There are numerous Aboriginal engraving sites along the Milyerra Road Fire Trail in Brisbane Water National Park. Ten of these sites were recorded as a series (Group 167) by Ian Sim in 1969, which are “distributed along an easterly running spur”.
Group 167 Series 1
A faint and weathered Aboriginal angraving of a man with upstretched arms.
Group 167 Series 2
Also quite faint or weathered engraving, this Aboriginal rock engraving is of a man with upstretched arms, and no penis.
Group 167 Series 3
Not far from the man is is a large kangaroo, which is abraded. This engraving was also recorded much earlier (in 1899) by W.D. Campbell, as Plate 27 Fig 2.
Group 167 Series 4
On the same rock platform as Series 3 is an enormous whale with two tranverse lines across its body, measuring 40 feet in length.
Group 167 Series 5
Beyond the whale and kangaroo is a long but narrow rock ledge, which has a small waterhole. It has number of engravings – many of which are almost impossible to make out – as well as three axe grinding grooves. A small engraving of a bird (there are two birds; the other is much fainter) is very clear.
Less obvious is what is described as “fifteen small circles”, which look almost natural after hundreds of years of erosion from water seeping across the rock.
Group 167 Series 6
The next rock platform has a large kangaroo.
Group 167 Series 7
Scattered across a few rock surfaces, this group includes a very weathered wallaby, the head of a wallaby (or kangaroo) and a shield,
Group 167 Series 8
The largest engraving site is crossed by the Milyerra Trail. The large, tesselated rock platform is the only signposted Aboriginal engraving sie int he area, but unfortunately mountain bikes and bulldozer tracks have damaged some of the engravings. Two figures recorded in 1899 have been worn away completely. There are many figures scattered around the site, which were documented by W.D. Campbell and Ian Sim, and then later by McCarthy.
Standing bird
Mundoes
A number of mundoes around the site are arranged in to two long lines.
Fish
Woman
A woman with "rounded breasts projecting outwards" who is holding a "short and narrow returning boomerang".
Man
A man with a sword club across his waist who is holding a narrow returning boomerang in his left hand
Emu
An emu with its head and neck forward, as if feeding
Two Fish
Open oval or Fish
Goanna
Slender Fish
At the northern end of the site are the man and woman,”posed upside down to one another”, who may be fighting or quarrelling.
Amongst many other figures at thie site (44 in total) are three lines of mundoes.
Sim Group 167 Series 9
Nearby is another small site, which was recorded as being two wallabies, an eel, two fish and a narrow oval shield – all quite weathered. The smaller wallaby (bottom right) looks more like a pademelon.
Mundoe
Further along the Milyerra Trail is a lone engraving of a nine-toed mundoe, which wasn’t documented by Campbell, Sim or McCarthy.
Two fish
Another rock platform has a two fish, one of them with many peck marks on its body.
Figure with Head-dress
Continuing down the Milyerra Road Fire Trail, a rock platform above the track has a small and unusual engraving of a figure wearing some kind of head-dress, and another motif that may be a turtle (both photos below from Sydney Rock Art).
The turtle has been re-grooved along slightly different lines; you can see in the photos below the grooves and separate line of peck-marks.
Fake Engravings
Above the Milyerra Trail are a few fake engravings, includng a a fake dog (or dingo), a kangaroo and a fish.
Summary of Milyerra Trail Aboriginal engraving sites
| Site Name | Reference | No. Motifs | Motifs | AHIMS ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milyerra Trail Main with Penis | Sim Group 167 S1 | 1 | Man | 45-3-3236 |
| Milyerra Trail Man without Penis | Sim Group 167 S2 | 1 | Man | 45-3-3235 |
| Milyerra Trail Kangaroo | Sim Group 167 S3 | 1 | Kangaroo | 45-3-3243 |
| Milyerra Trail Whale | Sim Group 167 S4 | 1 | Large whale | 45-3-0525 |
| Milyerra Trail Man, Birds and Fish | Sim Group 167 S5 | 16 | Fish, Eel, Men | 43-2-3239 |
| Milyerra Trail Kangaroo | Sim Group 167 S6 | 6 | Wallaby, arc | 45-3-3238 |
| Milyerra Trail Wallaby & Shield | Sim Group 167 S7 | 4 | Wallaby, Shield | 45-3-3237 |
| Milyerra Trail main site | Sim Group 167 S8 Campbell Plate 25 Fig 1 | 44 | Fish, birds, man | 45-3-0541 |
| Milyerra Trail Wallabies, Eels & Fish | Sim Group 167 S9 | 8 | Wallabies | 45-3-0516 |
| MIlyerra Trail Man with Headdress | Sim Group 167 S10 | 1 | Man | |
| Milyerra Trail Large Kangaroo | Campbell Plate 27 Fig 2 | 1 | Kangaroo | 45-3-0647 |
| Milyerra Trail Two Fish | 2 | Fish | 45-3-3246 |
1 Comment
Chris · March 1, 2021 at 10:13 am
Some great engravings there Oliver – too bad some of them have been damaged or worn away.
I love those overlays you’ve created. They really accentuate what the original engraving would have looked like.
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