Engraved on vertical rocks on Berowra Creek near Berowra Waters are three adjacent Aboriginal rock art sites, first recorded by Ian Sim in 1961. The sites are collectively referred to as “shark rock” after a large boulder that resembles a shark.
Series 1 (Fig J)
On the wall of a smaller rock shelter is a wallaby, and a circular object.
The “leaping wallaby” was described by McCarthy as having a “conical face, 4′ long, 1 eye, 2 pointed ears, flat humped back, straight belly, conical foreleg vertical, pointed hind leg curved slightly backward, straight tail in line with body, stiffly posed as it lands on its hind legs; over its foreleg is an arc 1′ long at right angles to its inside margin, and over its hind leg a pointed oval 15″ long”.
Series 2 (Fig K)
A short distance upstream is a shark and an eel.
The shark was described by McCarthy as having a “long conical head, 2 eyes, 2 pectoral fins and small dorsal fin, straight back, good tail, corrected outline from tail to small dorsal fin, inside its outline part of an incomplete figure, or angled line design – the big dorsal fin is attached to the outline of the back”. Above the shark is an eel. A wallaby or kangaroo overlaps these two figures, but is very hard to see.
Series 3 (Fig L)
The third site is about 100 yards upstream has a “headless man with five small fish superimposed on his body, and part of another object”. The engraving is partly obscured by a tree that has grown in front of the rock.
The man’s legs and penis can be clearly seen – but not the upper body or the fish superimposed on the man.
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