Coorong and Lower Lakes: Oral History of Terry Sim and John Yelland
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/4120' target='_blank'>Local history</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/255' target='_blank'>Aboriginal culture</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/255' target='_blank'>Aboriginal peoples</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85045034' target='_blank'>Estuarine ecology</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/4994' target='_blank'>Salinity</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85048775' target='_blank'>Fishes--Identification</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2003006652' target='_blank'>Traditional ecological knowledge</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85102861' target='_blank'>Plants--Identification</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2007102025' target='_blank'>Birds--Identification</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/127' target='_blank'>Agricultural land</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/6272' target='_blank'>Floods</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh87001020' target='_blank'>Acid sulfate soils</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/2477' target='_blank'>Weeds</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh96006425' target='_blank'>Introduced fishes</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85090273' target='_blank'>Naturalists</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85048874' target='_blank'>Fish surveys</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/2645' target='_blank'>Boats</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/5718' target='_blank'>Threatened species</a>
An interview in five parts with Terry Sim and John Yelland. Both men were born in 1952 and lifelong friends, recreational fisherman, and landholders in Milang. They discuss in great detail history reaching back to the 19th century. Terry started the fish section of the South Australian Museum in 1974.
Terry and John collectively discuss: pre-barrage days, when a blue line was visible, separating fresh from salt water in Lake Alexandrina (which is now freshwater); changes in fishing methods and equipment; a time when the Mulloway fish species were captured for their gelatine; history of flows and currents in the Coorong from the southern end, as a result of drainage schemes; salinity from agricultural soils and runoff; hypersalinity of the Coorong; traditional knowledge and legends of the Ngarrindjeri peoples; comparisons in flooding and rainfall between 1956 flood and the present day; the dairy and agricultural industry and trade routes in the 1950s; history of prominent naturalists studying the area; the Strathalbyn Nationalist book, an extensive repository of vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants in the area; South Australian Naturalist surveys; observation of fauna in the 1950s-60s and consequent changes; popular family and community activities (e.g. fishing, yabbying, hunting); history of boat types and fishermen huts (‘shacks’); dredging and acid sulphate soil issues; methods of catching and transporting fish (and duck); the impact of salinity on the small snails in the food chain of duck species; vegetation (weeds) popular to ducks; and the effect of European carp in the 1970s on the swan population; 1956 flood, and a family story about a 1870 flood; plant species.
They discuss a fish species 'disostra' in the Coorong and worldwide that died off in the early 20th century. They talk about water birds, and a species called a Banded Stilt which feeds on brine shrimp - a sign of hypersalinity.
Also mentioned: the South Australian Farmers Union, which became Southern Farmers, then National Foods.
Heather Goodall
Jodi Frawley
University of Technology, Sydney
2011-02-08
Murray-Darling Basin Authority
NSW Department of Primary Industries - NSW Fisheries
Copyright University of Technology, Sydney
application/msword
audio/mpeg
English
Coorong and Lower Lakes: Oral History of Henry Jones
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/1455' target='_blank'>Fishing industry</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/1455' target='_blank'>Fisheries</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/1049' target='_blank'>Ecological sustainability</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh94008175.html' target='_blank'>Sustainable fisheries</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85114241' target='_blank'>River engineering</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/973' target='_blank'>Water quality</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/867' target='_blank'>Water resources</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85048621' target='_blank'>Fishes--Breeding</a>
An interview in three parts with Henry Jones.
Born in 1941, Henry is a sixth generation commercial fisher, and also ran a yabby restaurant for thirty years. He talks about learning to fish from his father, a commercial fisherman at Renmark, in the Riverland; and his grandfather, a First World War veteran. Henry is a member of the Community Stakeholder Taskforce for the Murray-Darling Basin Native Fish Strategy. His commercial licence covers Lake Albert, Lake Alexandrina, Coorong, and the Great Southern Ocean three nautical miles out from Goolwa to Kingston.
Henry talks about: his fishery's World First Environmental Management Plan and Marine Stewardship; the difference between fishing methods/equipment in the Riverland compared with the windy conditions of the Lakes, Coorong and ocean; sustainable fishing practice; effects of water over allocation (upstream); the lack of intermediate floods from the Murray and Darling, affecting the breeding cycle of fish; salt from irrigation; hypersalinity of Coorong, and possible solutions; the closure of the Murray mouth in 1981; counting bird species; and the increase of seals, sting ray, barnacles, and tube worm in the Coorong (now a marine environment); 1992 flood; plant species.
Other fish species mentioned: 'bull nosed mullet'.
Heather Goodall
Jodi Frawley
University of Technology, Sydney
2011-02-11
Murray-Darling Basin Authority
NSW Department of Primary Industries - NSW Fisheries
Copyright University of Technology, Sydney
application/msword
audio/mpeg
English