Bambara Road Dead Emu

Summary: An Aboriginal rock engraving of a (possibly dead) emu along the bed of a creek near Kariong.

  • Site type: Rock engraving
  • Number of motifs: 1
  • Motif/s: Emu
  • Quality: 1/5
  • Condition of site: Weathered
  • View site sketch
  • Year first recorded: 1899
  • Originally Recorded by: W.D. Campbell, F.D. McCarthy
  • Campbell Reference: PATONGA Plate 27 Fig 5 in Aboriginal Carving of Port Jackon and Broken Bay (Download)
  • McCarthy reference: PATONGA Group 177 in Catalogue of Rock Engravings (1983)

On a rock platform along a small creek near the Kariong Sacred Lands is an Aboriginal engraving site, which was first documented by William Campbell in 1899.

IMG 1528 LR Bambara Road Dead Emu

The figure was described by Campbell as “The figure of an emu, much weathered. Punctures are showing.” About eighty years later McCarthy documented the figure as “probably a dead emu… The neck and head are curved downward as though the bird is dead and lying on the ground. Groove weathered, pits visible”. I couldn’t find this weathered figure; the photo below was taken by Bob Pankhurst.

image 5 Bambara Road Dead Emu

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