Summary: An unusual depiction of Baiame at an Aboriginal engraving site above Cottage Point Road. The figure has two horns, and is holding a shield and a dilly bag.

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”.

AWAT1265 LR Smiths Creek Baiame

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).

montage2 stitch LR 3 Smiths Creek Baiamemontage2 stitch highlighted LR Smiths Creek Baiame

The most unusual feature of this Baiame figure are his “conical horns or horn-like ears”.

AWAT1253 LR Smiths Creek Baiame

The boomerang or waddy (Campbell) or cone headed club (McCarthy) in his right hand is quite deeply cut.

AWAT1263 LR Smiths Creek Baiame

On the shield is a faint J-shaped motif, which may represent a fish-hook.

AWAT1251 LR Smiths Creek Baiame

Inside the figure’s body is what has been described as a bird – although this is not at all obvious.

AWAT1262 LR Smiths Creek Baiame

Beside Baiame’s right foot is a fish. Both the bird and the fish may indicate a totemic association.

AWAT1379 LR Smiths Creek Baiame

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).

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Aboriginal Sites by National Park

The Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area protects over 3,000 known Aboriginal heritage sites, and many more which are yet to be recorded. This area includes the Blue Mountains National Park, Gardens of Stone, Wollemi National Park and Yengo National Park.