Initiation Ceremony above Cowan Creek

Summary: An Aboriginal engraving on a spur above Cowan Creek, which may depict an initiation ceremony. The group of figures includes two deities and seven men.

  • Site type: Rock engraving
  • Number of motifs: 15
  • Motif/s: Deity, Kangaroo, Man, Oval, Shark
  • Quality: 4/5
  • Condition of site: Good
  • View site sketch
  • Year first recorded: 1960
  • Originally Recorded by: F.D. McCarthy, 1st Hornsby Scout Group
  • McCarthy reference: SOUTH COLAH Group 91 in Catalogue of Rock Engravings (1983)

On a spur between Waratah Bay and Apple Tree Bay is an interesting Aboriginal engraving site, which was documented by McCarthy in 1960. Originally described as “human figures of various kinds and sizes”, they are all engraved on one large rock platform.

Engraving McCarthy Group91 Initiation Ceremony above Cowan Creek

Two of the men were later described as ancestral beings, and the group interpreted by McCarthy as depicting “seven initiates who had reached the stage where they had received their girdles and armlets in the presence of the spirit beings responsible for their initiation.”

Thr largest deity is 12′ 6″ tall, and the second largest of the two deities (below) is 9′ 6″ tall, with an 8-rayed headdress and three stripes from his neck to a double-line belt.

deity montage LR Initiation Ceremony above Cowan Creekdeity montage LR highlighted Initiation Ceremony above Cowan Creek

Of the other seven figures, one of the them stands separate to the rest of the group, near the edge of the rock platform.

AWAT4376 LR Initiation Ceremony above Cowan Creek
AWAT4384 LR Initiation Ceremony above Cowan Creek

Six of the men stand in a row, on the soping sloping edge of the rock platform.

AWAT4423 LR Initiation Ceremony above Cowan Creek

They are are around 5’6″ to 6′ in height.

AWAT4408 LR Initiation Ceremony above Cowan Creek
AWAT4413 LR Initiation Ceremony above Cowan Creek
AWAT4417 LR Initiation Ceremony above Cowan Creek

On a nearby rock is a vertical engraving of a shark, with two pairs of dorsal and ventral fins.

AWAT4435 LR Initiation Ceremony above Cowan Creek

Additional engravings in this group include a leaping kangaroo and another man on a separate rock platform.

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