Brewarrina
(By J.M., in the "Sydney Morning Herald.")
To those who may not be already aware of the fact--Brewarrina is 518 miles from Sydney, and is one of the terminuses
of the Western Line Bourke, being the other. Above Brewarrlna, the river on which it is situated is known as the Barwon;
whilst below the town, or in reality, "The Fisheries," it is known as the Darling.
"The Fisheries" at Brewarrlna is one of the great, It not the greatest, aboriginal works in our island continent. At
the town, a great, natural bar, or weir, of solid rock stretches across the river in an almost straight line from side
to side. From the top of this rocky bar, down and across the river for a distance of over 300 yards, "The Fisheries",
extends, "The Fisheries" is comprised in a number of small yards, or compounds, having openings in their lower or
down stream sides. These yards, the walls of which have for their foundation the rocky bed of the river, are built of
loose stones, which are piled one on the other--no cement or binding being used. They occupy the whole of the river
beds in which they occur. At summer level the river at "The Fisheries" (running for the most part through a number of
channels,) varies from 100 to slightly over 200 yards.
From the stream above this great, natural weir to the termination, or lower end, of "The Fisheries," there is a fall
of 12 feet This fall occuring in such a short distance causes the water to rush with a mighty roar over the rocks, and
through these rocky compounds, with the result that "miniature rapids are formed. In the night, when all is still, the
sound of the rushing waters is audible for a considerable distance. The aboriginals, at some remote period, discovering
g
that it was the habit of the fish to swim up-stream when the river began to rise, built "The Fisheries."
The fish (owing (principally to the formation of their gills) when they feel the first "fresh" start up-stream. As
the water rises, they swim from the lower to the higher enclosures. They then continue to swim in the vicinity till
the river rises high enough to enable them to clear the great, natural weir, or till they are captured which is the
fate of those which do not succeed in gaining the river above.
When the river eventually falls below the lowest tier of rocky yards, the aboriginals wade into the water, and, with
nets, secure their finny captives. Greet hauls are thus made. The most prised fish is the cod, which in these waters
grows to a great size, some turning the scale at over 1001b.
"The Fisheries" was built in some bygone age, but when remains a mystery. The oldest aboriglnals in the district,
upon being questioned as to the probable date of their construction, profess Ignorance, and affirm that even to their
great-grandfathers it was a matter of history. They say, ''They were always there." Not the slightest information can
be gleaned on the subject, though there is no doubt that they are centuries old.
In one of the short stories, entitled, "The Darling River," which appears in Henry Laiwson's (book, "On the Track
and Over the Sliprails," the following is written of "The Fisheries":-"The only national work performed by the
blacks is on the Darling. They threw a dam of rocks across the river--near Brewarrlna, we think, to make a fish
trap, it's there yet. But goodness knows where they got the stones from, or how they carried them, for there isn't
a pebble within forty miles."
The stones Lawson refers to were probably found in the river bed, as they are of the same nature and the same in
appearance as the rock forming the floor of the river. It was erroneously believed for many years, that the word
Brewarrena signified "The Fisheries." This belief arose from the fact that the town is situated exactly opposite
"The Fisheries."
Brewarrlna is a purely aboriginal word, being merely the conjunction of the two words, "Bre" and "Warrlna"--Bre
meaning Myall, and Warrlna standing. Thus,to the savage mind, Brewarrlna was "The place where the myall stood,"
Up till about 1899 a great interest was taken by the aboriginal in "TheFisheries" but each succeeding year they
are becoming more like "white fellers," which means that they find it laborious to keep "The Fisheries" in good
repair, and stones which are displaced by big "rises" are oftimes left unheeded where they lie. Much of their
fishing is now done with White man's ready-made steel hooks and the nulla, the sling, and the spear have been
discarded in favour of the pea rifle, as has also the boomerang, which but few black-men in the district throw.
Notes
From the Queensland Newspaper The Northern Miner 28 Jun 1913 Page 4.
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