The colonists’ ignorance of Aboriginal beliefs continued throughout the nineteenth century. In his address to the Geographical Society of Australasia in 1883, John Mann said of these engravings: “The so-called rock carvings are merely outline representations of men, fish, animals, etc… A flat rock near the Association Ground, Sydney Common, was covered with the representations of kangaroo, opossum, fish, boomerangs, etc…No mystery whatever may be attached to these marks. I have seen a young man lying on rock whilst others traced his outline and then picked out the line with a tomahawk.” (Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW – ML 305, John F Mann, ‘Notes on the Aborigines of Australia’, Geographical Society of Australasia, Proceedings 1, 1883-84)