The contemporary cultural significance of Gallery Rock, a petroglyph complex recently found in Wollemi National Park, New South Wales, Australia

Abstract

In 2001 we began The Landscape of Blue Mountain Rock Art research project. Since then, over 250 rock art sites have been recorded in Wollemi National Park, consisting of engravings, drawings, stencils and some paintings. Two of the largest, best preserved and culturally significant sites are Eagle’s Reach, with drawings and stencils, and Gallery Rock, an engraved platform. Although images were made using very different techniques there are many common subjects and stylistic features between the sites. Each location also shares imagery with smaller sites across southern Wollemi, where most research has been undertaken. For contemporary Aboriginal people of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area these two sites are highly significant as inter-related cultural places that are focal points within larger cultural landscapes. In this paper, we report the contemporary cultural significance of Gallery Rock and articulate its relationship to Eagle’s Reach and other nearby rock shelter art sites. Discussion focuses on the interpretation of some figures as key Ancestral Beings and whether some, such as Baiame, have a pre-European settlement context, something of great interest to John Clegg who visited Gallery Rock in 2007.