This interesting Aboriginal engraving site in Berowra is situated along a long rock ledge with views over Joe Crafts Creek. It was initially recorded by the 1st Hornsby Boy Scouts in the early 1950s, and then by Fred McCarthy in 1958, who documented the engravings in two series, or groups.
Series 1 (Fig A)
The motifs in this group are all animals, with the scene described (by McCarthy) as
a casual series of animals sought for food and a common sight in the bush as portrayed.
The largest figure is an emu: “standing upright, 8’6″ high, rounded head and beak, no eyes, straight neck upward at 45º, arched back, half oval rump projecting backward…”
There are three leaping kangaroos, two of them described as a pair, and the third at right angles. All three are “well posed with their bodies parallel to the ground, heads forward, angles of the tails varying and all are posed landing on their hind feet”.
The smallest figure is an echidna, which has a “long pointed head, 2 eyes, high arched back truncated legs vertical”.
Series 2 (Fig B)
This group is only 60m from Series 1 on the same ledge, but has very different motifs and was thought to be of ritual significance:
the broad man with a headdress and the koala [deity figure] may illustrate a mythological incident, and the 2 men, dead emu and shield a successful hunt as these two sets of figures appear to have been done at different times and to be unrelated.
The topmost figure of this group is a man, with “half oval head, 2 eyes, neck, pointed arms steeply upraised”.
Below the is most interesting motif: it was initially described by McCarthy (1958) as a “large bird 5 ft 6 in long, whose wings are uneven and what appears to be the neck and head of an emu incorporated in the figure”. About 25 years later, McCarthy decided that the figure was “an ill-shaped man… tiny triangular head, no eyes or neck, curved headdress 4′ long extends down the right side of his body.” So, bird – or man?
The Daramulan has the usual “emu-like figure”: it was described by McCarthy as both a “deity figure…. of the one-legged Daramulan type” and as a “koala” (which was a term used to describe a deity figure).
Nearby is a man with upraised and incurved arms: the figure is very weathered and the grooves crudely pitted, making it hard to determine the detail of the figure.
The large emu was described as both “poorly drawn” and “poorly shaped”. It is the largest figure in this group.
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