Described as a “campsite of the Cammeraygal Aborigines”, this small and very weathered Aboriginal engraving site across two sloping rock surfaces at Glades Bay contains eleven figures. The rock art site was first recorded by McCarthy in 1941, who noted it was the only group of engravings along the Parramatta River (there are at least two more sites, recorded later).
The only easily visible motifs are two wallabies: “both are animated and well posed”.
Below the two wallabies is a very weathered man:
upright 6′ tall flatish topped headwith side sweeping away to the arms, no eyes, right arm straight out with 6 fingers on hand, truncated left arm half upraised, right side of body concave, left side straight with thigh indicated, rounded right knee too high, pointed left knee, straight legs wide apart, flat pointed feet outward, left one has heel, no genitalia – he is holding a weapon in his right hand, incomplete, probably a club.
The other motifs include a pair of echidnas, a mammal, an incomplete whale, a shield and a broad sword club.
McCarthy described the Glades Bay engraving site in 1941 as “The man may be holding a weapon or sacred object and he may be connected with the two opossums” and many years later in 1983 as “A hunting set of a man seeking echidna, and a record of game in the vicinity, with typical weapons”.
Nearby, some rather neglected and overgrown grinding grooves can be seen near a creek.
Getting to the Glades Bay Aboriginal engraving site
The signposted site is along the Wulaba Track which runs through the Glades Bay Native Gardens; it can be accessed from Delmare Parade, Ashburn Place, York Street and Glades Avenue in Gladesville.
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