ABORIGINAL DRAWINGS NEAR WILTON, N.S.W.

Abstract

Wilton is a small rural community about 40 miles south of Sydney. It is located on a wide ridge of undulating land which is bounded on the south-west, north-west and north-east by the incised gorges of the Nepean and Cataract Rivers. A number of tributary streams drain the ridge and have cut deep narrow gullies into the underlying Hawkesbury Sandstone formation. In contrast to the undulating farmlands of the higher levels, these gullies are rough and precipitous, littered with masses of fallen rock and covered with a thick growth of scrub and trees. Their rocky walls, vertical in many places, contain numerous eroded hollows and overhanging ledges. The shelter containing the drawings is located in one of these gullies known as Clement's Creek. At the site the creek runs north-westerly and the gully is about 100 feet wide and 40 feet deep, with broken vertical walls. At the foot of a steep, broken scree a small watercourse trickles through fallen rocks and scrubby vegetation. The shelter has been formed by erosion of the rock face forming the western wall of the creek. It is divided into two sections, both of which contain a series of charcoal drawings.