Fishes--Identification]]> Fishing--Australia]]> Bait fishing]]> Floods]]> Weirs]]> Fish kills]]> Introduced fishes]]>
Born in 1953, Jenny Shields is a local fisher from Seymour in Victoria and member of the Seymour Anglers club who also enjoys fishing with her three children and her husband, Wayne.

In the interview Jenny discusses: growing up and fishing on the river; turbidity of the water; the different currents of the Goulburn and Murray Rivers; the changing flow of the river due to dredging at Goulburn Park; the annual River Run event beginning at Walnut Grove; carp issues; stagnant water and subsequent fish kills.

Mentioned: Tortoises, platypuses, ducks, worms, Bardi/Witchetty grubs, cheese, yabbies.
]]> CC BY-NC]]> Cummeragunja Mission (N.S.W.)]]> Environmental conservation]]> Water--Symbolic aspects]]> Homeless camps]]> Homeless]]> Backpackers]]> Camping]]> Colonisation]]> Connection to Country]]> Mental illness]]> Traditional ecological knowledge]]> Aboriginal history]]> Water quality]]> Aboriginal scarred trees]]>
Daryl Sloan has been a resident of the Shepparton area for 35 years since his teenage years. He has worked in the social welfare industry for around 15 years and his work sees him regularly visiting the Goulburn River making contact with the tens of dozens of homeless people that call its banks 'home'.

Daryl covers the issues that Shepparton and surrounds face of flooding; river turbidity; increasing housing developments and the fall in housing affordability; an increasing homeless population; the history of the area with special regard to the 1939 Cummeragunja Mission walk-off and its significance as a form of protest and self-determination; the arrival of backpacking fruit pickers; and the degrading health of the river and the lack of care people have for it.


Mentioned: Platypus. Koala. Kangaroo. Wallaby. Flying Fox. Possum. Squirrel Gliders. Earthworms. Finches. Azure Kingfisher. Wood duck/maned goose.

Trees: Grey box. Red River Gum trees. Patterson’s Curse (blue flower). Dock (weed). Blackberry.

]]> CC-BY]]> Fishing--Australia]]> Salinity]]> Indigenous medicine]]> Burial sites]]> Wetlands]]> Dredging]]> Introduced fishes]]> Droughts]]> Birds--Identification]]> Fishes--Identification]]> Fishes--effect of water levels on]]> Erosion]]> Spawning]]> Traditional ecological knowledge]]> Water quality]]>
Kingsley is from the Gerard Aboriginal community in South Australia. Born in 1971, he has always lived on the river; camping with family and extended family, a time for Elders to educate the younger generations about Country. Kingsley shares his knowledge of a changing and interconnected landscape.

Kingsley talks about: teaching family to swim and fish; yabbying methods; a period when Catfish species were rare; salinity (water and ground table) issues and low water levels; lack of ‘decent’ floods; Aboriginal grave sites and culture, native bushes, and native vegetables impacted by environmental degradation (e.g. traditional medicinal methods); the role of wetlands and back creeks (backwaters) as nurseries for all animals; the impact of Willow tree removal on Murray Cod and Callop; different types of soil in the area; changes observed in water colour; hybrid knowledge systems (incorporating Western into Aboriginal), and the desire to learn from each other. Also mentioned: snake species; water birds; vegetation; Crown Land.

Indigenous terms for fish species discussed:
Murray cod - Gadu, Pondi’s Gadu;
Yellowbelly - Thaigai; Pilaki
Catfish - Gaigai;
Bony bream: Thukeri
Silver Bream - Tookaree;
Silver Perch - Bungi.

One of the images in the collection includes a book called 'Tucker' by Ian Abdulla (1947-2011). It is a children's illustrated book about an Aboriginal boy who grows up along the Murray River, when bush tucker was plentiful.
]]> CC-BY]]> see details...]]> ]]> Fishes--Identification]]> Fishing boats]]> Fishing regulations]]> Licenses]]> Water--Law and legislation]]> Fishing nets]]> Family histories]]> Family life]]> Irrigation]]> Water quality]]> Dams]]> Weirs]]> Fishes--Migration]]> Salinity]]> Fishes--Breeding]]> Floodplains]]> Fishing industry]]> Environmental flows]]>
Born in 1942, John held a commercial licence between 1956 and 1997. He discusses his family history in commercial fishing since 1918, three generations. His grandfather was also a boat maker. He tells the story of how ‘Squabbily Creek’ at Murtho Forest came to be named by his father Raymond Charles ‘John’ Aston. In those days, buying a fishing reach meant buying good will, not the water. John talks extensively about professional fishing as a family business, and gives a sense of the long hours of labour the whole family put into making fishing nets and boats. Professional fishing has an important memory status amongst people who live along the river.

John talks about: fishing licenses, and the licence system introduced in 1922; fishing equipment; fishing practices, since 1920s; changes in fishing materials and the introduction of synthetics, 1960s; changes in water levels from irrigation; impact of Dartmouth Dam on River Murray flow; Hume Dam levels; flows from the Darling; water colour and clarity; three distinct water colours (in the Murray, Lachlan/Murrumbidgee, Darling); changes to water levels with the building of weirs and locks, late 1920s; objects he has found in the guts of Murray Cod; 1956 flood; 1992 flood – ‘a complete change of fish’; Chowilla Floodplain, 1991-1993; movement of wildlife in floods; salt from irrigation. (Mention of 'bream' fish, unspecified).
]]> CC-BY]]> Boats]]> Fishing nets]]> Family histories]]> Fishing industry]]>
Images provided by John Aston during his oral history interview with the Talking Fish research team.]]> Fishes--Identification]]> Family life]]> Camping]]> Swimming]]> Weeds]]> Fishing boats]]> Water sports]]> Environmental flows]]> Introduced fishes]]> Floods]]>
Born in 1964, Tracy is Manager of the Loxton Information Bureau. She moved to Loxton when she was about 11, and spent a lot of time at Katarapko Creek. Tracy saw her interview as a way to honour her father Colin Shultz, his love of the river, and the way the river became integral to their life once they moved to Loxton. Tracy’s interview is short but rich in terms of showing how recreational fishing, family life and place making environments are intertwined.

Tracy talks about: camping, fishing, swimming, and skiing on the river; recreational fishing methods from boat and river bank; yabbying methods; changes in water quality (visibility and colour); changes in water vegetation (weeds and reeds); worm farming; observations of change sin water flow and current; snags and debris in the river; an occasion when carp became stuck in wetlands after a high water event; the differences between the river at Albury and Katarapko Creek; floods 1970s.]]> CC BY-NC]]> Fishes--Identification]]> Plants--Identification]]> Fishes--Breeding]]> Endangered species]]> Fish stocking]]> Droughts]]> Captive breeding]]> Environmental flows]]>
Todd, a landholder in the Murray Bridge area, breeds a variety of flatheaded gudgeon fish species in tanks in his garage, including the endangered Purple Spotted gudgeon. Todd’s broodstock facility includes twenty-five Southern Purple Spotted gudgeons, the last known population in the southern half of the Murray-Darling Basin – removed from a wetland during the 2007 drought. Similar facilities exist in Adelaide, and at a few Adelaide schools.

Todd talks about captive breeding programs; the types of stresses fish suffer; the lifecycle of fish kept at the facility; various methods to ensure fish survival in wild; theories behind their decline; water plant species.

Other fish species mentioned: Midgley's gudgeon.]]> CC-BY]]> Fishes--Identification]]> Plants--Identification]]> Birds--Identification]]> Snakes]]> Riparian areas]]> Bait fishing]]> Floods]]> Salinity]]> Irrigation]]> Local history]]> Military service]]> World War II]]> Communities]]> Soldier settlement]]>
Born in Renmark in 1923, Howard lives on the banks of the Murray River at Pyap, near Loxton. He grew up in an underprivileged First World War settlement in Renmark, spending school holidays helping his father on the land picking dried fruit and tending to animals. Howard was a Royal Australian Air Force pilot and bomber in World War II, and commercial pilot for British Airways. When he returned with his brother from WWII he took up an ex-serviceman block near Loxton.

Howard recalls history about: soldier settlements after the First Word War (Renmark, Berri, Barmera, Waikerie); the mix of cultures in the population as a result of the World Wars; training at an army camp at Victor Harbour, and training as a fighter pilot at Deniliquin in 1942; the sinking of the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur; experiencing WWII first hand on the south coast of England and as a bomber pilot over Germany.

Howard also discusses: fishing at Ral Ral Creek growing up, a tributary of the Murray River; changes in fish species (the main three being Cod, Callop, Bony Bream); the number of trees and shade along the river bank; fishing methods used on the river bank, and types of bait (e.g. birds to catch shrimp, mussels to catch cod); changes observed in minor and major flood cycles; changes in salinity, and the resulting changes in irrigation practice in the Riverland; yabbying techniques and where they were most abundant; bird nesting and water bird species; snakes; vegetation; floods 1931 (Renmark), 1951, 1956, 1959 (Berri).

Also mentioned: Tree of Knowledge (Berri, marked with flood levels).
]]> CC-BY]]> Riparian areas]]> Erosion]]> CC-BY]]> Weirs]]> Salinity]]> Family life]]> Diet]]> Floods]]> Fishes--Identification]]> Fishes--Speciation]]> Weeds]]> Environmental flows]]> Wetlands]]> Native animals]]> Water levels]]> Physical characteristics (Animals)]]> Lure fishing]]> Water temperature]]>
Born in 1949, Barry lives in Berri, in the Riverland area. Having worked on a pile driving barge and worked most his life on the river, Barry has extensive knowledge of locks and weirs from the Murray mouth to Euston (Lock 15). He currently monitors and models salinity in the Murray and Riverland area and also grows capers and caperberries.

Barry talks about: fishing in the 1950s as a cheap addition to the family diet; changes in fishing methods and equipment, including the exclusive use of lures; boat designs; professional fishing reaches/areas; yabbying – a ‘historic institution’ post flood event; changes observed in fish species, weeds, river flow, temperature, salinity; salt interception schemes; bathometric data; work with the palaeobotany group at Flinders University tracking floods by tree lines; water retention in wetlands; evaporation and disposal basins; wildlife observed over the years (kangaroo, echidna, bat, owl, possum, snake, birds, water rat), including Emu that swim; records of fish caught between 2002 and 2006. Mention of floods in 1956, 1974, 1975, 1981, 1990s. Other fish species mentioned: garfish (at Coffin Bay).]]> CC-BY]]>