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There are many links between Aboriginal people
and the geological environment around Brisbane Water.
Their engravings on the Hawkesbury Sandstone have a
distinctive style which is unique in Australia.
At Patonga their artwork combines natural tessellations
with figurative drawings.
(click on the image to see more pictures)
Cliff overhangs were used to provide caves for shelter
and a water supply from rock seepage.
(click on the image to see more pictures)
Some caves were decorated with artwork.
They powdered different coloured rocks to make ochres for painting.
(click on the image to see more pictures)
Local sandstone was ideal for sharpening hand tools
such as spears and axes.
You can see many sharpening grooves that surround waterholes
in the rocks of the Gosford area.
Hard stone for tools like axeheads was scarce.
Large tools such as axes were made of durable black basalt
from Peats Ridge and Mogo Creek. Local Aborigines
probably traded for basalt and for large pebbles
out of conglomerate from Norah Head, and further north.
(click on the image to see more pictures)
(click on the image to see more pictures)
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