination and association of recurring elements could be studied. From this a formalised system of rock art interpretation developed. The evidence of the effectiveness of the developed methodologies is indicated in several major publications, some of which are submitted for examination in this thesis.