Summary: A large but very weathered Aboriginal site near the Bobbin Head Trig, which represents "mythological spirit beings" and a food-getting theme.

Located a short distance from the Bobbin Head Track, this Aboriginal engraving site has many figures, some of them quite weathered and often covered in leaf litter. The site has over 30 engravings across two adjacent rock surfaces,

Sketch of Bobbin Head lower engraving site
Woman Man or Deity Fish Emu Snake Fishing Spear Shields and Fish Eel Fish Indeterminate Figure Phalanger Skate, eel and jellyfish Wombat Wombat and Snake Kangaroo and fishing line

Woman

AWAT9817 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

Woman (6' 6" in height) and is decorated with a 7-strand necklace, and two chevrons across her body, as well as two shorter stripes on her belly.

Man or Deity

AWAT9844 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

Man or spirit being (10' tall) with three vertical bars close together on the right hand side of his chest.

Fish

AWAT9862 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

Fish with no head or fins

Emu

AWAT9873 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

An emu ten feet in height, with a long pointed beak and head.

Snake

Snake

The snake has twelve bars across its body.

Fishing Spear

AWAT9892 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

A long 3-pronged fish spear (over 17 feet or five metres in length)

Shields and Fish

AWAT9888 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

Two shields and a fish (the line is the fishing spear)

Eel

AWAT9897 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

Fish

AWAT9907 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

Fish is next to the eel.

Indeterminate Figure

AWAT9911 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

An indeterminate figures, described as "marine creature"

Phalanger

AWAT9920 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

At the top of the rock platform is a phalanger (possum or glider) in flight.

Skate, eel and jellyfish

Three figures described as a skate or stingray (with a single tail-line), an eel and a jellyfish with "three conical projections at the end".

Wombat

AWAT9932 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

The first of two wombats.

Wombat and Snake

AWAT9940 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

The rear wombat has a "sinuous snake" across its body.

Kangaroo and fishing line

AWAT9982 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

A leaping kangaroo, which is missing its head. While the kangaroo looks like it has been speared, it was described as having a fishing line running across it.

Series 1 (Figure 5)

One of the sites (Figure 5, above) represents “mythological spirit beings, the wife more elaborately decorated than the husband, with a fish and a legless emu, a bird sitting on its nest or on which the artist had not completed the legs“. The man dominates the rock platform, with his wife below.

AWAT9856 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

The man or spirit being is ten feet tall, with three vertical bars close together on the right hand side of his chest.

The woman is 6′ 6″ in height, and is decorated with a 7-strand necklace, and two chevrons across her body, as well as two shorter stripes on her belly.

AWAT9817 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

Nearby is a weathered fish, with a missing head and no fins.

AWAT9862 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

The fourth figure on this platform is an emu ten feet in height, with a long pointed beak and head.

AWAT9873 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

Series 2 (Figure 6)

The second site (Figure 6) “has an emphasis on common animals in the surrounding bush – echidna, wombats, wallaby and kangaroo, flying phalanger [possum] – with a noosed bird, several fish, eels and snakes, fishing lines and a fish spear and the weapons of men, essentially a food getting theme for a group as a whole, and whether it had any relationship to the pair of mythological spirit people cannot be decided“.

At the bottom of the second rock platform is a long three-pronged fish spear (which is over 17 feet or five metres in length) and an equally long fishing line. Next to the fishing line is a snake about 8′ 6″ (2.7m) in length. The snake has twelve bars across its body.

Next to the snake is an eel.

AWAT9897 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

A fish is next to the eel.

AWAT9907 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

Next to the fish is an indeterminate figures, described as “marine creature”.

AWAT9911 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

Also part of this group of figures are two shields and a second fish (the line next to the shields is the fishing spear).

Three shields and a fish

In the middle of the rock platform are three figures described as a skate or stingray (with a single tail-line), an eel and a jellyfish with “three conical projections at the end”.

AWAT9967 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)AWAT9967 LR highlighted Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

Above these figures are two wombat, both about the same size.

AWAT9932 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

The rear wombat has a “sinuous snake” across its body.

At the top of the rock platform is a phalanger (possum or glider) in flight.

AWAT9920 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

At the opposite end of the rock platform is a leaping kangaroo, which is missing its head. While the kangaroo looks like it has been speared, it was described as having a fishing line running across it.

AWAT9982 LR Bobbin Head Track (lower site)

 

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1 Comment

Sphinx to Bobbin Head loop (Ku-ring-gai NP) | Hiking the World · August 23, 2021 at 11:20 am

[…] second Aboriginal engraving site is located further down the track. One rock platform includes a fish, a flying fox, two wombats, an […]

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Aboriginal Sites by National Park

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.