Mt Ku-ring-gai Track engravings

Summary: An Aboriginal engraving site above the Mt Ku-ring-gai Track with a giant bandicoot, echidna, three men and what may be an ancestral figure.

  • Art type/s: Rock engraving
  • Number of motifs: 5
  • Motif/s: Bandicoot, Deity, Echidna, Man
  • Quality: 3/5
  • Condition of site: Good
  • Year first recorded: 1984

Above the Mt Ku-ring-gail Track, on adjacent rock platforms surrounded by scrub, is an Aboriginal engraving site. The figures include a giant bandicoot, echidna, two men and what may be an ancestral figure.

The bandicoot is over a meter in length, on the edge of a rock, with an echidna beneath its snout.

1X3A6412 LR Mt Ku-ring-gai Track engravings
AWAT9862 LR Mt Ku-ring-gai Track engravings

There is considerable detail in its long mouth, or snout.

AWAT9735 LR Mt Ku-ring-gai Track engravings

Next to the bandicoot are two men. The lower of the two men has upraised arms, and what appears to be a waist-belt. His legs are very weathered and his feet are not visible.

1X3A6423 LR Mt Ku-ring-gai Track engravings

A second man is just above this figure; he is also either fairly weathered or lightly grooved, although most of his outline is still visible.

1X3A6441 LR Mt Ku-ring-gai Track engravings

He seems to have an elaborate head head-dress.

1X3A6442 LR Mt Ku-ring-gai Track engravings

On a nearby, dome-shaped rock is either another man, or – due to his much larger size than the other men – a deity figure.

1X3A6473 LR Mt Ku-ring-gai Track engravings
1X3A6463 LR Mt Ku-ring-gai Track engravings

HIs head, right arm and both feet are fairly distinct – but much of the left side of his body has weathered away.

1X3A6458 LR Mt Ku-ring-gai Track engravings

This a rough representation of the man/deity, as the entire figure can no longer be accurately determined.

1X3A6454 LR Mt Ku-ring-gai Track engravings
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