Girra Girra Steps, Sydney, Guide du visiteur et quoi faire à proximité

Girra Girra Steps is a stop in Barangaroo Reserve, the harbourside parkland at Barangaroo in Sydney. The park is home to Aboriginal rock engravings carved into local sandstone, part of an artwork that honours the area's First Nations heritage. It is a good place to slow down and look closely at the ground, the stone and the water.

The story behind it

Barangaroo Reserve takes its name from Barangaroo, a Cammeraygal woman who lived on this harbour at the time of the first British settlement. The park sits on a headland that was once part of the working waterfront, and it has been shaped to bring native plants and sandstone back to the foreshore.

Scattered around the park are five rock engravings, known as petroglyphs. They were carved by hand into Sydney sandstone by Aboriginal Elders Vic Simms, Steven Russell and Laurie Bimson, using manual tools such as stones, mallets and chisels. Together they form an artwork called Barangaroo Ngangamay. It was designed and curated by Aboriginal multimedia artists and curators Genevieve Grieves and Amanda Jane Reynolds, and its designs relate to the ecology and history of the reserve.

What to look for

• The engraved designs in the sandstone, which are worth studying up close to see the marks left by hand tools.
• The sandstone itself, the same pale rock that underlies much of Sydney and that gives the harbour its character.
• The way the carvings sit within the landscape, since the artwork was made to fit the plants and history of the reserve.
• The views across the water from the headland, which frame the reserve as a green edge on a busy harbour.

Tips for your visit

• Allow 20 to 30 minutes for the steps and the engravings, longer if you want to walk the rest of the reserve.
• Go in the morning or late afternoon for softer light on the stone and more comfortable walking in warm weather.
• Wear comfortable shoes, as the reserve has steps and paths with some slopes.
• The reserve is an open public park, but check for any event closures before you go. Darling Harbour and The Rocks are both an easy walk away.

See it on a quest

You can reach Girra Girra Steps on foot as one stop of Street Art of Sydney: Catch an Art Thief, a self-guided route through the area with an art theme. The app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle based on what is in front of you, which makes you look harder at the details. There is no guide and no group to join, so you can start whenever you like, and one ticket covers the whole group.