Description

The Narkeening Water Reserve No. 11212 was originally declared on November 20th 1908, and the Narkeening Gnamma Hole is shown on an early twentieth century map as part of that reserve. The smoothly irregular shape of the hole bears testimony to the method of construction, with hollows that suggest that fires had been lit to crack the rock. Some of the cavities were part the way up the walls of the gnamma hole, and water from the lower cavities would have been available to splash on to the hot rock to assist the process of cracking and flaking. The aboriginal people had to learn survival skills such as the protection and management of water holes. When Surveyor J.S.Roe explored the district in 1836, he noted that there was a good spring at Knungajin which had been deepened out to a well by the natives, and in 1864 Surveyor Charles Hunt noted that many existing waterholes throughout the area had been carefully covered with sticks and branches to protect the water from native dogs and other animals.