Somersby Falls Death Adder engraving

Summary: An Aboriginal engraving of a death adder on an industrial property in Somersby.

  • Site type: Rock engraving
  • Number of motifs: 1
  • Motif/s: Snake
  • Quality: 3.5/5
  • Condition of site: Good
  • View site sketch
  • Year first recorded: 1946
  • Originally Recorded by: F.D. McCarthy, Ian Sim
  • McCarthy reference: COWAN Group 61A in Catalogue of Rock Engravings (1983)
  • Sim Reference: Sim Collection Site 2/8
  • McCarthy Unpublished Notebook 61A
  • Ian Sim, Archaelogical Sites in the Sydney Region – A Record of Field Surveys 1958-1973 (“Sim Collection”), Site 2/8 (Somersby)

Situated behind an industrial estate near Somersby Falls Road, this Aboriginal rock engraving site was first documented by McCarthy in 1946: It has a single figure depicting what was described as a death adder: “Death adders are common in this locality and the figure may be a warning, or one that had bitten an Aboriginal, or a totem” (McCarthy).

1X3A8482 LR Somersby Falls Death Adder engraving

The six-foot long snake has a “curved and sinuous body” and a “pointed snout projecting from head”.

1X3A8484 LR Somersby Falls Death Adder engraving
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