Australian Aboriginal Art, Brisbane Waters on the Great North Walk

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Activities: Hiking - Running - Walking - Sightseeing

Moderate: 11.4 miles, Half day

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Overview: There is very much more to learn about Australian indigenous rock art (both painting and engraving) than can be descried here. In ancient times, Australian artists drew their rock designs to describe stories, to connect people and customs with the land and to direct and describe journeys. Several hundred rock art sites exist between Newcastle and Sydney. These include different styles: paintings, drawings and also rock engravings. Drawings are chalked directly on to rock surfaces using dry pigments whereas paintings are executed in wet pigments with fingers or makeshift brushes or sprayed over stencils. The various pigments used for rock art are generally quite stable since they are made of naturally occurring minerals and, in places where there is adequate protection from the weather, such as in caves or under sheltered cliff faces, this art can be long-lasting. Rock engravings are much less vulnerable to the elements and so can be found in the open, frequently in very beautiful spots in the landscape. They are usually outlines or sometimes filled-in silhouettes that have been created on the surface of the rock by pecking, hammering or scraping. Outlined figures, with their own unique style, are typical of the very many sandstone rock art sites on or near the Great North Walk - more at http://www.thegreatnorthwalk.com

In and around the Brisbane Waters National Park there are four (4) indigenous art sites worth visiting: Calga, Girrakool, Bulgandry and Woy Woy. The first (Calga) is, in fact two sites - both inside the Australian Wildlife Walk-about Park. Girrakool is the least excitign but easy to visit and both Bulgandry and Woy Woy are wonderful examples of Aussie original art. Search all sites from http://www.thegreatnorthwalk.com/rockart

Tips: Photographing rock art is very tricky. Try to arrive very early or stay till nearly sunset. when the Sun is low in the sky is the best time to get a great picture.
Please be aware that these rock art engravings and printings are very old and irreplaceable. Treat them with all the care you would lavish on a Monet or a Picasso and be amazed that such world-famous art is just freely available 'in the bush'.

Read the Great North Walk Companion (http://www.thegreatnorthwalk.com/Companion ) to learn more about the history of Aboriginal trails and art as well as European (re)discovery of coastal New South Wales.

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Points of Interest

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Woy Woy - fish & boomerang

Woy Woy Rock Art Site: (33° 28′ 33″S, 151° 17′ 33″E) a challenge to locate. Take the same turning off the F3 Freeway to Woy Woy and Gosford as for the Bulgandry site and pass this until, on the left you see Staples Lookout. It’s easiest to park here and continue on foot down the Woy Woy Road to another very small vehicle turn-out. From here you walk into the bush for about 500 m — as far as the rock ledges continue — this takes you to the last engravings and from here you can find the others by back-tracking to the road. There are a number of groups of engravings all of which are worth locating. The furthest from the road could be termed the best carvings and include an outstanding male figure, a fish, a shield together with an eel and a kangaroo. Nearer the road is the famous line of ‘rabbits’; the ‘mundoe man’, a fish and an emu; a many ‘cupmarks’. The site is about 2 km from the Great North Walk. One exmaple of this very richly engraved site showing a fish (in the foreground) and a boomerang further back.
For more details see http://www.thegreatnorthwalk.com/rockart

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Engraved man

This is a fantastic rock art picture -- while you're there admire the views the indigenous artists enjoyed while making these art works. Remember to look out for the famous line of carved ‘rabbits’.

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Bulgandry Rock Art

Good interpretative signs at this site tell the story of the indigenous artists. A board walk allows close viewing without damage to engravings.

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Australian Walkabout Wildlife Park (Calga Rock Art)

Australia’s Walkabout Park: (33° 25′ 33″S, 151° 13′ 7″E) is renowned for a giant engraving depicting a large, speared emu. There is also a cave with paintings: red-ochre stencilled hands and other sites with more engravings including a wallaby and a crescent. The 2006 site includes two small emus, both similar to but one hundred times smaller than the nearby giant emu. Although these park carvings have not been dated, a local Aboriginal representative David Pross (a past Chairman of the Darkinjung Land Council) suggests that they are between 500 and 1,000 years old based on their proximity to other, dated, carvings in the same area. The park is about 3 km from the Great North Walk near the Calga interchange of the F3 Freeway, signposted ‘Peats Ridge’.
More visit listed at http://www.thegreatnorthwalk.com/visits

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Girrakool Art Site

Girrakool Rock Site: (33° 25′ 50″S, 151° 16′ 38″E) this is a very easy site to access but a little disappointing because the engravings are rather worn and weathered and difficult to see or interpret. Leave the F3 Freeway at the Woy Woy and Gosford exit and turn into Wiseman’s Ferry Road, then left onto the Old Pacific Highway going south. Take the first left into Girrakool Picnic Area and walk along the Girrakool Loop for about 150 m. The engraving site contains a male figure, a kangaroo behind him and other fragmentary outlines. The site is only about 2 km from where the F3 Freeway intersects the Great North Walk and Mooney Mooney Creek.

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Approaching Bulgandry

Bulgandry Engraving Site: (33° 27′ 13″S, 151° 17′ 9″E) named for the ancestral hero depicted here, this site has been developed so that visitors use a wooden boardwalk to circuit the area. There are explanatory signs on the path to the site and in front of most of the engravings. Turn off the F3 Freeway between Sydney and Newcastle at the Woy Woy and Gosford turning. About 3 km along the road to Woy Woy, the parking area is signed off the road. Follow the path to the site. About 2 km from the Great North Walk.