Little Devils Rock (Old Northern Road)

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 of 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 Northern Road was diverted during its re-construction to avoid damaging the site).

The largest figure is Baiame, which is decorated with vertical lines; nearby are two men and two koala-type figures: “This is a group of the most sacred type, a koala bear totem centre, with two bears and two human totemites at which the ancestral being is looking. One of the men or the hero has thrown the boomerang at the bear, and the site thus represents an incident in an historical myth” (McCarthy).

Note that the term “koala bear” was used by early European anthropologists to differentiate between the native animal, and a term used to describe a deity figure. The local indigenous term for a koala is kaqwanumaag taliwnmun or jamtajuknawyong kwaala (thank you Elder Jack).

The large Baiame figure is infilled with dozens of vertical lines; these are said to represent rain, and the Baiame figure has been described by Uncle Shane Smithers as the Rainman engraving (“When the dots cross the line“). The deity figure has multiple lines above his head, which were overlooked in the original site sketches.

On the same large boulder are two men in rayed headdresses: “both wearing girdles and one bearing on his chest a line design which probably represents a painted pattern. Both have fingers on the right hand but not on the left one. Both are in a realistic attitude, posed as though participating in a dance-drama” (McCarthy).

Next to the two men is a Daramulan figure: “a koala bear with a human-like breast, is shown in profile with one leg and one arm”.

Above this detty figure are a boomerang and an “unfinished open-ended figure”, which looks complete and was also poorly depicted in the earlier site sketches

At the end of the group of figures is “an indeterminate elongate figure with a pointed head, four eyes in a row, one arm and one leg, with a well-marked rump. It resembles portrayals of the koala bear in the Sydney-Hawkesbury area”. Its head resembles that of a snake. It may also represent another deity figure, as suggested in the comments.

At the very edge of the rock platform is “an incomplete figure, of indeterminate nature”.