As with all saltwater people, fish was an important source of food for people belonging to Coastal Sydney. The Aboriginal men of area fished with a gararra, or fishing spear. Spears made for boys were lightweight so they would float after being thrown. Fishing spears could have as many as 4 to 5 prongs, however, skilled fishermen only required one prong. Using spears, men fished from the rocks and beaches, as well as from canoes. They also waded out into bays such as Camp Cove at night and speared fish by firelight. After colonisation, the spears were adapted to incorporate available materials. An example of this is the prongs being replaced with the metal from umbrellas or metal spokes from pram wheels, demonstrating how Aboriginal people adapted traditional hunting practices to take advantage of the materials available after colonisation. Traditional and contemporary fishing spears are still made and the process for making them is still taught to boys from the La Perouse Aboriginal Community.

Aboriginal people also took settlers on fishing trips in Coastal Sydney and further south. Despite the impact of government intervention, Aboriginal men continued to practise traditional fishing from Sydney’s coast to the Shoalhaven. It wasn’t until the Aborigines Protection Board began to limit the movement of Aboriginal people to the La Perouse Aboriginal Mission that fishing became confined to Botany Bay. Despite this act of protectionism, Aboriginal men continued to fish and even used it as a way to participate in the economy of the colony.

The Aboriginal men of Coastal Sydney achieved this by working with distributors to sell fish to the settlers at colonial fish markets. In addition to fulfilling cultural responsibilities to feed their community, selling excess catch provided a meaningful income to Sydney’s First Peoples. This practiced ended when the protection board morphed into the Aboriginal Welfare Board and the support for fishing boats and nets was no longer available, which forced families of the La Perouse Aboriginal community onto rations. The descendants of these original inhabitants of Coastal Sydney are now allowed to gain a permit to carry out cultural fishing which has meant that they can once again fulfil their cultural obligations by distributing the catch to their community.

Courtesy the Gujaga Foundation and the Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London.