On a long rock platform near Brooklyn Dam are a number of Aboriginal engravings, first documented by Fred McCarthy in 1958.
Although all the figures are on one very long platform, they were recorded as a series of three sites. Additional figures have been identified and recorded which were missed by McCarthy.
Series 1 (Fig A)
On the eastern side of the platform is a whale about 3m long; it has a pair of pectoral fins and two very deeply carved eyes.
Near this whale is a fish “of the bream type” which was also described as a “young whale”.
Series 2 (Fig B)
Two men comprise the main figures in this group, both almost life-size and described as animated: “The men have fingers on each hand, their knees are clearly shown, and they are wearing headdresses from which a pendant extends from one, and a conical figure (possibly the hair in a coil) from the head of the other. The inclusion of eye-brows in the face of one of them is unusual. Across the legs of one man is a boatshaped object which is probably his bark caone or shield”.
The “headdress” on the upper figure projects outwards above the man’s left arm.
The lower man has a curved line projecting out of his head.
Near the men are a number of circles; in 1958 McCarthy described them as nine circles “arranged in a precise pattern extending from the right hand of one of the two men”.
A short distance away to the west from the two men but included in this group are two very distinct ovals.
Series 3 (Fig B)
This intriguing group of figures is engraved on a sloping (and in some places almost vertical) rock. A kangaroo is described as a “well posed animal with its body upward as it lands on its hind feet”.
On a nearly-vertical panel are two eels, one of them with bars across its body.
A speared emu is on a sloping section of the rock platform; although it appears to have a spear protruding from its stomach, McCarthy described the figure as an emu and a vertical line.
A “young emu” is near the bottom of the rock platform.
Between the two emus is a very small kangaroo above a waterhole, which was not documented by McCarthy.
Among the many deep potholes are a number or grooved channels.
Additional Figures
A short distance to the west of the Series 1 figures (between Series 1 and Series 2) is man with outstretched arms.
On the same platform another 50m west is another man whose lower half was covered with water and silt; around the figure are a number of small but deep potholes.
On a subsequent visit the vegetation covering the lower half of the man had been cleared.
Between Series 2 and Series 3 is another man, with upstretched arms and pointed feet.
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