True TTALESALES of the TROUT COD: RIVER HISTORIES OF THE MURRAY–DARLING BASIN Will Trueman ᪏᪎ Lachlan River CATCHMENT The Lachlan River catchment showing major waterways and key localities Front cover, main image: William Burns and Dianne Flint in a boat on Wyangala Dam c1955. Top image: Arthur ‘Tibby’ Flint with a catch of fi sh including Murray Cod, Golden Perch and Catfi sh from Wyangala Dam c1945/50. Both photos courtesy of Arthur ‘Tibby’ Flint. Fish: Lithograph of Gristes macquariensis created by Felix Guérin-Méneville of the holotype for the Trout Cod published in Iconographie de regne animal de G. Cuvier, vol. 1, in 1836. Captured from the Macquarie River at Bathurst in 1824. Reproduced with permission from the State Library of Victoria. Lachlan River CATCHMENT THE LACHLAN ◆ (From the Empire’s Correspondent) March 30.—The continued absence of rain causing stoppage of the puddling machines for want of water, is the sole reason of the small escort leaving tomorrow. As before stated, the river, one mile distant, is tabooed for washing purposes to the last dregs, so that the returns per escort will diminish until we are blessed with the winter’s rain. Great quantities of fi sh have this week been picked up by hand out of the bed of the lagoon between the Victoria and Caledonian loads, some of the codfi sh weighing over 30 pounds weight, besides bream, perch and jewfi sh, the latter being one of the oddest of the fi nny tribe, presenting the appearance of half newt, with porpoise head and feelers round the mouth. This fi sh deposits its ova in a gravelly cell on the bottom using stones of upwards of a pound weight in their construction (as a blackfellow asserts). Certain it is that little mounds, of beehive form, abound in this lagoon, containing gravel. Maitland Mercury & Hunter River Advertiser, 5 April 1862 True Tales of the Trout Cod: River Histories of the Murray–Darling Basin (Lachlan River catchment booklet) Will Trueman Published by the Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) Postal address: GPO Box 1801, Canberra ACT 2601 Offi ce location: Level 4, 51 Allara Street, Canberra City ACT Telephone: (02) 6279 0100 Facsimile: (02) 6248 8053 Email: [email protected] Internet: www.mdba.gov.au Electronic copies of this document are available at www.arrc.com.au/mdb/troutcod MDBA publication no. 04/12 ISBN 978-1-921914-97-3 (print); 978-1-921914-98-0 (online) © Murray–Darling Basin Authority and Will Trueman, 2012 Graphical and textual information in this work (with the exception of photographs and the MDBA logo) may be stored, retrieved and reproduced in whole or in part, provided the information is not sold or used for commercial benefi t and its source (Murray–Darling Basin Authority, ‘True Tales of the Trout Cod’ project) is acknowledged. Reproduction for other purposes is prohibited without prior permission of the MDBA, Will Trueman or the copyright holders in the case of photographs. To the extent permitted by law, the copyright holders (including employees and consultants) exclude all liability to any person for any consequences, including but not limited to all losses, damages, costs, expenses and any other compensation, arising directly or indirectly from using this work (in part or in whole) and any information or material contained in it. The contents of this publication do not purport to represent the position of the MDBA. They are presented to inform discussion for the improved management of the Basin’s natural resources. The MDBA and Will Trueman acknowledge the intellectual property rights of the people whose stories are featured in this publication. Aboriginal readers are warned that this publication may contain the names or images of Aboriginal people who have since passed away. Acknowledgements The ‘True Tales of the Trout Cod’ project was undertaken by a team of people working through the Australian River Restoration Centre — Siwan Lovett, Nerida Hart, Richard Snashall, Vikki Bell, Melissa Gabelle, Allison Mortlock and Phil Price. The author, Will Trueman was closely involved in every aspect of the project and his commitment and passion drove the team to do their very best. The MDBA funded this project through the Native Fish Strategy with their team of people giving great support, encouragement and insight into the development of the fi nal products. Images at right reproduced with permission from the State Library of Victoria. Design: Angel Ink Print: LCdigital Lachlan River CATCHMENT Early European accounts GEORGE EVANS EXPLORED west of Bathurst and in May 1815, encountered a large stream which was to be named the Abercrombie River. Later, he reached a larger river between Cowra and Canowindra, exploring downstream to near the present site of Forbes. He named it the ‘Lachlan River’ in honour of Governor Macquarie (Scott, 2005). In 1817, John Oxley, accompanied by botanist Allan Cunningham, undertook a further exploration of the Lachlan River downstream to the extensive marshes near the confl uence with the Murrumbidgee River. Oxley was impressed by the abundance of fi sh: Many fi sh were caught here, one of which weighed upwards of thirty pounds. / If however Sydney Morning Herald, 20 June 1860 the country itself is poor, the river is rich in the ◆ most excellent fi sh, procurable in the utmost abundance. One man in less than an hour FISHING IN THE LACHLAN caught eighteen large fi sh, one of which was a A party of Chinamen, on their way to the Tuena curiosity from its immense size, and the beauty gold-fields, during last week, encamped on the of its colours. In shape and general form it most banks of the Lachlan, a few miles from Reids Flat, resembled a cod, but was speckled over with were fortunate in securing about one hundred and brown, blue and yellow spots like a leopard’s seventy pounds of fi sh in the space of half-an-hour. skin; its gills and belly a clear white, the tail The banks of the river are studded with blind creeks and fi n a dark brown. It weighed an entire and lagoons, which are supplied by the effl ux of the seventy pounds, and without the entrails stream, and into one of these pools or creeks the sixty-six pounds. (Oxley, 1820) Chinese shed a quantity of that powerful narcotic The 70 pound monster was described by known to chemists as cucculeus indicus, and its Cunningham as ‘the largest that has been caught’ effects soon became visible by the quantities of and he recorded that the catch on one day was beautiful cod and bream fi sh fl oating on the surface 190 to 200 pounds (86.4 to 90.9 kg) of fi sh (Lee, which were speedily transferred to the Chinese’s tent 1925). and pickled for future use. — 3 — RIVER HISTORIES OF THE MURRAY–DARLING BASIN LACHLAN RIVER CATCHMENT In 1834, naturalist and surgeon Dr Johann Samuel Mossman and Thomas Banister wrote Lhotsky, travelled south through the Gunning extensively on their travels through Victoria and area to explore the upper Murrumbidgee New South Wales in 1852. On a visit to a property catchment. On the 25th of January he camped on near Binalong they recorded that the Boorowa the headwaters of the Lachlan River upstream of River was ‘full of fi ne fi sh’ (Mossman & Banister, Gunning. At the time the river was known as the 1853). Mossman and Banister had been lured to Fish River, probably named like its predecessor the area by the prospect of making a fortune from near Bathurst, for containing fi sh in abundance. gold. Accounts from the miners record that there Lhotsky caught and ate cod upstream of Gunning, was an abundance of fi sh in the upper Lachlan recording the presence of cod in a tributary catchment. The Sydney Morning Herald in 1860 stream of the Fish River in Gunning itself: reported how: We left the bank of the Fish River at an early hour. ‘ A party of Chinamen, on their way to the Tuena The road tended now toward Mr. Kennedy’s farm, gold-fi elds, during last week, encamped on the about which granite is the predominant formation. banks of the Lachlan, a few miles from Reid’s Flat, The latter farm is situated in what is called Goneng were fortunate in securing about one hundred Valley intersected by a chain of Ponds. These, the and seventy pounds of fi sh in the space of tendency of which is towards the Lachlan, as well half-an-hour’ which included ‘quantities of as those which run into the Murrumbidgee, and beautiful cod and bream fi sh’. (Sydney Morning which I traversed afterwards, abound with fi sh, Herald, 20 June 1860) amongst these, a freshwater cod is the most In 1869, the same paper reported that the Tuena remarkable, of which some were caught hereabout, Creek ‘abounds in cod fi sh, perch and bream’ weighing as much as 90 pounds. (Lhotsky, 1979) (Sydney Morning Herald, 3 July 1869). The Yeo Yeo In March 1838, Major Thomas Mitchell travelled or Bland Creek near Stockinbingal also abounded along the Lachlan River from Eugowra to near in fi sh. On one occasion a man caught 90 fi sh Forbes. The party caught Catfi sh out of holes with his bare hands, and a man and his wife from a creek near Eugowra. Mitchell described angled ‘no fewer than 453, weighing from ½ lb. to them as ‘eel-fi sh’, and during his fi rst expedition 8 lb. each. These fi sh were chiefl y bream, perch, in 1832 along the Barwon River, gave them a and cod’ (Sydney Morning Herald, 6 November species name of Plotosus tandanus.