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Chapter 13: Broken River Catchment

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Chapter 13: Broken River Catchment 13 Broken River Catchment Argus, 15 January 1924 True Tales of the Trout Cod: River Histories of the Murray-Darling Basin 13-1 NORTHERN BLACKFISH Noting J. T. Anderson’s remarks on the subject, “R.G.K.” (Richmond) says that he has just had a “fortnight’s fishing in the Broken River and various creeks around Lima (via Benalla) Although he had good sport with Murray cod, bream (Macquarie perch), and catfish, which he remarks is a far finer table fish than is generally realised, he noticed, too, how numerous were the blackfish. He must have hooked over a hundred, but returned them all to the river, as according to the Game Laws, they may not be kept under 8 inches, and very few of these were eight inches, many as small as four inches. Had “R.G.K.” known, he might have kept these fish, because an exception is made about them. The regulation reads:- “Blackfish, except those in streams flowing north from the Great Dividing Range, 8 1/2 inches.” These blackfish are a smaller species or variety, and the Fisheries department imposes no conditions in regard to them. Argus, 15 January 1924 13-2 True Tales of the Trout Cod: River Histories of the Murray-Darling Basin Figure 13.1 The Broken River Catchment showing major waterways and key localities. True Tales of the Trout Cod: River Histories of the Murray-Darling Basin 13-3 13.1 Early European Accounts The Broken River rises at the foot of Mt Buller north of Mansfield and, travelling west, collects water from tributaries originating in the Strathbogie and Wombat Ranges. After passing through Benalla the Broken flows northwest, splitting into two primary watercourses, the Broken River which discharges into the Goulburn River at Shepparton and the Broken Creek which enters the Murray River near Barmah. On November 29, 1824 Hume and Hovell camped at the Broken River near Samaria. They apparently did not consider the waterway to be of sufficient significance to give it a name. It also appears that they did not fish the stream, or if they did they made no record if they encountered fish in it (Bland, 1831). On October 13, 1836 Major Thomas Mitchell camped on the Broken River near the present site of Benalla, simply recording the waterway as the ‘Swampy’ (Mitchell, 1838). In 1838 Grantville Stapylton, who was second in command of Mitchell’s expedition, named it the Broken River, probably because the course of the river was broken up into ponds (Neil McQualter, pers. com.). The Broken catchment developed with time into a premier grazing region, the gold rush largely bypassing the area save for relatively minor workings such as those on the Ryans Creek (Flett, 1979). Few historical accounts have been previously reported of native fish in the Broken catchment. John Langtry, in his post-World War Two survey of the inland fishery, mentioned the reputed abundance of Macquarie perch in the Broken River (Cadwallader, 1977). Many thousands of juvenile Macquarie perch were sourced from the Broken River for translocation elsewhere between 1935 and 1962 and, in 1962, about 100 small Macquarie perch were relocated from the Broken River to Boosey Creek (Cadwallader, 1981). 13.2 The Past Distribution of Fishes in the Broken River Catchment The Sustainable Rivers Audit (Davies et al., 2008) divided the Broken catchment into a lowland zone (downstream of Swanpool), a slopes zone (upstream to Barwite) and an upland zone beyond the latter location. Only a few headwater creeks exist in the montane zone. Slopes type habitat, identified by the presence of confined valleys with streams containing extensive coarse gravel and sand substrates, extends further downstream to the Yin Barun/Mollyullah area. The slopes zone is therefore treated as existing down to these locations in this discussion. Apart from the slopes/lowland zone boundary, the habitat zones discussed below match those in the Sustainable Rivers Audit. The native fish rarity scores developed by the expert scientific panel that were used in the audit defined two types of habitat namely a lowland zone and a second merged habitat consisting of the slopes and upland zones. Most of the information presented below is sourced from oral history (mainly OH 63, 110-113, and 115) and a few newspaper accounts. In addition, local historian Redge O’Connor sourced information from 97 year old Frank Cook during the last weeks of Cook’s life, in reference to the Benalla area fishery in the 1920s. Also included are anecdotes provided by the late Laddie Clifford, a professional fisherman from Barmah, to the author in the 1980s about the lower Broken Creek. Very few old photographs of catches of native fish in this catchment have been located though one is of significance. It is recommended that further historical research be undertaken in this catchment, particularly along the lower reaches of the Broken Creek. 13-4 True Tales of the Trout Cod: River Histories of the Murray-Darling Basin 13.2.1 The Montane Zone Only a few small streams penetrate into the montane zone of this catchment and there are no records of larger native fish being present. 13.2.2 The Upland Zone Oral accounts indicate that cod and Macquarie perch had been present in the upland zone of the Broken River at least as far upstream as the Stockyard Creek area. A first-hand account from Frank Moore, originating from the 1940s, recalled that small numbers of fish were being taken on each outing. Frank, while familiar with the two cod species, could not recall with certainty what type of cod was taken (Moore, OH 115; Frank Moore, pers. com.). By that time major declines in native fish populations had been reported further downstream and a similar situation probably applied to the upland zone. Old stories indicate that cod and perch had been common in the upper Broken River (O’Connor, OH 111; Redge O’Connor & Ambrose Doxey, pers. com.). The limited evidence suggests that cod and Macquarie perch had been at least fairly common in the upland Broken River. There is no clear evidence indicating what species of cod were present in this zone but as both Murray cod and Trout cod were reported further downstream it is likely that both species were present. Blackfish were also common in the upper Broken River (Frank Moore, pers. com.). 13.2.3 The Slopes Zone Cod were common in the upper reaches of the slopes zone above Barjarg where some fairly large fish were taken (Doxey, OH 110; Ambrose Doxey, pers. com.), were very common in the Broken River in the Nillahcootie area, near Lima (Argus, 15 January 1924) and common in some of the larger creeks, including the Hollands and Ryans Creeks (O’Connor, OH 111). Stories from a number of residents, including Frank Cook, recalled that cod were present in the lower reaches of both the ‘Back’ and ‘Little Back’ (Wild Dog) Creeks at Nillahcootie (O’Connor, OH 111; Redge O’Connor, pers. com.). Upstream of Benalla both cod species were taken and old anglers told Ambrose Doxy that ‘bluenose’ (Trout cod) had been common in the early years of the twentieth century (Ambrose Doxey, pers. com.). The available evidence suggests that both species of cod had been common in the Broken River and larger creeks of the slopes zone and were present in some small creeks. Macquarie perch were abundant in the Broken River in the Williams Bridge and Barjarg areas (Doxey, OH 110; Argus, 15 January 1924) and in the Hollands Creek near Tatong, the Ryans Creek near Mollyullah, the Back Creek (O’Connor, OH 111; Redge O’Connor, pers. com.) and were taken from the Broken River near the Mansfield-Whitfield Road Bridge during the early 1980s (Author’s pers. obs.). Blackfish were also very common to abundant in those streams (Doxey, OH 110; O’Connor, OH 111) and at times were considered a nuisance when fishing for perch (Redge O’Connor, pers. com.). They were abundant in the Lima area where, on one occasion, an angler reported taking in the vicinity of a hundred fish from the river (Argus, 15 January 1924). The oldest resident to provide information, Frank Cook, indicated that up to the 1920s Catfish had a presence at the bottom of the slopes zone in the Hollands Creek, upstream to Tatong, and further upstream in the lower reaches of Back Creek (O’Connor, OH 111; Redge O’Connor, pers. com.). A newspaper story supports Cook’s account recording ‘good sport’ being had with several fish species in the Broken River and creeks near Lima. This sport included Catfish, and noted their superiority as a table fish, suggesting that they were regularly captured (Argus, 15 January 1924). There are no historical records of Golden perch or Silver perch in the slopes zone though captures of Golden perch have occurred in recent years. These captures are likely to have come from hatchery released fish. Based on evidence of their presence in similar habitat in the adjacent Ovens True Tales of the Trout Cod: River Histories of the Murray-Darling Basin 13-5 catchment it is suspected that these two species had a minor presence in the lower reaches of the slopes zone of the Broken River. 13.2.4 The Lowland Zone Redge O’Connor’s recount of the memories of Frank Cook, as well as the stories from other anglers, indicates that that cod were common in some lowland creeks near Benalla including the Baddaginnie and lower Ryan Creeks (O’Connor, OH 111). In the early years cod were very common to abundant in the Broken River with fish up to 75 lb.
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