Warrah Sanctuary engravings

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).

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 Name	Reference	No. Motifs	Motifs
Whale	Mankind Group 54 S1	14	Whale with circles near mouth
Stone slabs	Mankind Group 54 S2	–	Stone arrangement
Man	Mankind Group 54 S3	6	Man, mundoes
Stones	Mankind Group 54 S4	–	Stone arrangement
Small Fish	Mankind Group 54 S5	1	Fish
Man with Line	Mankind Group 54 S6	4	Man, line, boomerang, fish