Documented by MCarthy in 1960, this interesting Aboriginal engraving site was described as a “remarkable ceremonial group”. McCarthy suggests that it “may illustrate the religious doctrine of south-east Australian tribes of the dual origin of both man and animals, in particular of totemites and their totem, from composite beings such as the two long-necked creatures in this group which have human arms and legs, also penis in one, a snake-like head and a bird’s body… the comparatively long distances between the figures indicates a sacred path along which the participants travelled from one to the other during the ritual and along which the novitiates were taken“.
The first figure encountered as you approach the site is a large male ancestral being, who is over five metres in length.
The deity is drawn with short legs (with no feet), a pointed triangular penis and armlets on both arms (one is missing in photo below).
In the middle of the site is a large (six metre long) “goose or swan-like figure”, which is quite distinct.
The bird is holding a “bladed club of phacoid type” in its one limb.
Nearby and also quite deeply carved is a another figure, which is part-animal and part-man.
The figure is described by McCarthy as having an “open mouth and rounded lips” (which is not depicted in the sketch). It’s also said to have an arm holding a bladed club – the arm may have been less deeply carved, as it’s no longer visible.
The site also has a fishing spear, about six metres in length.
An additional figure – not recorded by McCarthy – is a wallaby or small kangaroo at the far end of the site.
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