Bundeena Two Whales

Summary: Two whales engraved at the top of a large rock platform near Bundeena (originally recorded as part of four sites in the area by Ian Sim).

  • Site type: Rock engraving
  • Number of motifs: 2
  • Motif/s: Whale
  • Quality: 4/5
  • Condition of site: Good
  • View site sketch
  • Year first recorded: 1962
  • Originally Recorded by: F.D. McCarthy, Ian Sim, Bob Pankhurst
  • McCarthy reference: SUTHERLAND Mankind Group 112 Series 3 in Catalogue of Rock Engravings (1983)
  • Sim Reference: Mankind 6(1) 1965 p.23, Sheet 2, Fig A

A large rock platform near Maianbar Road has a Aboriginal engraving site with two large whales facing each other. The first has “two transverse lines across its body”.

1X3A8768 LR Bundeena Two Whales

The second whale has “an open mouth and a double nose (the artist having apparently made two attempts at this part of the outline)”.

1X3A8765 LR Bundeena Two Whales

This is one a series of four sites documented by Ian Sim and Fred McCarthy across both sides of the road, including a Bulbous Headed Man, a sunfish flower, and another site with a single whale. McCarthy notes: “Although the figures are scattered om different rock platforms it is possible that the man in ceremonial attire is a magician performing a ritual aimed at enticing whales to become stranded or that the site is a whale totemic site”.

Engraving Sim Group112 Bundeena Two Whales

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to Hiking the World, and receive notifications of new posts by email. (A hike is added every 1-2 weeks, on average.)

Join 548 other subscribers

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Aboriginal Sites by National Park

Aboriginal Rock Art – Hornsby Shire
Hornsby Shire - which is the largest LGA in the Greater Sydney Metropolitan region - contains approximately 600 recorded Aboriginal rock art sites (and over 1,200 Aboriginal heritage sites). These date back from thousands of years to post-European contact art.
Aboriginal Rock Art – Blue Mountains 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.