Waratah Track Club and AGGs

Summary: Aboriginal engraving site which has a set of axe grinding grooves next to a waterhole, and three engraved figures. (Part of the Arden Trig series.)

  • Site type: Axe Grinding Groove (AGG), Rock engraving
  • Number of motifs: 3
  • Motif/s: Club, Echidna, Fish
  • Quality: 2/5
  • Condition of site: Weathered
  • View site sketch
  • Year first recorded: 1954
  • Originally Recorded by: F.D. McCarthy
  • McCarthy reference: BROKEN BAY Group 115/116 & Mankind Group 48 S2 in Catalogue of Rock Engravings (1983)
  • McCarthy in Mankind Vol 5, No. 1 (1954). Fig 8B. p.21-23

In the middle of a rock platform opposite the Waratah Track is small pothole, with six axe grinding grooves (AGGs) in a parallel set. This forms part of the Arden Trig series of Aboriginal sites.

AWAT5827 LR Waratah Track Club and AGGs
AWAT5870 LR Waratah Track Club and AGGs

Near these AGGs are three engravings. There is the very weathered tail end of a fish.

AWAT2823 LR Waratah Track Club and AGGs

A “phacoid-headed club, with a large natural pit in the centre of the head, like an eye; the first record of this type of club in the Sydney district”.

AWAT2837 LR Waratah Track Club and AGGs

Nearby is “the posterior part of an echidna”, which I couldn’t locate (it is likely very weathered).

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 1,267 other subscribers

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Aboriginal Sites by National Park

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 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 – 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.