Aboriginal Rock Art - Hornsby Shire

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:

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.

Mount Colah Scouts Cave

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

Mount Ku-ring-gai Three Men

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

Mount Murray Anderson Weathered Kangaroo

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

Mt Ku-ring-gai – Pacific Hwy SWA

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

Mt Ku-ring-gai Aboriginal site

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

Mt Ku-ring-gai Oval Boomerangs

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

Mt Ku-ring-gai Track Baiame

An Aboriginal engraving of a large deity figure (possibly Baiame) below the Mt Ku-ring-gai Track on a small rock platform.

Number of motifs: 2
Quality: 3.5/5
Condition of art: Good
Year first recorded: 2023

Mt Ku-ring-gai Track engravings

An Aboriginal engraving site below 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

Mt Ku-ring-gai Track Kangaroo and Eels

Several vertical Aboriginal engravings next to the Mount Ku-ring-gai Track, including a kangaroo and pair of eels.

Number of motifs: 4
Quality: 3.5/5
Condition of art: Good
Year first recorded: 2017
Originally recorded by: C. Douchkov

Mt Ku-ring-gai Track Koradji

A long and deep shelter above the Mount Ku-ring-gai Track which may have been a ceremonial site; it includes numerous koradji figures in red ochre and a long snake in charcoal.

Number of motifs: 12
Quality: 4.5/5
Condition of art: Good
Year first recorded: 2021

Mt Ku-ring-gai Track Lords Bay Shelter

A long shelter above the Mt Ku-ring-gai Track, which has several Aboriginal hand stencils and a kangaroo drawn in charcoal.

Number of motifs: 4
Quality: 1/5
Condition of art: Weathered
Year first recorded: 1983

Mt Ku-ring-gai Track Red Ochre Fish

An Aboriginal rock art site next to the Mount Ku-ring-gai Track with a single fish in red ochre.

Number of motifs: 1
Quality: 2/5
Condition of art: Graffiti damage
Year first recorded: 2017

Mt Ku-ring-gai Track White Man Cave

A large Aboriginal rock art shelter near the Mount Ku-ring-gai Track; it has over 50 figures (many very weathered) which include a man in white ochre, many hand and arm stencils and a red ochre fish.

Number of motifs: 50
Quality: 3.5/5
Condition of art: Good, Graffiti damage, Weathered
Year first recorded: 1983
View site sketch

Mt Ku-ring-gai Track Winson Bay Boulder

A small boulder near the Mt Ku-ring-gai Track with very weathered figures in charcoal, red ochre and white ochre.

Number of motifs: 6
Quality: 2/5
Condition of art: Graffiti damage
Year first recorded: 2001

Mt Ku-ring-gai Track Winson Gully Grooves

A boulder near the Mt Ku-ring-gai Track which has several Aboriginal axe grinding grooves.

Quality: 2/5
Condition of art: Graffiti damage
Year first recorded: 2001

Aboriginal Rock Art – Hornsby Shire