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.
Weathered Aboriginal cave art in red ochre, in a shelter near Lyrebird Gully in Mount Colah
- Number of motifs: 2
- Quality: 1.5/5
- Condition of art: Weathered
- Year first recorded: 2023
An isolated and hard-to-reach Aboriginal engraving site in Mt Ku-ring-gai, which has three men side-by-side.
- Number of motifs: 4
- Quality: 3.5/5
- Condition of art: Weathered
- Year first recorded: 1960
- Originally recorded by: F.D. McCarthy
- View site sketch
A very weathered kangaroo at the edge of one of the rock platforms along the Mount Murray Anderson ridge.
- Number of motifs: 1
- Quality: 2/5
- Condition of art: Weathered
- Year first recorded: 1899
- Originally recorded by: W.D. Campbell, F.D. McCarthy
Aboriginal rock art including charcoal drawings and red ochre hand stencils in a long shelter below the old Pacific Highway
- Number of motifs: 6
- Quality: 3/5
- Condition of art: Good, Graffiti damage
- Year first recorded: 2021
A small site sandwiched between the old Pacific Highway and the railway line and accessed by an unsigned track. The site features three figures and a very long line of mundoes.
- Number of motifs: 74
- Quality: 4.5/5
- Condition of art: Good
- Year first recorded: 1904
- Originally recorded by: F.D. McCarthy
- View site sketch
A small Aboriginal rock engraving site partly destroyed by the construction of the F3 freeway. It has five figures, including two intaglio boomerangs.
- Number of motifs: 5
- Quality: 2/5
- Condition of art: Weathered
- Year first recorded: 1981
An Aboriginal engraving site above the Mt Ku-ring-gai Track with a giant bandicoot, echidna, three men and what may be an ancestral figure.
- Number of motifs: 5
- Quality: 3/5
- Condition of art: Good
- Year first recorded: 1984
An Aboriginal engraving site on Taffys Rock, which consists of a line (50m in length) of 44 footprints around the summit.
- Number of motifs: 44
- Quality: 2/5
- Condition of art: Weathered
- Year first recorded: 1899
- Originally recorded by: W.D. Campbell, F.D. McCarthy
A "bulbous head" (one of only four recorded around Sydney) and a second weathered figure near the end of Kimmerikong Ridge in Muogamarra National Park.
- Number of motifs: 2
- Quality: 4/5
- Condition of art: Good
- Year first recorded: 1899
- Originally recorded by: W.D. Campbell, F.D. McCarthy
- View site sketch
An Aboriginal engraving site within the Muogamarra Nature Reserve, which was thought to depict a fishing expedition. It has over 20 figures.
- Number of motifs: 21
- Quality: 4/5
- Condition of art: Good
- Year first recorded: 1899
- Originally recorded by: W.D. Campbell, F.D. McCarthy
- View site sketch
A unique Aboriginal engraving site in the Muogamarra Nature Reserve, which depicts a man and woman copulating, along with four additional men.
- Number of motifs: 9
- Quality: 4.5/5
- Condition of art: Good
- Year first recorded: 1899
- Originally recorded by: W.D. Campbell, F.D. McCarthy, Bob Pankhurst
- View site sketch
An Aboriginal engraving site in the Muogamarra Nature Reserve which has over 20 figures depicting mammals and fish commonly found in the area.
- Number of motifs: 21
- Quality: 4/5
- Condition of art: Good
- Year first recorded: 1899
- Originally recorded by: W.D. Campbell, F.D. McCarthy
- View site sketch
A complex Aboriginal engraving site with 42 figures first documented by W.D. Campbell in six groups. The figures include a speared man and many animals and hunting tools.
- Number of motifs: 42
- Quality: 5/5
- Condition of art: Good
- Year first recorded: 1899
- Originally recorded by: W.D. Campbell, F.D. McCarthy
- View site sketch
The Whale Feast site is a "remarkable" Aboriginal engraving site in Muogamarra Nature Reserve. It has over 60 figures, including a Baiame ancestral being and a line of 31 human figures below a large whale.
- Number of motifs: 69
- Condition of art: Good, Partially Destroyed
- Year first recorded: 1899
- Originally recorded by: W.D. Campbell, F.D. McCarthy
- View site sketch
Described as an "animal scene", the 15 engravings on a rock platform along the Myall Trail in Mt Ku-ring-gai includes a number of wallabies and kangaroos
- Number of motifs: 16
- Quality: 2.5/5
- Condition of art: Good
- Year first recorded: 1960
- Originally recorded by: F.D. McCarthy
- View site sketch
1 Comment
veronica · June 3, 2025 at 12:14 pm
wow!!! this is so cool!