Although the quantity and density of surviving Aboriginal rock art sites in the Hornsby Shire is significantly lower than on the Central Coast, there were 598 recorded sites with art in the 2023 Hornsby Shire Aboriginal Heritage Study (compared to 454 in a previous 1996 study). The Hornsby area was inhabited by the Darug and GuriNgai people, and the art is thought to date back to the early Bondaian period (8,000 to 4,000 years ago) up to post-European contact.
| Total Sites | Non-NPWS Land | |
|---|---|---|
|
Art |
598 |
205 |
|
Grinding Grooves |
125 |
56 |
|
Modified Tree |
9 |
7 |
|
Stone Arrangement |
16 |
2 |
The rock art of the Hornsby Shire was originally documented by W.D. Campbell, R.H. Mathews and R.E. Etheridge in the 1880s to early 1900s and later by John Tipper, Fred McCarthy and Ian Sim in the mid-twentieth century. More recently, archaeologist Jo McDonald conducted extensive research on and excavated a number of sites in the Sydney Basin, whch included several in the Hornsby LGA.
The list below includes all of the Aboriginal rock art sites within the Hornsby LGA; or you can view sites located in specific National Parks:Â Â
- Berowra Valley National Park rock art – this park is wholly contained within the Hornsby LGA
- Ku-ring-gai Chase NP rock art – this park is within the Hornsby, Ku-ring-gai and Northern Beaches LGAs
- Marramarra National Park rock art – wholly within Hornsby and has a diverse range of Aboriginal sites.
- Number of motifs: 1
- Quality: 3/5
- Condition of art: Good
- Year first recorded: 2001
- Number of motifs: 6
- Quality: 3.5/5
- Condition of art: Good
- Year first recorded: 1895
- Originally recorded by: R.H. Mathews, Stanbury and Clegg, Jo McDonald
- View site sketch
- Number of motifs: 5
- Quality: 2/5
- Condition of art: Weathered
- Year first recorded: 1984
- Originally recorded by: Warren Bluff
- Number of motifs: 1
- Quality: 1.5/5
- Condition of art: Weathered
- Year first recorded: 1983
- Originally recorded by: Warren Bluff
- Number of motifs: 5
- Quality: 3/5
- Condition of art: Good
- Year first recorded: 1970
- Originally recorded by: C. Douchkov
- Number of motifs: 1
- Quality: 2/5
- Condition of art: Weathered
- Year first recorded: 1983
- Originally recorded by: Warren Bluff, Jo McDonald
- Number of motifs: 40
- Quality: 4.5/5
- Condition of art: Good
- Year first recorded: 1985
- Number of motifs: 1
- Quality: 3.5/5
- Condition of art: Good
- Year first recorded: 2021
- Number of motifs: 15
- Quality: 4/5
- Condition of art: Good
- Year first recorded: 1960
- Originally recorded by: F.D. McCarthy, 1st Hornsby Scout Group
- View site sketch
- Number of motifs: 7
- Quality: 4/5
- Condition of art: Good, Weathered
- Year first recorded: 1898
- Originally recorded by: W.D. Campbell, F.D. McCarthy
- View site sketch
- Number of motifs: 1
- Quality: 1.5/5
- Condition of art: Partially Destroyed, Weathered
- Year first recorded: 1982
- Originally recorded by: Warren Bluff
- View site sketch
- Number of motifs: 1
- Quality: 2/5
- Condition of art: Good
- Year first recorded: 2021
- Number of motifs: 3
- Quality: 3/5
- Condition of art: Good
- Year first recorded: 1942
- Originally recorded by: F.D. McCarthy, Margrit Koettig, R Taplin
- View site sketch
- Number of motifs: 1
- Quality: 3/5
- Condition of art: Good
- Year first recorded: 2021
- Number of motifs: 4
- Quality: 3.5/5
- Condition of art: Good
- Year first recorded: 1985
- View site sketch
1 Comment
veronica · June 3, 2025 at 12:14 pm
wow!!! this is so cool!