Tommos Loop Figures in Creek

Summary: This Aboriginal engraving site has multiple figures in the bed of a creek, including two unusual male figures and three eels

  • Site type: Axe Grinding Groove (AGG), Rock engraving
  • Number of motifs: -3
  • Motif/s: Eel, Man
  • Quality: 3/5
  • Condition of site: Weathered
  • Year first recorded: 1966
  • Originally Recorded by: F.D. McCarthy, Ian Sim
  • McCarthy reference: PATONGA Mankind Group 158 in Catalogue of Rock Engravings (1983)
  • Sim Reference: Mankind 6(8) 1966 Sheet 1, Fig M
  • View site sketch

This Aboriginal engraving site, recorded by Ian Sim in 1966, is located in the sloping bed of an unnamed creek near Tommos Loop firetrail in Kariong.

1X3A5412 LR Tommos Loop Figures in Creek

McCarthy described it as a totemic site:

One of the men, wearing a headdress, is associated with 3 eels, one of which lies across his body with his arms outspread so that he is not holding it, and the other man is in ceremonial attire; probably a totemic site with the men performing a ritual for the eel clan. Both of the figures of the men are unique.

engraving Sim Group 158 Tommos Loop Figures in Creek

One of the two men is almost in the creek, and the figure is very weathered: he has a “flat ended
triangular shaped headdress projecting at a. right angle from the left side of his head which is tilted to his left” and an eel that extends from beside his left foot to his right shoulder”.

1X3A5359 LR Tommos Loop Figures in Creek
1X3A5359 LR enhanced Tommos Loop Figures in Creek

The bottom half of the figure has almost vanished; you can still make out the head-dress and most of the eel.

1X3A5347 LR Tommos Loop Figures in Creek

Next to the man is a second, narrow eel. It is fairly good condition. (A third eel is in middle of the creek bed, and could not be found.)

1X3A5362 LR Tommos Loop Figures in Creek

On the southern edge of the rock and above the creek bed is a second man who has a “half oval head turned to his right, with a slit for his mouth, pointed chin, no eyes, a horizontal but curved line 13″ long extends out from each side of the top of his head”.

1X3A5398 LR Tommos Loop Figures in Creek

McCarthy also noted his unusual hands, with “long conical fingers and thumb bn his right hand and 9 long bar fingers in a set 6 and one of 3 on his left hand”.

1X3A5391 LR Tommos Loop Figures in Creek

Along the creek bed are twelve axe grinding grooves.

1X3A5345 LR Tommos Loop Figures in Creek
1X3A5378 LR Tommos Loop Figures in Creek
Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to Hiking the World, and receive notifications of new posts by email. (A hike is added every 1-2 weeks, on average.)

Join 745 other subscribers

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Avatar placeholder

Aboriginal Sites by National Park

Aboriginal Rock Art in the Greater Blue Mountains
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.
Aboriginal Rock Art – Lane Cove
Over 40 sites have been recorded within the park; many were located along the river bank and were flooded by the building of the weir in 1938.
Aboriginal Rock Art – Hornsby Shire
Hornsby Shire - which is the largest LGA in the Greater Sydney Metropolitan region - contains approximately 600 recorded Aboriginal rock art sites (and over 1,200 Aboriginal heritage sites). These date back from thousands of years to post-European contact art.
Aboriginal Rock Art – Yengo National Park
Yengo National Park was an important spiritual and cultural place for the Darkinjung and Wonnarua People for thousands of years, and 640 Aboriginal cultural sites are recorded in the park and nearby areas.
Aboriginal Rock Art – Maroota and Marramarra NP
Located to the north-west of Sydney, just south of the Dharug and Yengo National Parks, Maroota has a high concentration of (known) Aboriginal sites. Many more Aboriginal heritage sites are located in the Marramarra National Park. The original inhabitants of the area were the Darug people.
Aboriginal Rock Art – Blue Mountains National Park
Red Hands Cave, Glenbrook (Blue Mountains)
The Blue Mountains National Park (and surrounding areas along the Great Western Highway) is thought to have over a thousand indigenous heritage sites, although much of the park has not been comprehensively surveyed. The Aboriginal rock sites in the Blue Mountains include grinding grooves, stensils, drawing and rock carvings.