Bondi Golf Course Aboriginal Site (Murriverie)

Located near the edge of the cliff within Bondi Golf Course is a relatively small, but significant, Aboriginal rock engraving site. Known as Murriverie by the traditional owners of the land, it was the site (below the cliffs) of a fishing spot. It’s is one of three Aboriginal rock art sites in Bondi – the others being at Ben Buckler Point and Mackenzies Point along the coastal walk. The site was controversially re-grooved by Waverley Council in 1964 in effort to preseve the engravings. Condemned by the Local Aboriginal Land Council as an “ill-judged conservation attempt” and an “act of desecration”, the decision to re-groove the engravings was made after considerable debate. The Advisory Panel on Prehistory and Material Culture, consisting of 12 academics and chaired by Fred McCarthy, came to the majority (but certainly not unanimous) recommendation that the grooves be re-cut. The work was done in August 1964, under the supervision of Ian Sim. None of the discussions involved any members of the Aboriginal community.

When first recorded by Campbell in 1899, there were 85 figures recorded across three separate sites, which were all in close proximity. Only one of these sites now remains; of the others, one is covered by grass, and the other is too weathered for any of the engravings to be seen. The site which can depicts a fishing scene and marine animals which occurred in this area (sharks, whales, smaller fish, sunfish, dolphins). Some more contemporary claim the largest marine figure represent a man being attacked by a shark (making it possibly the first recording of a shark attack in the world) – this seems to be an incorrect interpretation.

At one end of the rock platform is a four-metre long turtle or blubber, with two flippers. Inside the turtle (or blubber) is a fish, and within the outline of the fish is a non-returning boomerang. (Two more fish and a lilly are located above the turtle, but are completely covered by grass.)

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Next to the turtle are two human figures, thought to be a man and woman, and two fish, one of the possibly a flathead. They are in a small depression, which fill with water after rain, and parts of the engravings are quite weathered. One the two fish is the most distinct engraving.

Below the turtle is a large man with half oval head and truncated arms. His pointed penis is half the length of his leg, and Campbell suggested this figure may be “a compound figure, part man and part iguana [goanna]”.

Below the large man and near multiple fish (some of which are quite) weathered is the tail of a kangaroo.

The central figure of the site is a whale, with a long oval body, which is eight metres long. It is missing a head, and part of its fin.

Many figures overlap the whale, or are carved within the body of the whale. One of these is a dolphin neat the whale’s tail, with “mouth open, one eye, two big opposite fins attached to outline of body, good tail, posed in an animated swimming manner”.

Another prominent marine creature overlapping the whale is a shark, described as being most likely a thresher shark, which has a “long conical head, no eyes, a pair and a single dorsal fin and two ventral fins and a long tail fin”.

Above the whale are a pair of fish and a sword club.

Near one of the whale’s fins is another fish, it’s body being gradually reclaimed by the vegetation.

Sixteen mundoes in two lines were documented on the site; most of these are now covered by vegetation and only a few are still visible.

It’s an impressive collection of figures; while it’s unlikely they would have been regrooved today as our thinking has changed, it’s arguably lucky they were or there would be very little left to see a this site. Even so, many of the 66 figures documented over a hundred years have been weathered to the point they are not visible, and some are being reclaimed by encroaching vegetation.

Getting to the Bondi Golf Course Aboriginal site

Although there is minimal signage at this site, it is publically accessible and a great example of rock art in the Sydney basin. To reach the site, travel north from Bondi Beach along Military Road, and look for an entrance to the golf course opposite Blair Street. Head for the base of the ventilation tower, where you will find the small rock platform near the edge of the cliff. The site is not fenced, so please keep off the engravings.

More information on the Bondi Golf Course Aboriginal site

• A landmark publication and winner of the 2019 NSW Premier’s History Prize, Cage of Ghosts by Ian Rhodes dedicates two chapters to the Aboriginal rock art sites around Bondi, with one of them addressing the re-grooving of this site.
• Sydney Morning Herald – Ancient Bondi rock carvings at risk of destruction