ABORIGINAL DRAWINGS in ROCK SHELTERS at 

 BUNDANOON, N.S. WALES. 



By W. W. Thorpe, Ethnologist. 



(Plates xciii.-xcvi.) 



Whilst on a collecting visit to Bundanoon in October of last 

 year, my attention was directed to the existence of two Rock- 

 Shelters which contained Aboriginal Pictographs. Bundanoon 

 is about ninety-seven miles from Sydney on the southern railway. 

 The shelters are situated close to Patrick or Paddy's River (which 

 runs fairly parallel to the line, about a mile south of Bundanoon. 

 The " river " referred to is a sluggish stream, and when the 

 writer saw it, consisted of a chain of ponds or billabongs, some 

 very deep and noted for eels (Anguilla, sp.), the same fish 

 being freely depicted in one of the shelters. 



Paddy's River rises at Exeter and unites with the Wollondilly, 

 near Goulburn, one hundred and thirty-six miles south-west of 

 Sydney. For purpose of convenience the shelters will be referred 

 to as "No. 1 " and " No. 2," being the order in which they were 

 shown to the writer. 



Both are of the usual form found wherever the Hawkesbury 

 Sandstone occurs and frequently used by the Aborigines for 

 camping in, the cooking of food, and sometimes for burial 



Shelter No. 1 is close to the river on the eastern side, not far 

 from a crossing or ford. No. 2 Shelter is about a quarter of a 

 mile south of No. 1 on the western side of the river and one 

 hundred yards from the latter on elevated ground. The dimen- 

 sions of the first shelter are as follows : — Gi'eatest height, ten 

 feet ; the ceiling shelving back to four feet from the ground, 

 the length on the floor being about thirty feet. In this 

 shelter most of the drawings are made on the ceiling. The 

 second example is much larger, and immediately under the centre 

 of the eaves is a large sandstone block (PI. xciv.) displaying 

 about twenty grooves resulting from the rubbing-down and 

 sharpening of axe heads, the water during rainy seasons dripping 

 from the roof assisting in the process. The following are the 

 measurements of Shelter No. 2 : — Seven feet high, fifteen feet 

 from front to back, and forty-five feet long on the floor. Plate 

 xciii. is taken rather from the northern end of the shelter, and 



