Summary: An engraving of a whale around six metres in length, within the tail of which there is faded, but just-visible man.

This Aboriginal engraving site was uncovered during renovations at the Coal Loader development, a Sydney industrial site at Balls Head (in Waverton). Part of the site have been destroyed, but a large whale with a man inside it remains and is protected by a fence.

img 5571 lr Balls Head (Waverton)IMG 5571 LR highlighted Balls Head (Waverton)

The whale and man and engraving were thought to represent either a magician performing magic to entice whales to become stranded – or a man who has entered the body of a stranded whale to cure an illness.

Engraving Balls Head Balls Head (Waverton)

A second “man-like figure” was recorded inside the whale in 1963. A new article in 2008 suggested that this second figure inside the whale appeared to be a dog or a horse: if correct, this would indicate the local Cammeraygal people were still carving at the site after the arrival of white settlers in 1788.

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to Hiking the World, and receive notifications of new posts by email. (A hike is added every 1-2 weeks, on average.)

Join 1,205 other subscribers

Leave a Reply

Aboriginal Sites by National Park

Red Hands Cave, Glenbrook (Blue Mountains)
The Blue Mountains National Park (and surrounding areas along the Great Western Highway) is thought to have over a thousand indigenous heritage sites, although much of the park has not been comprehensively surveyed. The Aboriginal rock sites in the Blue Mountains include grinding grooves, stensils, drawing and rock carvings.
Over 40 sites have been recorded within the park; many were located along the river bank and were flooded by the building of the weir in 1938.
The Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area protects over 3,000 known Aboriginal heritage sites, and many more which are yet to be recorded. This area includes the Blue Mountains National Park, Gardens of Stone, Wollemi National Park and Yengo National Park.