Summary: A shallow overhang with Aboriginal rock art above Wheeny Creek, which has over fifty motifs (almost all in charcoal).

This shallow overhang above Wheeny Creek has a large gallery of Aboriginal rock art, with over fifty motifs mostly in charcoal.

Some of the identifiable figures include a human figure with upstretched arms and over-sized hands.

On the ceiling of the shelter is a human-like figure with outstretched arms and legs.

A woman with upstretched arms is next to an unusually drawn animal.

A similar figure with a triangular head also has upstretched arms.

Superimposed on a faint hand stencil and indetermite charcoal motifs is a large wallaby or kangaroo in red ochre (the only figure which has been drawn in this pigment).

1X3A2323 LR Wheeny Creek Charcoal Gallery1X3A2323 LR yre Wheeny Creek Charcoal Gallery

As well as a hand stencil, there is an outline of a hand in charcoal – an unusual motif.

The site has four eels; two of them are larger than the others (and one of them is depicted above two smaller figures).

These motifs may depict more men, or anthropomorphic deity figures.

The lower half of one panel has weathered badly; the largest of the motifs appears to depict a half-animal, half-human figure.

There are many more indeterminate charcoal figures.

The adjacent overhang to the south also contains a very weathered charcoal drawing of a male figure.

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 740 other subscribers

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.