Shark Rock Ridge Deity

Summary: Below the Shark Rock Ridge in dense scrub is an Aboriginal engraving of a "protective deity, holding up a fish with the right hand"

  • Art type/s: Rock engraving
  • Number of motifs: 2
  • Motif/s: Baiame, Deity, Fish, Whale
  • Quality: 2/5
  • Condition of site: Good
  • View site sketch
  • Year first recorded: 1898
  • Originally Recorded by: W.D. Campbell, F.D. McCarthy
  • Campbell Reference: COWAN Plate 25 Fig 6 in Aboriginal Carving of Port Jackon and Broken Bay (Download)
  • McCarthy reference: COWAN Group 163 in Catalogue of Rock Engravings (1983)

This Aboriginal rock engraving side below Shark Rock Ridge is on a thin strip of rock surrounded by dense scrub; not a location you would associate with a deity figure. The figure was described by Campbell as “that of the protective deity, holding up a fish with the right hand”. McCarthy later interpreted the site as representing “A mythological incident and a site of sacred importance”.

Engraving Plate25 Fig6 Shark Rock Ridge Deity

It’s very hard to see the entire deity or ancestral being, with vegetation and leaf litter encroaching all sides of the figure. You can make out his “bars on upper legs, conical penis… 4-strand belt”.

AWAT2499 LR Shark Rock Ridge Deity
AWAT2494 LR Shark Rock Ridge Deity

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