Porto Gully Man and Woman

Summary: First recorded by the 1st Hornsby Scout Group, this Aboriginal engraving site depicts a man and his pregnant wife.

  • Site type: Rock engraving
  • Number of motifs: 2
  • Motif/s: Man, Woman
  • Quality: 2/5
  • Condition of site: Good, Weathered
  • View site sketch
  • Year first recorded: 1958
  • Originally Recorded by: F.D. McCarthy, 1st Hornsby Scout Group
  • McCarthy reference: COWAN Group 70 in Catalogue of Rock Engravings (1983)
  • McCarthy & Hansen in Mankind, Vol 5, No 5 (Feb 1958). Sheet 12, Fig D
  • J.C. Lough, Anthropological Survey – Peats Ferry to Mt Ku-ring-gai (1967). Site 11
  • 1st Hornsby (2nd Section) Boy Scouts, Aboriginal Rock Carvings in the Broken Bay Area, Group 83
  • Bushwalking trail: https://hikingtheworld.blog/2014/05/03/brooklyn-to-cowan-great-north-walk/

This Aboriginal engraving site was first recorded and sketched by 1st Hornsby (2nd Section) Boy Scouts in 1948, and then doumented by McCarthy and Hansen in 1958. A detailed report by J.C. Lough in 1967, which was conducted to identify carving sites in the vicinity of the Sydney to Newcastle freeway, also recorded some additional engravings of kangaroos and fish nearby (Porto Gully Two Wallabies).

The site depicts “a pregnant woman, short and rounded, with a man (her husband) wearing a rayed headband, girdle and a band across his eyes which are placed unusually low on his face” (McCarthy). Both figures are fairly weathered.

Engraving McCarthy COWAN Group70 Porto Gully Man and Woman

The man is 5′ 6″ high, with outstretched arms, with an elongated penis, and bulbous knees.

AWAT8434 LR Porto Gully Man and Woman

The head of the pregnant woman is barely visible, but her pregnant body is still distinct, as is her “deep carved vagina”.

AWAT8426 LR Porto Gully Man and WomanAWAT8426 LR highlighted Porto Gully Man and Woman
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1 Comment

Martin Laide · August 11, 2026 at 11:02 am

Saw them in the mid sixties. Figures very elongated.

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