Aboriginal rock art of the Central Coast – the original recordings

Hundreds of sites across the Central Coast were recorded initially by W.D. Campbell which he published in 1899 with detailed drawings and descriptions. In the 1940s Fred McCarthy documented many more sites across Sydney and the Central Coast in a series of articles in Mankind, and Ian Sim published some of his Aboriginal rock engraving sites in the same journal from 1962 to 1969 (as well as in the “Sim Collection“). In 1983 McCarthy published the Catalogue of Rock Engravings in the Sydney-Hawkesbury, which was the most comprehensive listing of Aboriginal engraving sites around Sydney. Many more Aboriginal sites have been found and recorded on the Central Coast, with Bob Pankhurst exhaustively documenting sites across the Central Coast since the 1960s and more recently Collete Douchkov has added to our knowledge of Central Coast rock art.

The collective works of Campbell, McCarthy and Sim which are summarised below record some of the most significant Aboriginal engravings sites across the Central Coast. (I specifically use the term “engraving sites” or petroglyphs, as very few of the rock art sites documented by these early recorders were Shelters with Art, or pictographs.)

William (WD) Campbell

Campbell was the first European to systematically record Aboriginal rock art sites across the colony, documenting over 200 sites across nine parishes, including Patonga on the Central Coast (which was in the county of Northumberland).

Group	Site Name / Description	Condition	Site ID
PLATE 27 Fig 2	Milyerra Trail Large Kangaroo	Weathered	45-3-0647
PLATE 25 Fig 1	Milyerra Trail main site	Weathered	45-3-0541
PLATE 25 Fig 2	Lyre Trig Wallabies and Eels	Unknown	45-3-0482
PLATE 27 Fig 1	Lyre Trig Sacred Site	Good	45-3-0062
PLATE 27 Fig 7	Lyre Trig Man	Weathered	45-3-0496
PLATE 27 Fig 8	Lyre Trig Kangaroo	Good	45-3-0477
PLATE 27 Fig 5	Bambara Road Dead Emu	Weathered	45-3-0483
PLATE 27 Fig 6	Woy Woy Road Whale & Roos	Good	45-3-0453
PLATE 28 Figs 1-2	Bulgandry 2	Good	45-3-0462/0463
PLATE 27 Fig 4	Tommos Loop Dancing Man	Good	45-3-0467
PLATE 28 Figs 3-4	Woy Woy Dancing Rabbits	Good	45-3-0472/0473
PLATE 28 Fig 5	Tommos Loop Great Whale Site	Weathered, Incomplete	45-3-0078
PLATE 29 Fig 5	Tunnel Trail Wombat	Good	45-3-0441
PLATE 29 Fig 4	Mount Wondabyne Mundoes	Weathered	45-3-0437
PLATE 29 Fig 3	Mount Wondabyne Whale	Unknown	45-3-0430
PLATE 29 Fig 6	Mount Wondabyne White Whale	Unknown	45-3-0438
PLATE 29 Fig 8	Rocky Ponds Trail Man	Weathered	45-6-0181
PLATE 29 Fig 9	Rocky Ponds Trail Deity & Men	Unknown	45-6-0180
PLATE 29 Fig 7	Rocky Ponds Trail Shield & Boomerang	Unknown	45-6-0179
PLATE 29 Fig 10	Hawkesbury Track Woy Woy Dancing Man	Unknown	45-6-0182
PLATE 28 Fig 6	Fish and Squid Shelter Art	Weathered	45-3-0554
PLATE 29 Fig 1	Charcoal Deity Figures	Unknown	45-3-0551
PLATE 29 Fig 2	Koolewong Red Ochre Shelter	Good, partly damaged	45-3-0547
PLATE 27 Fig 9	Koolewong Trail Whale	Good	45-3-0543

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Ian Sim

Sim was the most prolific recorder of Central Coast Aboriginal rock art sites, with many of these published in Mankind across three journals – which are summarised below. He documented many more sites, including those in what is now referred to as the Sim Collection, which is listed separately due to the large volume of sites.

Mankind- Vol 6, No. 2 (Nov 1963)

Mankind Group	Sketch	Site Name / Description	Condition	Site ID
Group 127	Sheet 4, Fig A	Peat Island engravings	Unknown	45-6-0476/76
Group 128	Sheet 4, Fig B	Mooney Mooney Bay Man	Likely Destroyed	45-6-0477
Group 129	Sheet 4, Fig C	Cheero Point Bird Beaked Man	Likely Destroyed	45-6-0478
Group 130	Sheet 5, Fig A	Mangrove Mountain Rainbow Serpent	Good	45-3-1706
Group 131	Sheet 5, Fig B	Mangrove Mountain Whale	Weathered	45-3-0253
Group 132	Sheet 5, Fig C	Standing bird	Likely Destroyed	N/A
Group 133	Sheet 5, Fig D	Mangrove Mountain Powerlines Roo	Good	45-3-0254
Group 134	Sheet 5, Fig E	Two men & kangaroo	Likely Destroyed	N/A
Group 135	Sheet 5, Fig F	Kangaroo, rainbow serpents	Likely Destroyed	N/A
Group 136	Sheet 5, Fig G	Two kangaroos & fish	Likely Destroyed	N/A
Group 137	Sheet 5, Fig I	Kangaroo	Likely Destroyed	N/A

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Mankind – Vol 6, No. 8 (1966)

Mankind Group	Sketch	Site Name / Description	Condition	Site ID
Group 146	Sheet 1, Fig A	McRories Rock	Partly covered	45-6-0134
Group 147	Sheet 1, Fig B	Mundoes, boomerang	Unknown	45-6-0131
Group 148	Sheet 1, Fig C	The Sentinel	Unknown	45-6-0132
Group 149	Sheet 1, Fig D	Elephant Rock	Good	45-6-0169
Group 150	Sheet 1, Fig E	Shields, birds, boomerang	Unknown	45-6-0168
Group 151	Sheet 1, Fig F	Warrah Trig Fish	Good	45-6-0167
Group 152	Sheet 1, Fig G	Bulls Hill Trail Kangaroo	Good	45-3-0478
Group 153	Sheet 1, Fig H	Bulls Hill Whale	Weathered	45-3-0480
Group 154	Sheet 1, Fig I	Man with Club	Likely Destroyed	45-6-0460
Group 155	Sheet 1, Fig J	Two men + 8 figures	Unknown	45-3-0466
Group 156	Sheet 1, Fig K	Dancing Rabbits (Woy Woy)	Good	45-3-0464
Group 157	Sheet 1, Fig L	Seven Shields (Woy Woy)	Good	45-3-0215
Group 158	Sheet 1, Fig M	Tommos Loop Figures in Creek	Mostly Good	45-3-0447
Group 159	Sheet 1, Fig N	Woy Woy Road Kangaroo	Good	45-3-0720
Group 160	Sheet 2, Fig E	Rifle Range Emu	Good	45-3-1236
Group 161	Sheet 2, Figs A-D	Mount Kariong Ridge Engravings	Mostly Good	45-3-0432/3/4/5/6/7
Group 162	Sheet 2, Figs F-G-H	Bulgandry Aboriginal Site	Good	45-3-0449/50/51

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Mankind – Vol 7, No. 1 (1969)

Mankind Group	Sketch	Site Name / Description	Condition	Site ID
Group 163	Sheets 1, Figs A & B	Woy Woy Road Whale & Roos	Good	45-3-0453
Group 164	Sheet 3, Fig A	Kariong Fire Break Emus	Good	45-3-0448
Group 165	Sheet 3, Fig B	Kariong Plateau Emus and Kangaroos	Weathered	45-3-0470
Group 166	Sheet 1, Fig C-N	Lyre Trig engravings	Mostly Good	45-3-0487-0505
Group 167	Sheet 2, Figs A-K	Milyerra Trail engravings	Mostly Good	45-3-3235/6/7/8/9
Group 168	Sheet 2, Fig L	Corrumbine Creek Firetrail Eels	Good	45-3-0539
Group 169	Sheet 3, Fig C	Corrumbine Creek Eels	Good	45-3-0510
Group 170	Sheet 3, Fig D	Corrumbine Creek Whale & Men	Partly covered	45-3-0527
Group 171	Sheet 3, Fig E	Mount Penang Eels & Man	Unknown	45-3-0495
Group 172	Sheet 1, Fig O	Piles Creek Whale	Good	45-3-0461
Group 173	Sheet 1, Fig P	Myoora Road Site	Good	45-3-0607
Group 174	Sheet 1, Fig R	Grooves and womerah	Destroyed	45-3-0431

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Fred McCarthy

McCarthy published a number of articles documenting Aboriginal rock sites on the Central Coast from the 1940s to the 1960s. All of the sites which he documented – as well as many of those recorded by Campbell and Sim – were included in his two-volume Catalogue of Rock Engravings in the Sydney-Hawkesbury District. Of the 37 parishes covered by his Catalogue, six cover the Central Coast – these are summarised below (in the order they are documented).

Cowan

Group	Site Name / Description	No. Figures	Original Recording	Site ID
Unpublished Notebook 61	Somersby Falls Man & Roo	4	Sim Collection 2/7	45-3-0015
Unpublished Notebook 61A	Somersby Falls Death Adder	31	Sim Collection 2/8	45-3-4479
Unpublished Notebook 61B	Somersby Falls Emu & Wallaby	2		Destroyed
Unpublished Notebook 61F	Somersby Falls Emu with Eggs	2	Sim Collection 2/9	Destroyed

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Gosford Parish

Group	Site Name / Description	No. Figures	Original Recording	Site ID
Unpublished Notebook 26	Raverson Close engravings	22		45-3-0468
Unpublished Notebook 26A	Penang Mountain Road	5		Destroyed?
Unpublished Notebook 27A	Old Gosford Road Engraving Site	15		45-3-0038
Unpublished Notebook 27	Old Gosford Road Daramulan	3		45-3-0039
Unpublished Notebook 61G	Mangrove Mountain Road	2	Sim Collection 2/33	Destroyed?
Unpublished Notebook 28A	Penang Mountain Road Roo	1	Sim Collection 2/32 S8	Destroyed?
Unpublished Notebook 28B	Penang Mountain Road Fish	1	Sim Collection 2/32 S7	Destroyed?
Unpublished Notebook 28	Ledge beside Penang Mountain Road	30		Destroyed?
Unpublished Notebook 28C	Penang Mountain Road	7	Sim Collection 2/32 S11	Destroyed?
Unpublished Notebook 60	Debenham Road Whale & Roo	13		45-3-0032
Unpublished Notebook 61C	Reeves Street Three Men	2	Sim Collection 2/52	45-3-0520

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Kincumber Parish

Group	Site Name / Description	No. Figures	Original Recording	Site ID
Unpublished Notebook 11	Daleys Point (Bouddi NP)	28		45-6-0149
Mankind Group 55	The Skillion (Terrigal)	31	McCarthy Group 55 (1954), Sim 1/4	45-3-0313

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Narrara Parish

Group	Site Name / Description	No. Figures	Original Recording	Site ID
Mankind Group 19	Calga Daramulan	1	McCarthy Group 19 (1944)	45-3-0363
Mankind Group 20		1	McCarthy Group 20 (1944)	Destroyed?
Unpublished Notebook 63/63A/63B	Mooney Mooney Aboriginal Area	55		45-3-0021
Unpublished Notebook 63C	Mooney Mooney Kangaroo	1		45-3-0024
Unpublished Notebook 63D	Man with Headress	1		?
Mankind Group 38	Howe Aboriginal Area	24	McCarthy Group 38 (1947)	45-3-0657
Unpublished Notebook 61B	Leaping Kangaroo	1	Sim Collection 2/12	45-3-0018

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Patonga

Group	Site Name / Description	No. Figures	Original Recording	Site ID
Mankind Group 147	Broken Bay Camp – Burial Site	10	Sim Group 147 (1966)	45-6-0131
Mankind Group 146	Broken Bay Camp – McRories Rock	9	Sim Group 146 (1966)	45-6-0134
Mankind Group 148	Broken Bay Camp – Sentinel Gully	6	Sim Group 148	45-6-0132
Group 187	Rocky Ponds Trail Men	12	Campbell Plate 29 Fig 9	45-6-0180
Group 188	Rocky Ponds Trail Shield & Club	9	Campbell Plate 29 Fig 9	45-6-0179
Group 186	Mullet Creek Half a Man	2	Campbell Plate 29 Fig 8, Sim 7/17	45-6-0181
Mankind Group 52	Patonga Bulbous Headed Man	23	McCarthy Group 52 (1954)	45-6-0174
Group 184	Mount Wondabyne Whale	1	Campbell Plate 29 Fig 3	45-3-0430
Group 183	Mount Wondabyne Mundoes	10	Campbell Plate 29 Fig 4	45-3-0437
Group 185	Mount Wondabyne White Whale	1	Campbell Plate 29 Fig 6	45-3-0438
Mankind Group 161	Mount Kariong Ridge Engravings	24	Sim Group 161 (1966)	45-3-0432-7
Mankind Group 161	Rifle Range Emu	1	Sim Group 160 (1966)	45-3-1236
Mankind Group 173	Myoora Road Engraving Site	19	Sim Group 173 (1969)	45-3-0607
Group 182	Tunnel Trail Wombat	1	Campbell Plate 29 Fig 5	45-3-0441
Mankind Group 53	Warrah Trig Clifftop Engravings	35	McCarthy Group 53 (1954)	45-6-0172
Mankind Group 158	Tommos Loop Figures in Creek	7	Sim Group 158 (1966)	45-3-0447
Mankind Group 149	Elephant Rock	1	Sim Group 149 (1966)	45-6-0169
Mankind Group 174	Grooves and womerah	3	Sim Group 174 (1969)	Destroyed?
Mankind Group 150	Shields, birds, boomerang	11	Sim Group 150 (1966)	45-6-0168
Mankind Group 151	Warrah Trig Fish	1	Sim Group 151 (1966)	45-6-0157
Group 181	Tommos Loop Great Whale Site	3	Campbell Plate 28 Fig 5	45-3-0078
Group 189	Hawkesbury Track Dancing Man	9	Campbell Plate 29 Fig 10	45-6-0182
Unpublished Notebook 62A	Woy Woy Road Man & Mundoes	16		45-3-0063
Unpublished Notebook 62B	Woy Woy Road Warriors	28		45-3-0063
Unpublished Notebook 62C	Woy Woy Road Man & Kangaroo	2		45-3-0063
Mankind Group 54	Warrah Sanctuary Engravings	29	McCarthy Group 54 (1954)	45-6-0178
Mankind Group 164	Kariong Emus	2	Sim Group 164(1966)	45-3-0448
Mankind Group 162	Bulgandry	28	Sim Group 162 (1966)	45-3-0451
Group 175	Woy Woy Road Whale	1	Campbell Plate 27 Fig 6	45-3-0453
Mankind Group 172	Piles Creek Whale	3	Sim Group 172 (1969)	45-3-0461
Mankind Group 159	Woy Woy Road Kangaroo	1	Sim Group 159 (1966)	45-3-0720
Mankind Group 156	Dancing Rabbits (Woy Woy)	28	Sim Group 156 (1966)	45-3-0464
Mankind Group 155	Two men + 8 figures	13	Sim Group 155 (1966)	Destroyed?
Group 176	Bulgandry 2	60	Campbell Plate 27 Figs 1-2	45-3-0462/0463
Mankind Group 154	Man with Club	2	Sim Group 154 (1966)	Destroyed
Mankind Group 165	Kariong Plateau Emus and Kangaroos	9	Sim Group 165 (1966)	45-3-0470
Group 175 Mankind Group 163	Woy Woy Road Whale & Roos	6	Campbell Plate 27 Fig 6 Sim Group 163 (1969)	45-3-0453
Group 179	Woy Woy Dancing Rabbits	24	Campbell Plate 28 Figs 3-4	45-3-0472/3
Mankind Group 152	Bulls Hill Trail Kangaroo	1	Sim Group 152 (1966)	45-3-0478
Group 177	Bambara Road Emu	1	Campbell Plate 27 Fig 5	45-3-0483
Mankind Group 153	Bulls Hill Whale	11	Sim Group 153 (1966)	45-3-0480
Group 171	Lyre Trig Sacred Site	61	Campbell Plate 27 Fig 1	45-3-0062
Mankind Group 157	Seven Shields (Woy Woy)	10	Sim Group 157 (1966)	45-3-0479
Mankind Group 166	Lyre Trig engravings	34	Sim Group 166 (1969)	45-3-0486/7
Group 173	Lyre Trig Kangaroo	1	Campbell Plate 27 Fig 8	45-3-0477
Group 172	Lyre Trig Wallabies and Eels	15	Campbell Plate 25 Fig 2	45-3-0482
Mankind Group 171	Mount Penang Eels & Man	5	Sim Group 171 (1969)	45-3-0495
Groups 168-170 Mankind Group 167	Milyerra Trail engravings	83	Campbell Plate 25 Fig 1 Campbell Plate 27 Figs 2-3 Sim Group 167 (1969)	45-3-0515-17 45-3-0525-26 45-3-0541
Mankind Group 168	Corrumbine Creek Firetrail Eels	5	Sim Group 168 (1969)	45-3-0539
Mankind Group 170	Corrumbine Creek Whale & Men	6	Sim Group 170 (1969)	45-3-0527
Mankind Group 169	Corrumbine Creek Eels	2	Sim Group 169 (1969)	45-3-0535
Group 178	Koolewong Trail Whale	1	Campbell Plate 27 Fig 9	45-3-0647
Group 174	Lyre Trig Man	1	Campbell Plate 27 Fig 7	45-3-0496

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Popran

Group	Site Name / Description	No. Figures	Original Recording	Site ID
Mankind Group 133	Mangrove Mountain Powerlines Roo	1	Sim Group 133 (1963)	45-3-0254
Mankind Group 131	Mangrove Mountain whale	1	Sim Group 131 (1963)	45-3-0253
Mankind Group 130	Mangrove Mountain Rainbow Serpent	9	Sim Group 130 (1963)	45-3-1706
Mankind Group 132	Standing bird	1	Sim Group 132 (1963)	Destroyed?
Mankind Group 135	Kangaroo, rainbow serpents	3	Sim Group 135 (1963)	Destroyed?
Mankind Group 136	Two kangaroos & fish	7	Sim Group 136 (1963)	Destroyed?
Mankind Group 137	Kangaroo	2	Sim Group 137 (1963)	Destroyed?
Mankind Group 134	Two men & kangaroo	3	Sim Group 134 (1963)	Destroyed?