Mount Kariong – One Legged Man

Summary: An Aboriginal engraving site on a spur off Mt Kariong with a very unusual one-legged man (as well as a second man and koala).

  • Site type: Axe Grinding Groove (AGG), Rock engraving
  • Number of motifs: 3
  • Number of AGGs: 1
  • Motif/s: Koala, Man
  • Quality: 1.5/5
  • Condition of site: Good, Weathered
  • View site sketch
  • Year first recorded: 1966
  • Originally Recorded by: F.D. McCarthy, Ian Sim, Bob Pankhurst
  • McCarthy reference: PATONGA Mankind Group 161 Series 3 in Catalogue of Rock Engravings (1983)
  • Sim Reference: Mankind Vol 8 No. 6 (1966). Sheet 2, Fig C. p.352-3

One of five Aboriginal sites documented by Ian Sim on a spur off the main Mount Kariong ridge, this group has two men and a koala figure. They are all very weathered and hard to see.

Engraving Sim Group161C Mount Kariong - One Legged Man

One of the men has only one leg, which is very unusual.

1X3A8143 LR Mount Kariong - One Legged Man
1X3A8139 LR Mount Kariong - One Legged Man

the one-legged man is proably mythological as an Aboriginal could not survive after losing a leg at the hip and it was a common practice to kill a man when he had lost or broken a. leg; both of the men are posed in the same general posture as though performing a dance or ritual. The missing leg could not be hidden and must presumed as lacking. The koala may be totemic or casual but the composition is ritual rather than a hunting scene. The one-legged man is unique.

McCarthy (1983)

The second man and small koala (which is covered in moss) are very hard to see – the photos below are from Bob Pankhurst.

image 15 Mount Kariong - One Legged Man
image 16 Mount Kariong - One Legged Man

Just above this group of figures is a shallow waterhole, with a single grinding groove.

1X3A8113 LR Mount Kariong - One Legged Man
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