Bulgandry Art Site: Where can I see Aboriginal rock art on the Central Coast, NSW?

You can see Aboriginal rock art on the Central Coast at the Bulgandry Art Site in the Brisbane Water National Park. Here lie several engravings created by the Guringai people, some of them thousands of years old.

Aboriginal rock art is usually associated with remote, outback destinations. Such as Uluru or the Anbangbang rock art gallery in Kakadu National Park. But there is evidence of long-standing Indigenous inhabitation all across Australia. Rock art is a major part of that, and you can often find it close to large urban areas.

This is very much the case on the Central Coast of New South Wales, just north of Sydney. Here, the Brisbane Water National Park is home to one of the most richly impressive Aboriginal rock art sites in the country.

The Bulgandry Art Site

The Bulgandry Art Site is the best place to see Aboriginal rock art on the Central Coast. It hides down a forest track flanked by milky white gum trees. There are several engravings in the rocks here, but the largest is thought to represent an ancestral hero, Bulgandry. He is depicted wearing an elaborate headdress. There’s a club or boomerang in one hand and an unknown oval object in the other. There’s also another decorated club positioned horizontally across his waist.

Because there are no written records of what the images at the Bulgandry Art Site represents, much of the interpretation on the explanatory signs is intelligent guesswork.

Brisbane Water National Park rock art

Within this Brisbane Water National Park rock art treasure trove, there are many engravings of people and animals. Wallabies feature heavily in the engravings. Three are leaping and others feeding. The human figure nearby suggests this is a hunting scene.

Fish, dolphins and what appears to be a bird are among the other engravings. And some tool-sharpening grooves can also present nearby.

Who created the Bulgandry rock art on the Central Coast?

This was believed to be a community site for the Guringai people, who traditionally live in an area that roughly maps to the Central Coast and Northern Sydney. Most of the engravings at the Bulgandry Art Site are over 200 years old. Some are more than 5,000 years old.

One reason there are so many rock art engravings here is that the flat, exposed Hawkesbury sandstone is the ideal canvas. It is thought engravings were first made by drawing an outline of a figure. The artist would then pick holes along the outline with a hard, painted stone.

The Bulgandry Art Site is in the Brisbane Water National Park, one of several national parks on the Central Coast, including the Bouddi National Park. The engravings are off the Woy Woy Road from Gosford, home of the Australian Reptile Park. It’s just over an hour’s drive from Sydney CBD and happily close to beach town Terrigal. The southern section has tremendous views over Broken Bay and is accessible from Pearl Beach or Patonga Beach.

More New South Wales travel

Feast at the Junee Chocolate Factory in Junee.

Hit the surf at Bilgola Beach or Avalon Beach in northern Sydney.

Enjoy park time at Calmsley Hill City Farm and Lizard Log in Abbotsbury.

Drive along the Newell Highway from Goondiwindi to Moree.

Choose between Garie Beach and Wattamolla Beach in the Royal National Park.