Cromer Valley Shark

  • Site type: Rock engraving
  • Number of motifs: 2
  • Motif/s: Bullroarer, Circle, Fish
  • Quality: 3/5
  • Condition of site: Good
  • View site sketch
  • Year first recorded: 1899
  • Originally Recorded by: W.D. Campbell, F.D. McCarthy
  • Campbell Reference: MANLY Plate 16 Fig 4 in Aboriginal Carving of Port Jackon and Broken Bay (Download)
  • McCarthy reference: MANLY Group 38 in Catalogue of Rock Engravings (1983)

A clearly engraved Aboriginal engraving above a tributary of Wheeler Creek; an informal bushwalking and mountain-biking track crosses the large rock platform.

1X3A7804 Cromer Valley Shark

The largest figure was described as a fish by W.D. Campbell in 1899, and as a shark by McCarthy in 1983.

1X3A7802 Cromer Valley Shark

McCarthy also recorded a line of three mundoes, a broad groove and a line figure “representing a bullroarer on a bent line curved into an open ended oval at the other end, or it represents a penis and testicles, 2′ long”. Campbell only described “a very small circle clearly cut” in addition to the fish/shark – but his sketch shows the additional figures. These appear to now be covered by vegetation.

Engraving Campbell Plate16 Fig4 Cromer Valley Shark

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 644 other subscribers

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Aboriginal Sites by National Park

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.
Aboriginal Rock Art – Maroota and Marramarra NP
Located to the north-west of Sydney, just south of the Dharug and Yengo National Parks, Maroota has a high concentration of (known) Aboriginal sites. Many more Aboriginal heritage sites are located in the Marramarra National Park. The original inhabitants of the area were the Darug people.
Aboriginal Rock Art – Lane Cove
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.