Like the nearby Balls Head Whale Engraving, this shelter with Aboriginal rock art at Balls Head (the indigenous name for Balls Head is Yerroulbine) was also documented by W.D. Campbell in 1899:
There is a small low cave near the point of Balls Head, at Berry’s Bay, about twenty feet above the water, in which there are three hand-stencilled hands, and five or more small fish. White pigment has been used.
The stencils are quite faint, and the two fish on the far left are no longer visible. However, there is a fourth hand stencil below the fish which was missed by Campbell.
At least nine motifs are visible: four hand stencils, four fish and an indeterminate motif.
Proclaimed as a public reserve by Premier Jack Lang in 1926, Balls Head Reserve has a number of Aboriginal sites including axe grinding grooves, middens and a burial site.
The burial site was discovered in a shelter about 20 metres above the waterline which was excavated in 1964, and then again in 1971. It revealed the remains of a woman at least 30 years of age, which were not in a good state of preservation and “somewhat disturbed”. The remains from the original (1964) archaeological exavation were transferred to the Australian Museum, who subsequently lost some of the larger bones.
No obvious grave goods were found, but in the vicinity of the maxilla was a lower incisor of a juvenile macropod, sub-family Potoroinae (identified by Mr B. J. Marlow, Curator of Mammals, Australian Museum). Examination of this tooth under a microscope revealed traces of a dark material which may possibly be a vegetable gum. I interpret it as a decoration worn by the deceased in the head region, either stuck in the hair or on a necklace.
Bowdler (1971)
The excavation also yielded dietary evidence that showed – not surprisingly – predominantly fish, mussels and oysters being consumed. Interestingly, of the total of 450 stone artefacts were discovered a number of them were of European origin – indicating that the site was inhabited by Aborigines into early colonial days.
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