Swinton’s Cave (or Swintons Shelter) is a long cave, which has hundred of hand stencils, many super-imposed on top of each other, along the walls and ceiling. Additional motifs include a red horned anthropomorph and pink and bichrome stencils of boomerangs at the northern end of the cave.
The average shelter art site in NSW contains 26.4 motifs; Swintons Cave contains 857 motifs, which is the largest known assemblage – and also the the highest number of identifiable motifs (653).
The site is also significant due to the extensive evidence of pigment art production, and the use of two colours in a single stencil (bichrome technique), which is very rare.
Above the cave are a number of grinding grooves.
2 Comments
Craig Marshall · June 22, 2025 at 7:47 pm
I met Swinton in about 1978 and he showed me the cave when I was exploring the G.N.R and Mangrove Creek in general . I knew it was special but I have no idea it was so significant. I also found many other sites in the region
McPherson State Forest loop | Hiking the World · August 28, 2021 at 10:48 pm
[…] It’s hard to find much information on McPherson State Forest, which is near Mangrove Mountain in the Central Coast to the north of Sydney. While listed on the NSW Forestry Corporation’s full list of forests, it has no dedicated recreation areas (it appears that the network of trails which cross the forest are not recognised as bushwalking trails). In 2018 a portion of the McPherson State Forest adjoining Yengo National Park was transferred to the care of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (although the NPWS web site has no information on this area either)… one of the reasons for the transfer of part of the forest was to protect its significant Aboriginal cultural heritage. Within McPherson State Forest is the Warre Warren Aboriginal Area, which contains hundreds of significant Aboriginal heritage sites, including Swintons Cave. […]