Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

Summary: Along the Myall Trail are a number of Aboriginal heritage sites, including engravings and cave art, that reflect a fruitful hunting ground.

  • Art type/s: Cave Painting, Rock engraving
  • Number of sites: 8
  • Number of motifs: 107
  • Motif/s: Bird, Club, Echidna, Emu, Kangaroo, Man, Mundoe (foot)
  • Quality: 4/5
  • Condition of art: Good
  • Year first recorded: 1976
  • Originally Recorded by: F.D. McCarthy
  • McCarthy reference: SOUTH COLAH Mankind Group 74-76 in Catalogue of Rock Engravings (1983)
  • Records of the Rock Engravings of the Sydney District: Nos 72-102. Fred McCarthy in Mankind, Vol 5, No, 9 (July 1960) – Figure 2
  • Bushwalking trail: https://hikingtheworld.blog/2021/03/09/exploring-the-myall-trail-mt-ku-ring-gai/

Many of the Myall Trail Aboriginal sites are thought to reflect this area being a fruitful hunting ground for kangaroos and wallabies.

Myall Trail Hunting Site

At the western-most end of the Myall Trail is a long rock platform, which would offer nice views when the scrub is a bit less dense.

awat8511 lr Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)
awat8706 lr Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

A group of Aboriginal engravings on the platform was described by Fred McCarthy (Group 74) as the killing of an emu and the sighting of a pair of kangaroos or wallabies (Myall Trail Hunting Site).

engraving mccarthy group74 fig2a Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)
McCarthy Group 74

The outlines of the two “leaping kangaroos or wallabies” are still fairly distinct.

montage2 stitch lr Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

Also distinct is the “unusual figure of a man, life-size with long curved hair or headdress, with three fingers on one hand and two large fingers on the other hand”.

awat8705 lr Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

Nearby, a long rock shelter contains some Aboriginal cave art.

awat8785 lr Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)
awat8789 lr Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

The charcoal paintings in this shelter are fairly rudimentary, and it’s impossible to discern what they represent.

awat8798 lr Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

Myall Trail – two kangaroos

To the east is another pair of kangaroos, one on each side of small rock shelter.

engraving mccarthy group74 fig2b Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)
McCarthy Group 75 (Figure 2B)

One of them is unique in that it’s drawn with a line of pendants from the stomach, “representing the string of fatty tissues from the intestines”.

awat8816 lr Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

The second kangaroo on an adjacent rock is much less distinct.

p5154614e resize2 Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)
Photo: Collette Douchkov

Myall Trail – Art Shelter

Between the two kangaroos is another rock shelter with art.

awat8801 lr Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)
awat8803 lr Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

As with the previous art shelter, the motifs are in charcoal – and there are a large number along the wall of the cave.

art myall trail shelter Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)
awat8869 lr Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

Myall Trail Animal Scene

The Myall Trail Animal Scene is another large engraving site lies which is further to the east. It has figteen animals scattered over the large rock platform. The figures (from left to right below) recorded by McCarthy include “an incomplete animal like a native cat” (1), two kangaroos (2 & 3), a boomerang and kidney-shaped figure (4 & 5), a very small kangaroo or wallaby (6), a bird (7), a headless kangaroo or wallaby (8), another four kangaroos or wallabies, one of which could be a koala (9-12), a wombat (13) and an echidna.

Myall Trail Animal Scene
Flat Headed Kangarooo Two Kangaroos Kangaroo Sword club Small kangaroo Curious Kangaroo Wombat Leaping male kangaroo

Flat Headed Kangarooo

AWAT6243 LR Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

A flat-headed kangaroo, carved on a steep rock surface. It has "2 conical ears, pointed chin and its head is bent forward on a broad neck; it has a humped shoulder and straight back, it's arm (almost touching the chin) is straight, then bends up and down again to a hand bearing 4 conical fingers".

Two Kangaroos

AWAT6259 LR Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

Pair of kangaroos

Kangaroo

AWAT6433 LR Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

A leaping kangaroo at the eastern end of the rock platform - a "well shaped animal with its body parallel to the ground in a leap, but not animated".

Sword club

AWAT6530 LR Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

A sword club (or boomerang) and kidney-shaped figure.

Small kangaroo

AWAT6546 LR Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

A small and weathered kangaroo is next to what has been described as both a bird and a container.

Curious Kangaroo

AWAT6436 LR Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

A "curious kangaroo or wallaby lacking both tail and hing limb" - which may also be a koala, but it's head is pointed and flat-faced like a kangaroo.

Wombat

AWAT6535 LR Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

Wombat or native cat

Leaping male kangaroo

montage2 stitch LR Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

A "magnificent leaping male kangaroo or wallaby over 8 feet long with unusually well proportioned anterior portion including the neck and head".

Most of the figures are quite weathered, and some are very difficult to make out without the right light.

montage2 stitch LR Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)
AWAT6436 LR Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)
montage1 stitch LR 1 Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)
awat8749 lr Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

Although located a short distance away, McCarthy also included in this group a flat-headed kangaroo which is carved on a steep rock surface.

AWAT6244 LR Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)AWAT6244 LR highlighted Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

Myall Trail Boomerang

The Myall Trail Boomerang is on a long rock platform, and is fairly indistinct.

AWAT6235 LR Myall Trail Aboriginal sites (Ku-ring-gai Chase)

Summary of Myall Trail Aboriginal sites

Site nameNo MotifsMotifsAHIMS ID
Myall Trail Hunting Site7Emu, Kangaroo, Man, Mundoe45-6-0216
Myall Trail Shelter with ArtIndeterminate N/A
Myall Trail – two kangaroos2Kangaroos45-6-0217
Myall Trail Art Shelter80Indeterminate45-6-2346
Myall Trail Animal Scene (2 sites)16Kangaroos, echidna, basket 45-6-0218/9
Myall Trail Boomerang2Boomerang45-6-3299
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