Aboriginal engravings and a Trig on an off-track Mount White loop

There are no tracks or trails through the Mount White Bush Reserve, which protects a number of Aboriginal rock art sites – and has the White Trig at its highest point. It’s also not the easiest bush reserve to access, being almost completely “landlocked” by private properties on all sides. Fortunately along Glenworth Valley Road on the western side there are stretches of Crown Land managed by the Central Coast Council, which provide access to the ridges and peaks.

Even more fortunately for Matt and I, unlike almost every other off-track bushwalk in the Central Coast, the undergrowth is fairly light. The terrain is steep, but it’s a pleasant change not to be pushing through thick and scratchy scrub.

We are following a spur up from the road, and while there are no cliffs shown on the map, the closely spaced contour lines suggest that at some point we’ll hit some steep rock. There are a couple of low cliffs, but each time we find a ramp or crack that provides (relatively!) easy access up the spur.

We make good time up the steep spur, and soon reach a vantage point offering a nice view over Mangrove Creek. (The creek was named in 1829 by surveyor William Romaine Govett (1807–1848) after the mangroves that line its banks, which were burnt for ash tha was used to make soap.)

We’re almost at the top of the spur, and the last few hundred metres is much less steep. At the top is a great view up Mangrove Creek to the town of Spencer. A long line of stones, which is clearly not natural, is most likely another Aboriginal stone arrangement.

We’re heading towards Mount White, but we first need to traverse a small hill (we’re go around the southern side). It’s relatively easy walking, with a few large rock platforms along the way.

Our route passes a beautiful set of waterholes, which appear to be fed by reliable, possibly spring-fed, creek.

Along the creek are over 50 grinding grooves, and nearby is an unusual Aboriginal engraving of a two-masted sailing ship.

There are more nice views and another possible Aboriginal stone arrangement, as we traverse the eastern part of the Mount White Bush Reserve (which adjoins a number of large private proprties).

We then follow the top of a low cliff towards the north-western end of Mount White, which offers the easiest approach to the top. There are a number of axe grinding groove sites along a few small creeks that are fed by a hanging swamp, and a shelter with charcoal figures.

As we approach the north-westwern flank of Mount White the terrain gets gradually less steep, and we pick a fairly direct line to the top.

About half-way up there’s a nice view of the rural properties below Mount White.

A small cliff-line is easily negotiated; from the top is another good vantage point over Mangrove Creek.

Then we’re on the final stretch up to the White Trig at the dizzying summit of Mount White, which is 286m above sea level. There’s no view from the top, which would – many decades ago – have been cleared of trees.

We head back down the slightly steeper western side of Mount White, and this time head around the northern side of the small hill that’s to the west Mount White. We spot one last Aboriginal engraving on the side of a gently sloping rock platform, which we much have almost walked over in the morning.

Rather than re-tracing out steps down the same spur down to the road, we follow a different spur which is to the south of the route we took up from Glenworth Valley Road. The start of this spur is a long spine of rock, which you can clearly see on a satellite photo. (You’d think based on the photo it’s way too steep to get down from here, but Geoff Goodyer kindly shared a photo of a route which confirms that getting up – or down – this spur is possible.)

The spine of rock is quite impressive, stretching well over 200m along the top of the spur, and offering a few interesting rock formations.

There’s a last view of Mangrove Creek before we start our descent.

I’m not convinced that it’s going to be an easy descent, as we peer over the edge of the rock platform into the valley below…

…but almost like magic, each time we reach another vertical rock face, there’s a convenient slot or ledge that provides a safe passage down.

We make fairly quick progress as we drop down successive layers of the rocky spur, before reaching the road again about 300m south of our starting point.

It’s been an interesting and pleasant day: we found most of the Aboriginal rock art sites we were looking for (plus one that we weren’t trying to find), enjoyed some nice views and despite the entire loop being off-track it was mostly easy walking.

Getting to Mount White

If you’re interested mainly in “trig bagging” you could enter Mount White Reserve from Morgans Road (around -33.457207, 151.172308) and avoid the steep descent up from Mangrove Creek… but the route-finding and bushwalk up and down the two spurs from Glenworth Valley Road was part of what made this such as an interesting day. The start point along Glenworth Valley Road is just before the “private property” sign, about 1.4km from the junction of Glenworth Valley Road and Morgans Road, and 7km (10min) from the Mount White interchange on the M1.