South African Archaeological Society

Aboriginal Fisheries of BrewarrinaAuthor(s): Lindsay BlackSource: The South African Archaeological Bulletin, Vol. 2, No. 5 (Mar., 1947), pp. 15-16Published by: South African Archaeological SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3887576 .

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15

We are indebted to the Australian United Press, and to " Wild Life ", the Australian nature magazine, for permission to republish this paper.

Aboriginal Fisheries of Brewarrina. BY LINDSAY BLACK,

Member of the Anthropological Institute, New South Wales.

In many parts of Australia the aborigines constructed weirs and other arrange- ments to catch fish. Some were made with wooden stakes across a lagoon or small creek, but mostly they were stone formations.

C. P. Mountford 1 has described a large stone trap in Mount Dutton Bay, South Australia. The method adopted there by the natives was to wait until a shoal of fish entered the shallow harbour, and then to get in behind them. The men yarding the fish carried two small branches and waved theni about, imitating the shadow of a seagull. The fish travelled ahead of these men and entered the yard through an opening left for the purpose, which was then closed.

The late A. S. Kenyon 2 described a series of fishtraps composed of stone and wooden stakes at Lake Condah, in the Western District of Victoria. This trap was used for catching eels. Mr. Kenyon also described in the same paper, trenches about two feet wide and about eighteen inches deep and up to five hundred yards in length, at Chirnside's Swamp, near Mount William homestead in Western Australia.

But the greatest of all these fisheries is in New South Wales, at the town of Brewarrina. At this point there is a rocky bar across the river, and here this great river alters its name. Above Brewarrina to the Queensland border it is known as the Barwon, and below this town to the junction with the Murray it is called the Darling. At times during the floods the water would be twenty feet deep over this rocky formation, and river steamers towing barges loaded with wool and stores passed safely over. Over a long period the water washing over the sandstone formed many boulders, both large and small.

These boulders were used as the building material for forming walls for a large series of fishtraps. The walls had no mortar or other binding material, and they had the appearance of stone fences which were seen in certain parts of the country in the early days. The walls continued right across the river from bank to bank and for a distance of about twenty chains along the river bed. When they were built the tops of the walls were level; they did not follow the contour of the bed of the river. The average height of the walls was about two to three feet; they were about eighteen inches wide at the base, narrowing to a single row of stones along the top.

At various seasons, and according to the flow of the river, the fish would travel either up or down stream. The natives knew which way the fish would come, and opened the yards accordingly. After a reasonable number had entered the main or large yards, the entrance was closed and the fish were then hunted into the smaller yards or catching pens where they could be caught easily.

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16

When the river was sufficiently low for the yards to operate, the natives came from all directions. The fishtraps were thus a meeting place, and with the plentiful supply of fish, great corroborees and initiation ceremonies took place. It was also used as a place for meetings in connection with trade and barter.

The construction of these fishtraps or yards in various parts of the country was one of the few national works of the Aborigines; in most cases they lived only from day to day, and did not make provision for the future. Possibly it was not necessary to store food owing to the plentiful supply of game; but the construction of the Brewarrina fisheries shows that when necessary, the Aborigines could exhibit plenty of initiative and undoubted skill.

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The Editor of Wild Life adds the following note: " These fisheries are worthy of note, not only because of the ingenious manner in which they were used to trap the fish, but because of the excellence of the workmanship displayed in them. They represent one of the few instances known of permanent aboriginal private property, apart from ceremonial and burial grounds.

" It is one of the interesting points about the Australian Aborigine that he had little time or need for property rights. The tribes, of course, had their own territorial boundaries, and the individual owned a few spears and implements and vessels; but examples of " landed estate ", such as the fisheries mentioned in Mr. Black's article represented, are exceptional.

"Another widely known instances of the same sort of thing, was, of course, the pine-grove of Bunya-Bunya Mountain in Queensland; and the quarries of stone at Mount William, near Lancefield in Victoria, were similarly tribal property, from which the stone was traded all over Australia."

* * *, . S.

It is not the intention of the Bulletin to republish articles that have already seen publication elsewhere, but this description of existing fisheries and fishing methods in Australia fits curiously with a recent article s published in Antiquity. The attention of those members of the Society who live near or visit the coast from time to time, is drawn to the abundant instances of coastal fishtraps, analogous to the river fishtraps of Australia, about our shores. Members are asked to report instances of such traps, giving the exact location, size, general shape, relationship to midden sites, and whether they are in use to-day, and by whom. Such informa- tion should build up into a first class survey of a single cultural phenomenon, and should eventually see publication. Photographs, especially aerial views, with the rights of publication, should be added. A selection of these will accompany publica- tion, at some future date, if funds permit. We regret that we could not reproduce Mr. Lindsay Black's illustrations to this article.

1 C. P. MOUNTFORD: Mankind, Vol. 2, No. 7. 2 A. S. KENYON: Victorian Naturalist, Vol. 42, pp. 73-74.

3 A. J. H. GOODWIN: Antiquity, Vol. XX, pp. 134-141. Illust. Sept., 1946.

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