Friday 23/10/2020 Hands on Rock
Goulburn River National Park, NSW
Kamilaroi country
Participants: Stephen Davies (Photos, Report), Sue Davies
The Hands on Rock track is a very short walk that terminates on a raised, fenced-in boardwalk at a long sandstone overhang. Here, amongst other rock art, hand stencils drawn by the Wiadjuri people can be clearly seen.
Max elevation: 462 m
Total climbing: 82 m
Total descent: -82 m
Average speed: 4.81 km/h
Total time: 00:23:50
Hands on Rock is a short drive north of The Drip Gorge Parking Area and off to the western side of Ulan Road. Despite keeping an eye out on the way we managed to drive past the turn-off as the signage from the road was not easy to spot. At the turn off the road to the car park is rough and rutted. From the car park it is only a short walk to an incredible viewing area steeped in Aboriginal history. NSW National Parks have provided informative signs which provide some historical and cultural details. The information from those signs is reproduced below. On sighting the hand stencils and motifs and we could only imagine how important this site was to indigenous people for thousands of years.
Hands on Rock
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NSW National Parks signage at the Hand on Rock Walking Track carpark states
“On a long sandstone overhang you can see numerous hand stencils and other motifs made by the Wiradjuri people hundreds to thousands of years ago. The walking track (some steps) leads easily for 500m through open bushland to the site.”
“Australia is an ancient land – an isolated land of mystery and great extremes. The Aboriginal people in Australia go back beyond human reckoning and have become part of its soul, its mystique and its spiritual force. To each individual, to each group, the land itself was the nurturer, the mother, giving of all things needed. These people did not need to look for change. Their lives had purpose, substance and joy. “Hands on Rock” is located within the Wiradjuri nation and was part of an extensive trading network from the north to the south and between inland and coastal groups, including the Wonaruah, Worimi and the Gamilaraay. It is an integral part of a ceremonial area and is of particular significance to Wiradjuri people. The Wiradjuri Aboriginal nation was known to cover an area that extended from the Murray River in the south-east to the Lachlan and the Macquarie Rivers in the north. “Hands on Rock” is located in the Great Dividing Range, which is the far eastern boundary of Wiradjuri country. The totem for the Wiradjuri nation is the goanna. In the Mudgee (“Mowgee”) clan area the female totem is the wedge-tailed eagle and the male totem is the crow. Before Europeans came to Australia the Wiradjuri people were a large, self-sufficient group. At the time of white invasion it is estimated that they numbered over 12,000. They were divided into several separate kinship-linked groups that covered one-third of New South Wales, mainly in the central western area.”
“In the traditional period, more people spoke or understood Wiradjuri than any other native tongue, making its 12,000 speakers the largest Aboriginal nation in New South Wales.”
“The Wiradjuri were semi-nomadic and moved camps in accordance with ancient Dreaming tracks, songlines and seasonal food supplies.”
The Wirad and their neighbouring
“Aboriginal tribes lived in harmony with their environment using the native fauna and flora sparingly for their food, clothing and shelter. They hunted emus, kangaroos, possums and echidnas and caught tortoise and fish in the waters of the Goulburn River. Kangaroo rugs and possum skin cloaks were also highly prized for their use in ceremonial life. Each clan would have a food gathering territory of about 40-50 kms in radius, which they would move within throughout the year. This became known to Wirad people as the “walkabout”.
“The Wiradjuri regarded the land and all forms of life contained within it as a sacred trust, to be preserved and passed on in a timeless cycle of mutual dependence. Throughout the year different groups gathered in the area to talk, exchange goods (resources such as stone and ochre, songs, ceremonies, dances) and to hold ceremonies and corroborees. These great religious ceremonies brought hundreds of people together from distances of hundreds of kilometres.”
“It is hard to determine how old these hand stencils are. Some of the artwork is deteriorating so as to cause concern to the local Wiradjuri people. Mudgee’s local Aboriginal community are the caretakers of this and other local sites.”
“This spectacular rock art site of numerous Aboriginal hand stencils and prints is just 2km north of The Drip off the Ulan Road. A grade 3 return walk (600m each way) leads through open bushland to the cliff and overhang.” NSW National Parks
