One of the earliest Aboriginal rock art shelters to be documented in the Hunter district, Cutta Muttan was described in detail by W.J Enright in 1893; he then introduced it to R.H. Mathews who published his account in 1896. Enright was informed by locals that the rock shelter was the home of Cutta Muttan (after whom the creek was named), an Aboriginal Elder who died around 1868 and presumably drew many of the figures:
For all we know, the old chieftain, who clung to the customs of his forefathers with a tenacity unusual in the members of his race, may have whiled away many a solitary hour in his rocky home there amongst the barren Hawkesburies, executing some of these drawings in the hope, perhaps, that they might keep green the memory of the gods of his race.
The shelter has 145 figures, including 130 hand stencils, as well as several figures in red ochre and a white starburst. Both Enright (bottom left) and Matthews (bottom right) focused on the drawn figures, and there has never been a detailed sketch of all the motifs in the shelter.
At the eastern end of the Cutta Muttan Creek Shelter is a “curious figure of a man is drawn in red”. Mathews adds: “In native drawings of men I have frequently found the penis very much elongated, in some instances as long, or longer, than the legs.” Mathews described only this figure in his article, while Enright gives it a much briefer mention: “lastly, a figure drawn in red, which at a first glance looks like a coiled snake with head upraised”.
Nearby is another partial figure of a man with upraised arms drawn in red ochre; it’s barely visible without enhancement.
There is another intriguing figure drawn in red ochre, which Enright describes as being similar to other figures of men “with the exception of the head, which in one of them is shaped like a cocked hat”. Mathews suggests that “The triangular projections on each side of the head may be intended to represent the hair stretched outwards from the head.”. As well as the odd-shaped head, the arms of the human figure are unusually long. Above the figure’s head, among many hand stencils, is one of three hands drawn with an arm.
There are another two of these triangular-headed figures in red ochre on the lower back wall of the shelter, which are almost impossible to see without image enhancement. One of these appears to have been overlooked by Enright and Mathews.
Just above these two figures is what appears to be another partial figure with upraised arms and a “drawing in red, which resembles a two-headed leangle, or pick-shaped club, which was in use amongst the aborigines of Victoria, but I have never heard of this weapon being used by the tribes of New South Wales” (Enright).
Other figures in red ochre include what appears to be an oval, infilled figure with arms (perhaps a human figure) and what may be a second club. (McCarthy documented two clubs, while Enright noted just one.)
A white starburst or sunray (a motif which only seems to be found in the Hunter Valley and Upper Colo areas) is also very hard to see, and appears to have faded since earlier photos of the site were taken: “A figure, which may be intended to represent the sun, is drawn in white with twelve distinct rays of unequal length” (Enright).
There is a large figure in charcoal and a smaller figure; it’s unclear what they represent but would have been “a bird in the act of swimming or flying, and a large figure of a man about five feet ten inches high, both drawn in black”.
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Visually, the site is dominate by white stencils: they include a “hand with a portion of a spear or waddy stencilled in the same colour in such a way that the junction between the two is not discernible” and…
…a “tomahawk with the handle attached” (or hafted axe).
There are 130 hand stencils, which Enright noted was “the greatest number I have ever seen in any one rockshelter”.
Perhaps the most spectacular panel is a long panel along the bottom of the back wall of the Cutta Muttan Creek Shelter.
An enhanced image reveals the three, smaller human figures in red ochre (the larger triangular-headed man is above this panel).
There are more white hand stencils on the ceiling of the shelter.
Of all the figures identified by Enright and Mathews (and later documented McCarthy), only one can no longer be seen: “a large figure very rudely drawn in white, which resembles an opossum”. There are more red ochre figures than what were originally recorded.
Cutta Muttan Creek (Point Claron Reserve)
Located in what was the Point Claron Reserve, Cutta Muttan Creek retains a wilderness feel and supports an impressive forest of Blue Gum trees.
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