Echidna and Fish (West Head)

Summary: A clearly engraved site, featuring a detailed carving of an echidna and a very long line of mundoes (footprints).

  • Site type: Rock engraving
  • Number of motifs: 87
  • Motif/s: Echidna, Fish, Mundoe (foot)
  • Quality: 4/5
  • View site sketch
  • Year first recorded: 1965
  • Originally Recorded by: F.D. McCarthy, Ian Sim, Stanbury and Clegg
  • McCarthy reference: BROKEN BAY Mankind Group 139 in Catalogue of Rock Engravings (1983)
  • Sim Reference: Mankind 6(6) 1965 Sheet 2
  • Stanbury and Clegg, A Field Guide to Rock Engravings, p.68
  • Sydney Rock Art – Echidna Track

On a large rock surface alongside West Head Road is a rock platform with over 80 motifs, most of them being mundoes (footprints), as well as an echidna, a number of fish and two shields. Many of the mundoes are quite weathered, but the fish are still quite distinct.

engraving EchidnaSite Echidna and Fish (West Head)

The echidna has 13 parallel curved stripes within the outline of the animal, a stylistic feature not common in the Sydney area.

AWAT1565 LR Echidna and Fish (West Head)

As well as the echidna, the other feature of the site is the long line of footprints (mundoes) – of which there are 75 in total.

Mundoes without highlighting Echidna and Fish (West Head)Mundoes with highlighting Echidna and Fish (West Head)

The mundoes lead away from a number of fish, which are of different shapes and sizes, and represent different species including a wobbegong shark.

  • AWAT1568 LR Echidna and Fish (West Head)
  • AWAT1571 LR Echidna and Fish (West Head)
  • AWAT1982 LR Echidna and Fish (West Head)
  • AWAT1984 LR Echidna and Fish (West Head)

It was suggested (McCarthy, Stanbury & Clegg) that the mundoes indicate a path to a good fishing place nearby, and may represent a mythological incident.

AWAT1576 LR Echidna and Fish (West Head)

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 1,267 other subscribers

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Aboriginal Sites by National Park

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 in the Greater Blue Mountains
The Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area protects over 3,000 known Aboriginal heritage sites, and many more which are yet to be recorded. This area includes the Blue Mountains National Park, Gardens of Stone, Wollemi National Park and Yengo National Park.
Photographing Aboriginal rock art
A review of different techniques for photographing Aboriginal rock art. This includdes oblique flash, chain and planar mosaic imaging which combines hundreds of overlapping photos.
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.