Narara Railway Dam sites

Summary: Above the Gosford Railway Dams in Narara is an Aboriginal engraving site and a long wave-like shelter with art, both only (relatively) recently documented.

  • Art type/s: Cave Painting, Rock engraving, Stencil - Hand
  • Number of sites: 2
  • Number of motifs: 40
  • Motif/s: Eel, Fish, Goanna, Hand, Koala, Rainbow Serpent
  • Quality: 3/5
  • Condition of site: Good, Weathered
  • View site sketch
  • Year first recorded: 1974
  • Originally Recorded by: Ian Sim
  • Sim Reference: Sim Collection 2/51
  • Ian Sim, Archaelogical SItes in the Sydney Region – A Record of Field Surveys 1958-1973 (“Sim Collection”), Site 2/51
  • Bushwalking trail: https://hikingtheworld.blog/2021/03/13/narara-dam-loop-gosford/

A rock platform above the Gosford Railway Dam at Narara has a number of scattered figures, that were only recorded and sketched in the 1970s.

Engraving NararaDam Narara Railway Dam sites

Three figures are still fairly distinct: one of them is a man with a belt, who has been speared.

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awat9295 lr Narara Railway Dam sites

What looks like an eel is more weathered, and hard to see without highlighting; Ian Sim described this as a Rainbow-Serpent.

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There’s also a solitary and fairly large fish nearby.

awat9158 lr Narara Railway Dam sites

Above the engraving site is a long, north-facing cave which contains some art.

awat9121 lr Narara Railway Dam sites
awat9127 lr 1 Narara Railway Dam sites

The most obvious art is a number of white hand stencils.

awat9135 lr Narara Railway Dam sites

There are also some charcoal drawings, although some are affected by graffiti and some may not be Aboriginal, but added later.

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awat9136 lr Narara Railway Dam sites

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