Myall Trail – hunting site

Summary: Two leaping kangaroos, part of an emu and with rays on his head forms part of what may represent a hunting scene near the Myall Trail

  • Site type: Rock engraving
  • Number of motifs: 7
  • Motif/s: Emu, Kangaroo, Man, Mundoe (foot)
  • Quality: 4/5
  • Condition of site: Vandalised
  • View site sketch
  • Year first recorded: 1960
  • Originally Recorded by: F.D. McCarthy
  • McCarthy reference: SOUTH COLAH Mankind Group 74 in Catalogue of Rock Engravings (1983)
  • Sim Reference: Mankind 5(9) 1960 Fig 2A, p.387
  • Records of the Rock Engravings of the Sydney District: Nos 72-102. Fred McCarthy in Mankind, Vol 5, No, 9 (July 1960) – Fig 2A
  • Bushwalking trail: https://hikingtheworld.blog/2021/03/09/exploring-the-myall-trail-mt-ku-ring-gai/

A long rock platform at the western end of the Myall Trail has a group of engravings.

  • awat8511 lr Myall Trail - hunting site
  • awat8706 lr Myall Trail - hunting site

The scene was described by Fred McCarthy as representing the killing of an emu and the sighting of a pair of kangaroos or wallabies.

engraving mccarthy group74 fig2a Myall Trail - hunting site
The two “leaping kangaroos or wallabies” are still fairly distinct.
montage2 stitch lr Myall Trail - hunting site

Near the two kangaroos is the “unusual figure of a man, life-size with long curved hair or headdress, with three fingers on one hand and two large fingers on the other hand”.

awat8705 lr Myall Trail - hunting site

The emu, “poorly drawn, as though depicting a dead bird” is not really recognizable – other than its leg.

awat8515 lr Myall Trail - hunting site
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