FISH TRAPs cont..
CUTTLEFISH
Point Lowly, Stony Point and COLLECTING Where: Black Point. Anywhere on the coast Where: between Douglas Point and When: Winter. Mount Young. There is a pattern of a cuttlefish ‘highway’ starting near Cowell and Mainly Summer but suitable all When: Wallaroo taking a straight run towards year round. Point Lowly. The major hotspots for cuttlefish breeding are located at and Crabs and razor fish were collected on mud around Black Point and Stony Point flats at low tide. Cowled ‘s landing was sub tidal reefs. The cuttlefish feed on especially good place for getting large blue molluscs, crabs, small fish and shrimp. swimmer crabs. The Aboriginal people would Breeding takes place around May not eat oysters and some kinds of shellfish to August every year. Hundreds of along the east cost of Eyre Peninsula. thousands aggregate on rocky reefs around Point Lowly. This is the only known mass mating of Sepia apama (Australian giant cuttlefish) in the world.
COAST OF DREAMS IT IS NOT KNOWN IF BARNGARLA PEOPLE AND OTHER VISITING INDIGENOUS GROUPS HUNTED AND PLENTY FOR CUTTLEFISH AT POINT LOWLY. Aboriginal connection with the sea in and around Whyalla
Text: Paul Mazourek, Whyalla City Council Artwork: Stephen Stanley 2020 The Spencer Gulf and Lake Torrens basin were formed during the late Cretaceous faulting 90 – 60 million years ago. During the Pleistocene era (2.5million years – 10,000 years ago), as part of WOODEN TRAPS SPEARING at least 1,000km long rift valley, Spencer Gulf was flooded and drowned at least twenty times South off Seaview Estate, Black Point, mangrove swamp Where: due to the incoming and retreating ice ages. The Marevista Crescent, Whyalla. south of Whyalla and any Where: archaeological evidence suggests that Aboriginal suitable bay between Douglas people watched the last actual event of the gulf Point and Mount Young. flooding from their established camps at Point When: Suitable all year round. Lowly 10,000-6,000 years ago. They also started Wooden fish traps were constructed in the Mainly Summer but suitable all fishing there. So, who eats who and how? People When: year round. versus marine environment. Round one. tidal channels of the mangrove samphire swamp on the southern side of Whyalla. It was built in a narrow two (2) metres wide No fishhooks, baits, nets or any kind of vessels channel running through the samphire behind were used by Barngarla people. Fish spear the Seaview Estate. Wooden fish traps were was about 1.5m long and was called ‘winna’. mostly composed of upright stakes driven It mainly had a simple point, other options into calcareous mud with smaller branches included use of a single kangaroo toenail barb. interwoven around the stakes. The Whyalla Apart from spearing large fish from the rocks, Aboriginal fishing techniques and traps were made from branches laid the spear was also used while wading in knee- across the channel. deep water. Spearing off rocks included mainly one very specific ritual: snapper, any medium to large fish (kingfish, STONE TRAPS flounder, salmon, small sharks) and possibly stingrays. Between Fitzgerald Bay and Where: FISH TRAPS Point Lowly.
Mainly Summer but suitable all SINGING TO THE When: year round. SHARKS RITUAL
Stone traps include simple straight to open Where: Point Lowly. hearing system. When fish larvae hatch, they V shaped barriers across the tidal channels, drift to surface, feed on plankton and start often with a gap in the wall and box and wing When: Summer. swimming as well. The fish then look for a reef traps on the upper edge of tidal area. Most of to live on. The reef itself produces a complex of various sounds – fish feeding, crabs fighting, sand the tidal traps would work best when the tide All three tribal groups – Barngarla, and rock moving etc. Young fish listen to and was at the greatest amplitude and would not Andyamanthanha and Kokatha agreed that Point NATURAL BAYS follow these sounds. Singing to the sharks from function properly on small tides and ‘dodge’ Lowly was a place where people used to sing to the shore virtually creates a reef ‘symphony’, tides (‘dodge’ tide or no tide at all is specific the sharks. At Weeroona Bay, the men gathered attracting little fish followed by predators Suitable coves and bays only to Spencer Gulf, Gulf St Vincent and at the rocks while the women danced on the and eventually large predators like sharks and Where: between Douglas Point and Torres Strait in Australia). Stone fish traps were beach. The men sang to the sharks. The sharks dolphins. As sharks (and dolphins) are easy to Mount Young. usually made from local stone. Calcarenite was gathered schools of fish and drove them towards observe close to the surface, they may look like the beach. The men then entered the water and commonly used. Large to small often tabular or the ones who gather a shoal of fish and drive it collected fish. The last person in Whyalla who was When: Mainly Summer. rectangular rocks were placed on top of each towards the shore. able to sing to the sharks passed away in the late other. The fish traps on Eyre Peninsula appear This tradition in Australia is unique to Point Lowly, 1960s. Shoals of fish were surrounded by several men, to be more common to those of South West possibly to Point Gibbon and North Shields – all each being provided with a branch of a tree and Western Australia and the Northern Australian Barngarla people territory. Other places where Explainer: slowly driven towards the shore where they coastline in terms of their construction and this ritual is still practiced in slightly different In general terms, fish are not drifters, they swim were secured by placing the branches around environmental setting then those of South East form are Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Solomon with a reason. They have a well-developed them and throwing them on the sand. Australia. Islands. The Spencer Gulf and Lake Torrens basin were formed during the late Cretaceous faulting 90 – 60 million years ago. During the Pleistocene era (2.5million years – 10,000 years ago), as part of WOODEN TRAPS SPEARING at least 1,000km long rift valley, Spencer Gulf was flooded and drowned at least twenty times South off Seaview Estate, Black Point, mangrove swamp Where: due to the incoming and retreating ice ages. The Marevista Crescent, Whyalla. south of Whyalla and any Where: archaeological evidence suggests that Aboriginal suitable bay between Douglas people watched the last actual event of the gulf Point and Mount Young. flooding from their established camps at Point When: Suitable all year round. Lowly 10,000-6,000 years ago. They also started Wooden fish traps were constructed in the Mainly Summer but suitable all fishing there. So, who eats who and how? People When: year round. versus marine environment. Round one. tidal channels of the mangrove samphire swamp on the southern side of Whyalla. It was built in a narrow two (2) metres wide No fishhooks, baits, nets or any kind of vessels channel running through the samphire behind were used by Barngarla people. Fish spear the Seaview Estate. Wooden fish traps were was about 1.5m long and was called ‘winna’. mostly composed of upright stakes driven It mainly had a simple point, other options into calcareous mud with smaller branches included use of a single kangaroo toenail barb. interwoven around the stakes. The Whyalla Apart from spearing large fish from the rocks, Aboriginal fishing techniques and traps were made from branches laid the spear was also used while wading in knee- across the channel. deep water. Spearing off rocks included mainly one very specific ritual: snapper, any medium to large fish (kingfish, STONE TRAPS flounder, salmon, small sharks) and possibly stingrays. Between Fitzgerald Bay and Where: FISH TRAPS Point Lowly.
Mainly Summer but suitable all SINGING TO THE When: year round. SHARKS RITUAL
Stone traps include simple straight to open Where: Point Lowly. hearing system. When fish larvae hatch, they V shaped barriers across the tidal channels, drift to surface, feed on plankton and start often with a gap in the wall and box and wing When: Summer. swimming as well. The fish then look for a reef traps on the upper edge of tidal area. Most of to live on. The reef itself produces a complex of various sounds – fish feeding, crabs fighting, sand the tidal traps would work best when the tide All three tribal groups – Barngarla, and rock moving etc. Young fish listen to and was at the greatest amplitude and would not Andyamanthanha and Kokatha agreed that Point NATURAL BAYS follow these sounds. Singing to the sharks from function properly on small tides and ‘dodge’ Lowly was a place where people used to sing to the shore virtually creates a reef ‘symphony’, tides (‘dodge’ tide or no tide at all is specific the sharks. At Weeroona Bay, the men gathered attracting little fish followed by predators Suitable coves and bays only to Spencer Gulf, Gulf St Vincent and at the rocks while the women danced on the and eventually large predators like sharks and Where: between Douglas Point and Torres Strait in Australia). Stone fish traps were beach. The men sang to the sharks. The sharks dolphins. As sharks (and dolphins) are easy to Mount Young. usually made from local stone. Calcarenite was gathered schools of fish and drove them towards observe close to the surface, they may look like the beach. The men then entered the water and commonly used. Large to small often tabular or the ones who gather a shoal of fish and drive it collected fish. The last person in Whyalla who was When: Mainly Summer. rectangular rocks were placed on top of each towards the shore. able to sing to the sharks passed away in the late other. The fish traps on Eyre Peninsula appear This tradition in Australia is unique to Point Lowly, 1960s. Shoals of fish were surrounded by several men, to be more common to those of South West possibly to Point Gibbon and North Shields – all each being provided with a branch of a tree and Western Australia and the Northern Australian Barngarla people territory. Other places where Explainer: slowly driven towards the shore where they coastline in terms of their construction and this ritual is still practiced in slightly different In general terms, fish are not drifters, they swim were secured by placing the branches around environmental setting then those of South East form are Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Solomon with a reason. They have a well-developed them and throwing them on the sand. Australia. Islands. FISH TRAPs cont..
CUTTLEFISH
Point Lowly, Stony Point and COLLECTING Where: Black Point. Anywhere on the coast Where: between Douglas Point and When: Winter. Mount Young. There is a pattern of a cuttlefish ‘highway’ starting near Cowell and Mainly Summer but suitable all When: Wallaroo taking a straight run towards year round. Point Lowly. The major hotspots for cuttlefish breeding are located at and Crabs and razor fish were collected on mud around Black Point and Stony Point flats at low tide. Cowled ‘s landing was sub tidal reefs. The cuttlefish feed on especially good place for getting large blue molluscs, crabs, small fish and shrimp. swimmer crabs. The Aboriginal people would Breeding takes place around May not eat oysters and some kinds of shellfish to August every year. Hundreds of along the east cost of Eyre Peninsula. thousands aggregate on rocky reefs around Point Lowly. This is the only known mass mating of Sepia apama (Australian giant cuttlefish) in the world.
COAST OF DREAMS IT IS NOT KNOWN IF BARNGARLA PEOPLE AND OTHER VISITING INDIGENOUS GROUPS HUNTED AND PLENTY FOR CUTTLEFISH AT POINT LOWLY. Aboriginal connection with the sea in and around Whyalla
Text: Paul Mazourek, Whyalla City Council Artwork: Stephen Stanley 2020