Summary: Sacred Canyon in the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park has Aboriginal engraving on the walls of the gorge representing camp sites, springs and water holes.

On the sandstone walls of Sacred Canyon in the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park are ancient Aboriginal rock engravings, or petroglyphs. The age of the engravings is not known: the Adnyamathanha people believe that the engravings were not made by people, but were created for them by ancestral beings during the “Dreaming”.

Aboriginal petroglyphs at SacredCanyon (Ikara-Flinders Ranges)

Many of the patroglyphs are circles and lines, which represent camp sites, springs and water holes. Among these motifs, images of animal tracks and human-like figures can also be found.

Aboriginal petroglyphs at SacredCanyon (Ikara-Flinders Ranges)

The gorge is in the south-eastern part of the park, about 19km from the Wilpena Pound Resort at the end of Sacred Canyon Road. A rough track runs from the main road to the carpark at the gully’s entrance, and a short walk along a dry creek bed lined with river red gums leads to the canyon.

More information on Sacred Canyon

Visitor access to Sacred Canyon is only allowed through approved commercial tour operators who provide Adnyamathanha guided tours. Tours can be booked through Wilpena Pound Resort online or by calling 1800 805 802.

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to Hiking the World, and receive notifications of new posts by email. (A hike is added every 1-2 weeks, on average.)

Join 1,164 other subscribers

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Aboriginal Sites by National Park

Located to the north-west of Sydney, just south of the Dharug and Yengo National Parks, Maroota has a high concentration of (known) Aboriginal sites. Many more Aboriginal heritage sites are located in the Marramarra National Park. The original inhabitants of the area were the Darug people.
Yengo National Park was an important spiritual and cultural place for the Darkinjung and Wonnarua People for thousands of years, and 640 Aboriginal cultural sites are recorded in the park and nearby areas.
Over 40 sites have been recorded within the park; many were located along the river bank and were flooded by the building of the weir in 1938.