Food
How It was Obtained
Catching and Cooking Dugong
An Incident at Amity Point
Porpoises Never Killed; but Regarded as Friends
They Helped to Catch Fish
Sea Mullet and Other Fish
Fishing Methods
Eels
Crabs
Oysters and Mussels
Cobra
Dugong – For catching dugong the blacks used strong nets made from the inside bark of a scrub vine (Malaisia tortuoso), which they called “nannam.” This bark is exceedingly strong; indeed, pulling at it one cannot but be struck with its strength. To get the bark the blacks would cut the vine in lengths, and then beat these well with sticks until it peeled off easily with the teeth. This they would then soak in water for several days, at the end of which time the rough outer bark would be thrown away, while with their thumb nails the men would split the inner bark up into fibre. This fibre was dried and then twisted on their thighs into excellent string, which was very useful in many ways. On account of its strength it was suitable for the “bugaram” and the “wobbaklan.” These instruments were twirled round with great force, and the string attached would indeed need to be strong. Then, also, nets for large game or dugong needed great strength. Those for the latter were formed of big meshes, and were sewn up in the shape of huge pockets; they were hand nets, and were finished off at the top by two pieces of stick ending in a handle. When making nets the natives used to measure to get the correct size of mesh.
Dugong were only to be caught at certain seasons, and as the time approached the blacks would be on the lookout. Seeing little bits of seaweed floating on the water, they knew it was time to expect what they awaited, for this seaweed spoke to them as it were, with the message that the dugong were coming. (Feeding on seaweed as they came along, they naturally broke off little bits.) Two or three men would, therefore, climb tall trees near at hand, and keep watch, for with the tide the dugong often came in, making towards the banks near the shore, where they got more seaweed. Coming up to make their peculiar blowing sound as they swam in, the creatures would, of course, expose themselves to the gaze of the watchers on the trees, who would at once let their companions know without a word or sound by signalling and pointing out the direction with their hands. Then two blacks would get into a canoe and paddle quietly out, so as to get behind the dugong, other nine or ten would go with their large hand-nets out into the water up to their necks, on the banks, and they would stand there all in line, each holding an end of the other’s net, as well as his own, so making a regular wall. Then, when the creatures came up to blow again near this trap, the men in the canoe would hit the water with sticks and make a great noise, so frightening their prey towards the nets. When one got into the pocket of a net, the men would all help and hold on, till the creature rolled itself round and round, and so got drowned. Some- times they would catch an old and a young dugong in different nets, and sometimes just one huge chap, who would be too strong to hold, and would have to be let go. However, in this case next day they would probably find him floating drowned, rolled up in the net.
When a dugong or “yangon,” (yung-un) was pulled ashore it would be rolled up on to dry ground. The aborigines had a peculiar superstition that should the gins see a dugong before it was cut up it would not be fat-would not, in fact, be in good condition. The gins knew to keep out of the way when one was captured. Another idea was that a twig or piece of grass must be put at once in each earhole, or else the creature would be no good. Then a large fire was made, and the dugong rolled into it, and more fire placed on top, till the carcass was half-cooked. Then head and tail were cut off, the back opened down the middle, and the blubber and flesh taken from the ribs in a large flake. The whole carcass would be cut up after that, and divided out, the gins, who were then allowed to come along with their pickaninnies, getting their share, and a rare old feast was indulged in, after the further cooking of the pieces.
Talking of dugong, here is an incident which really happened in after years, when the blacks used the white man’s harpoon : The scene was Amity Point, Stradbroke Island. Five blacks went out in a whale boat to catch dugong, and they succeeded in harpooning one off Pelican Bank, but when the creature had taken the whole length of rope, he broke it, and made off. The blacks, who were very excited, pulled after him with all their strength, one man, known as Scroggins, standing up watching. He could see the dugong plainly, as the water was shallow with a white sandy bottom, and at last by diving down he managed to catch the end of the rope, holding to it bravely while the dugong pulled him along. When the creature came up to blow, Scroggins came up also, and when it went down, Scroggins went down, and so on for about eight hundred yards, when the wounded dugong gave in, and lay on the top of the water. In the meantime the four in the boat had done their best to keep up, and they now came upon poor Scroggins lying quite still with the rope in his hands, so lifted him on board, still holding to it. Then they hauled in the rope till able to harpoon the dugong again, and so kill and take him ashore.
Scroggins was none the worse for his jaunt through the water, though he swallowed a lot at each ducking. He said he was determined to hold to his prize or get drowned in the attempt, and when all the blacks were gathered together for the feast, they praised him for his pluck, also laughed till tired at the way he went up and under with the dugong. The incident was told and described always at any corrobboree or meeting afterwards, and was a source of great amusement. One of these five blacks (“Noggi”) is alive yet at Stradbroke.
Porpoises – The blacks never by any chance killed por- poises, for, they said, they helped to catch fish. When my father was a boy, his father sent men down to Moreton Island to work at the pilot station there. Once he accompanied these men to the island, and while there went out with the blacks to see how they caught tailor fish. These fish come inland in schools like sea mullet. The blacks there called them “punba,” and further north “dai-arli.” They came in in great numbers, generally at the time of westerly winds, when the sea would be calm. From Father’s experience at that island, he says it certainly looked as though the porpoises understood, and were the friends of the blacks. The following is what he told me:-
“The sea would be calm, and there would be no sign anywhere of a porpoise (“Talobilla”); the blacks would go long the beach jobbing with their spears into the sand under the water, making a queer noise, also beating the water with the spears. By-and-by, as if in response, porpoises would be seen as they rose to the surface making for the shore and in front of them schools of tailor fish. It may seem won- derful, but they were apparently driving the fish towards the land. When they came near, the blacks would run out into the surf, and with their spears would job down here and there at the fish, at times even getting two on one spear, so plentiful were they. As each fish was speared, it was thrown to shore, and there picked up by the gins.”The porpoises would actually be swimming in and out amongst all this, apparently quite unafraid of the darkies. Indeed, they seemed rather to be all on good terms, and I have with my own eyes more than once seen a blackfellow hold out a fish on a spear to a porpoise, and the creature take and eat it. One old porpoise was well known and spoken of fondly. He had a piece of root, or stick of some sort, stuck in his back, having evidently at one time run into something, and by this he was recognised, for it could be seen plainly The blacks told me it had been in him for years, and they declared that the great man of the island had put it there, thus making him the big fellow of the tribe of porpoises. I have seen this creature take fish from a spear, and the white men working on the island told me they often saw him knocking about with the blacks. At all times porpoises would be spoken of with affection by these Moreton Island blacks (the ngugi tribe), who said they never failed when called to drive in fish to them.”
Since writing the above I have come across the written statements of two early authorities on this same subject. Mr. John Campbell, after describing the way the blacks signalled to the porpoises, etc., says :-
“Doubtless this statement about the porpoises and blacks fishing together will be pronounced as I myself did upon hearing it-to be a myth; in fact all nonsense; but further inquiry and observation has convinced me that it was a fact, and any persons doubting it can convince themselves by going to Amity Point during the fishing season. The blacks even pretend to own particular porpoises, and nothing will offend them more than to attempt to injure one of their porpoises.”
Mr. Henry Stuart Russell, in “Genesis of Queensland” (page 290), talking of a scene he saw enacted at Amity Point, but no other place, says :-
“It was so curious, that the evidence of my own senses alone permits me to mention it. Cause and effect, however, were, in the matter, quite intelligible.
“We know that porpoises drive the smaller fry into shallows in which they are able more easily to prey upon them. The affrighted shoals leap when so pursued out of the water with loud splashings; these their hidden pursuers follow, as stock-keepers round up and keep their cattle together.
“At Amity Point, if the watchful natives can detect one of the shoals so common in the offing there, a few of the men would at once walk into the water and beat it with their spears. The wary porpoises would be seen presently coming in from seawards, fully alive and accustomed to the summons, driving in the shoal towards the shelving beach. Scores of the tribe would be ready with their scoop nets to rush in and capture all they could, but not before the men who had summoned their ministering servants had speared some good-sized fish, which was held out, and taken off the end of the weapon by the porpoise nearest at hand. There was one old fellow, said to be very old; as tame-with those blacks as a pussy cat! had a large patch of barnacles or some fungus on his head, and a name which they believed he knew and answered to.”
Mullet. In winter sea mullet (although spears were used more often than nets) were caught on the coast in some- what the same way as dugong were captured. A pair of blacks would climb a tree, and so watch for the schools of fish as they came in to the shore. The natives had wonderful eyesight, and nothing would escape them. When they saw the fish coming, they made signs to their companions as to direction, etc., and a dozen or more men would go into the water, with hand nets, and when the fish were about twelve yards or so from the shore, other blacks would throw stones and sticks in great quantities into the water, landing them seawards of the shoal. This would frighten the fish and cause them to shoot in towards the shore, the men in the water would quickly rush forward, meeting in a circle, and the fish were thus caught in their nets. Father has seen the blackfellows hardly able to draw their nets ashore, they were so full.
Of course fish was very much more plentiful in those days, and the natives were also very cunning in the way they managed things. Great feasts they would have in the mullet (“andakal”) season, catching more than they could eat. Those over they did not waste, however, but would save for future use. A soft grass, not unlike kangaroo grass, grew on the coast, and this they would gather and twist into fine ropes, which would be wound round and round each fish very closely, so that the flies could not get at them. These fish would then be placed in dillies, and hung up on bushes or trees near the camp, and they would keep so for a long time. Father has tasted them a fortnight old, and they were then quite fresh and sweet. Of course, it was cold weather.
Fish were scaled by the blacks with the “donax” shell, or “yugari” (the native name), and then put whole on a nice fire of mostly red-hot coals. When about cooked, a finger would be shoved in below the head at the fin, and the while inside drawn off, leaving the fish beautifully clean and nice. Fish were always cooked so.
Fish in creeks were caught in this wise: The narrow and shallow parts of a creek would be blocked by stakes and bushes put across, and in this wall of bushes two or three openings would be left wide enough to permit of a black- fellow standing at each of them with his hand net ready. (Of course, nets for fish were much smaller than those for dugong.) They would not go near, however, until the tide was on the turn, when they went and stood up to their necks in the water, ready to catch the fish. As a net began to fill the owner would close the mouth, and lifting up the pocket part, he would catch hold of each fish in turn, and, putting the head in his mouth, would give it a bite through the net to kill it. All the fish being killed, and so unable to escape, the man placed the net again in the opening, and stood ready for more, and so they went on till the tide had gone down, emptying their nets now and again, if they got too heavy, by throwing the fish to the bank.
With the constant use of their fishing nets, a hard tumour grew on the outer bone of the wrist of each hand of the men. One could always tell an old fisherman by this mark, which was caused by the handle of the net continually rubbing the bone.
Women never fished in the old times. Since, however, the blacks learnt the use of the white man’s lines, the gins were great ones for fishing, and my father has often been amused by a sort of clicking noise they made with their mouth, after throwing the line out. Laughed at, and asked why they did this, they replied that it encouraged the fish to bite. For the same reason they also tapped with the end of the rod on the water two or three times immediately the line was thrown out. Men would do this, too, at times.
A fishing net was called “mandin,” and the portion of the North Pine River near where the railway bridge now crosses was known by that name, for it was a great place for fish, and the blacks used to have a breakwater of bushes built there.
One way the aboriginals had of capturing fresh-water fish was by poisoning the water with a certain plant (Polygonum hydropiper). This plant-” tanggul “-which is not very large, and grows on the edge of scrubs or in swampy places, was pounded up with sticks, and then thrown into the waterhole, and the water stirred up with the feet. Soon after the fish would seem to be affected, and would rise to the surface wrong side up, when they would be caught with the hands and thrown on to the bank.
Eels – These were caught by nets, in salt water. Two men would block the mouth of a small creek by holding hand nets on the ground, and other men would go some distance up and return down the creek, muddying the water as they came by moving about their feet. This would drive the eels down to the nets. In fresh water eels were gradually caught in times of drought, when the water was low, by men muddying the water, and feeling for them with their feet. At other times they would dam a small portion of water with mud banks, leaving openings in each wall, and then, when the eels (or fish) went through, the holes would be blocked and small hand nets used to scoop up the fish; or they were speared. Sometimes spears would have three or four prongs, which were all tied firmly to the centre handle. Often a blackfellow, going out alone, would spear fish in clear water.
Crabs – These were caught by a long hooked stick. It would be put in a hole in the bank of a creek at low water, and the crab (“yirin “) felt for and pulled out. The blacks could easily tell if there was a crab in the hole by the marks it had left in the mud round about the mouth. Crabs were carried in dillies. Always in these dillies a lot of small mangrove twigs were put. This, the blacks said, prevented them fighting, and so breaking their claws. Even of late years, when the natives used bags given them by white people, they always put in these twigs.
I may mention here that the Turrbal tribe called the man- grove “tintchi” and it is interesting to know that quite a different variety grew at Noosa, the blacks there calling it” pirri,” the name they gave their fingers. This was be- cause of the peculiar finger-like roots which seemed to clutch the soil.
Women and men both caught crabs, which they ate roasted, as they did fish.
Oysters (“KIN-YINGGA”), mussels, ect .-The blacks would eat oysters raw, but were very fond of them roasted, too, probably because they opened so easily then. In the old days the natives had no idea whatever of boiling. Periwinkles (“niggar”) they would roast, also mussels, such as the “yugari,” and a larger fresh-water mussel. The latter they sought for by going into water holes, and feeling all round the sides among the weeds with their feet.
Cobra This was another food the blacks were fond of. The Brisbane tribe called it “kan-yi.” It is a long and white grub which grows in old logs the alt water gets at, and was swallowed raw like an oyster. The aborigines got it out with stone tomahawks, by cutting up the wood it was in, and then knocking the pieces against a log, so dislodging the grubs which fell out. These were gathered up and put into a “pikki,” and so carried to camp. Generally gins or old men got this cobra. They all took care to have plenty coming on by cutting swamp oak saplings and carrying these on to a mud bank dry at low water, and piling them up there. These piles were some two feet high and six feet wide. Father has seen them made in the Brisbane River, in Breakfast Creek, in the North and South Pine Rivers, Maroochy, and Mooloolah Rivers, and several creeks. The grubs in the swamp oaks were considered the largest and best, although plenty were got from other trees which fell in the water. The swamp oaks grew near the water, and so were easily got at. These piles would be dry at low water always, and covered at high, and the natives would visit them in about a year’s time, making fresh ones then to take their place.