Summary: A series of six Aboriginal engraving sites within the Warrah Sanctuary (now Brisbane Water National Park) which were documented by McCarthy.

A series of six Aboriginal engraving sites described by McCarthy, most of which are located within what was the Warrah Sanctuary to the east of Patonga (now part of Brisbane Water National Park).

Engraving Mankind Group 54
Man with Line Whale Boomerang Fish Man

Man with Line

AWAT2040 LR Warrah Sanctuary engravings

Whale

AWAT2172 LR Warrah Sanctuary engravings

Eight metre long whale

Boomerang

AWAT2049 LR Warrah Sanctuary engravings

Fish

AWAT2058 LR Warrah Sanctuary engravings

Man

AWAT2155 LR Warrah Sanctuary engravings

Man with out-stretched arms

Series 1 (Fig B) – Whale

A large (eight metre long) whale, which appears to be blowing bubbles. Inside the whale’s body are two fish, an incomplete figure and a V-shaped figure.

Series 2 (Fig D) – Stone slabs

A stone arrangement (STA), consisting of a “slab of sandstone 3 ft by 2 ft in size, set up at an angle of 45 degrees against another slab”.

Series 3 (Fig E) – Man

A man with out-stretched hands on a sloping rock platform; nearby are three mundoes and some unfinished figures.

Series 4 (Fig A) – Stone oval

A stone arrangement “consisting of broken pieces from 4″ to 2′ long in a basic oval pattern 32′ long, in which there is an oval”. The site has been disturbed by cattle.

Series 5 (Fig C) – Fish

A fish with a “long oval body, good tail, no eyes, with pitted grooves”. It was described as weathered in the 1950s, and I have not been able to locate this figure.

Series 6 (Fig F) – Man with Line

A “small figure of a man 3 ft 6 inches, with a long curved line running from his ankle over his head and beyond his body”.

Near the man is a boomerang and fish.

Summary of Warrah Sanctuary Aboriginal sites

Site NameReferenceNo. MotifsMotifs
WhaleMankind Group 54 S114Whale with circles near mouth
Stone slabsMankind Group 54 S2Stone arrangement
ManMankind Group 54 S36Man, mundoes
StonesMankind Group 54 S4Stone arrangement
Small FishMankind Group 54 S51Fish
Man with LineMankind Group 54 S64Man, line, boomerang, fish
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