Rock Art Research

This paper examines the distribution of rock art depictions of marine creatures, eels and other estuarine and freshwater fish, in the shelters and open sites on the Woronora Plateau, south of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Eels and other fish are distinctive art motifs throughout the area and are located adjacent to inland rivers as well as the coast and the coastal estuaries. Shells have a restricted distribution on the archaeological deposits in the area and are an indication of the short-term foraging range. The fish in the art are indicative of the importance of this fauna to the Aboriginal people of the study area. In the coastal and estuarine hinterland motifs reflecting fish of the sea and estuary are of greater significance than eels. In the rugged elevated plateau to the south of the study area, however, the reverse is the case. In this southern region the importance of the rivers, creeks and swamps as a source of eels for Aboriginal people cannot be underestimated. Anomalies in the distribution of art techniques in the depiction of marine, estuarine and freshwater fauna are described. The art is a flawed resource as its significance to the Aboriginal people is unknown. It is not necessarily simply a reflection of diet, as it may reflect Aboriginal routes connecting the west, through the rugged study area, to the eastern coast. However it certainly represents the significance of fish to the people who lived and travelled through the study area.