Summary: Two Aboriginal engraving sites on the same ridge in Berowra, which have a large Baiame figure and an incomplete whale.

Two Aboriginal engraving sites were first recorded by McCarthy on the same ridge in Berowra, about 300m apart.

Series 1 (Fig 6F)

On a small rock platform surrrounded by scrub is an Aboriginal engraving of Baiame, described as a “spirit being”:

Here is engraved, facing to the east, a spirit being 7 ft 6 in high but with weapons 11 ft 9 in. Four fingers and toes are shown on the hands and feet, he is wearing several girdles, and his hair is shown. The weapons are held at the top of his outstretched and almost vertically upraised arms, the boomerang in his left hand and the shield in his right hand. There is a curved line beside him.

McCarthy 1960

Most of the figures are on this larger rock platform, which has the four men and two wallabies (one of the two wallabies is very weathered and hard to make out).

The figure has a “tiny half oval head” and a 9-rayed headdress.

McCarthy noted “similar ancestral and mythological beings” amongst known engravings in the area, including the Mount Murray Anderson – Deity, Mount Murray Anderson – Baiame and Shark Rock Ridge Deity.

Series 2 (Fig 6E)

About 350 yards (300m) east is an engraving of an incomplete whale.

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Aboriginal Sites by National Park

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.
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.