Little Devils Rock (Old North Road)

Summary: Little Devils Rock at Maroota has a number of weathered engravings, including Baiame, right next to the Old Northern Road.

  • Art type/s: Rock engraving
  • Number of motifs: 12
  • Motif/s: Baiame, Koala, Man
  • Quality: 2/5
  • Condition of art: Weathered
  • View site sketch
  • Year first recorded: 1897
  • Originally Recorded by: R.H. Mathews, F.D. McCarthy, Stanbury and Clegg
  • McCarthy reference: FREDERICK McCarthy Sydney-Hawkesbury No 5 in Catalogue of Rock Engravings (1983)
  • Mathews Reference: Plate XXX
  • McCarthy, F. D., 1959. Rock engravings of the Sydney-Hawkesbury District. Part 2: Some  important ritual groups in the County of Cumberland. Records of the Australian Museum 24(14): 210–211. Download PDF
  • Stanbury and Clegg. A Field Guide to Aboriginal Rock Engravings. pp. 94-95
  • R. H. Mathews, “The Rock Paintings and Carvings of the Australian Aborigines” in The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (1897-8). Plate XXX, pp. 24-28

Referred to as “Little Devils Rock”, this Aboriginal engraving site is thought to be related to the nearby Devils Rock site. Perched above Old Northern Road on a solitary mass of sandstone, a faded engraving Baiame watches the traffic go past. The engravings of this deity and eleven other figures have survived attempts to straighten or widen the road (the Old North Road was diverted during its re-construction to avoid damaging the site). .

img 3900 lr Little Devils Rock (Old North Road)

The largest figure is Baiame, which is decorated with vertical lines. Nearby are two men and two koala-type figures. The site is thought to be a koala totem centre and may represent a mythological incident, with the ancestral being (Baiame) looking at the two men and koalas. One of the men (or Baiame) has thrown a boomerang at the koala.

engraving Old North Road Little Devils Rock (Old North Road)
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 1,187 other subscribers

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Aboriginal Sites by National Park

Aboriginal Rock Art – Yengo National Park
Yengo National Park was an important spiritual and cultural place for the Darkinjung and Wonnarua People for thousands of years, and 640 Aboriginal cultural sites are recorded in the park and nearby areas.
Aboriginal Rock Art – Berowra Valley
Over a hundred Aboriginal sites have been recorded in the Hornsby region, with many of these in the Berowra Valley National Park and around the suburb of Berowra.
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.