One of the most striking Aboriginal engravings around Cottage Point, this ten-foot high man or deity takes up most of a small rock outcrop on a ridge above Cottage Point Road. He was documented by both W.D. Campbell and R.H. Mathews in the 1890s, Mathews describing him as a “an aboriginal warrior with his clubs, shield and boomerang, having his head decorated in the usual manner”. McCarthy many years later described him as “an ancestral being of the Baiami type”.
The Baiame (deity) figure is holding a shield in one hand; in the other he is holding a boomerang or cone-headed club. From his left arm hangs a dilly bag, “probably a string or netted bag containing magical objects” (McCarthy).
The most unusual feature of this Baiame figure are his “conical horns or horn-like ears”. Bob Pakhurst notes in “Cultural Heroes of the Guringai and Dargingung Areas”:
…the wife of Kurowen or Koen, who was an alter ego of Baiame, whose name was Kurrawilban or Djibbagaleum had horns on her shoulders with which she would impale people and take them under the ground to eat.
The boomerang or waddy (Campbell) or cone headed club (McCarthy) in his right hand is quite deeply cut.
On the shield is a faint J-shaped motif, which may represent a fish-hook.
Inside the figure’s body is what has been described as a bird – although this is not at all obvious.
Beside Baiame’s right foot is a fish. Both the bird and the fish may indicate a totemic association.
As well as the different interpretation of whether the man is a warrier or a deity, Campbell’s sketch (left) included the fish by the figure’s right foot, and the hook within the shield. The sketch by Mathews (right) incorrectly depicts the figure with six toes on one foot and four on the other foot (both feet have five toes).
1 Comment
Malcolm Lambe · April 22, 2024 at 12:39 pm
Wish you could show me the gps coordinates to these sites.