BENTINCK & SWEERS TRAPS
Sweers Island south east - Google Earth
|
This page looks at the South Wellesley Islands in the south east of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The population size and the actual sequence of depopulation are considered.
Matthew Flinders confirmed the suggestion in earlier accounts that low tide falls almost exclusively during the hours of darkness. The absence of lizards or wallaby was countered by countless acres of intertidal grazing where crayfish, crab and oyster abound. The proximity to the Bountiful islands being noted. Yet it is proposed that little more than 100 people should muster the manpower to construct kilometres of irregular dry stone fish traps which lack the signature feature of an outlet at the lowest point. |
ABC - Detail of traps image Sean Ulm - unknown location.
|
Aboriginal stone-walled intertidal fishtrap morphology, function and chronology investigated with high-resolution close-range Unmanned Aerial Vehicle photogrammetry.
Anna Kreij a b, Jason Scriffignano b c, Daniel Rosendahl b, Texas Nagel a b, Sean Ulm a b
Journal of Archaeological Science
Volume 96, August 2018, Pages 148-161
Anna Kreij a b, Jason Scriffignano b c, Daniel Rosendahl b, Texas Nagel a b, Sean Ulm a b
Journal of Archaeological Science
Volume 96, August 2018, Pages 148-161
|
Abstract Extract - "Tidal inundation modelling is undertaken to assess (1) fishtrap working range, (2) individual and simultaneous trap function, (3) seasonal functionality and (4) chronology based on function relative to sea-level history. Thirteen fishtraps were identified in the study area, ranging from 38 m to 287 m in length.............
Inundation modelling shows that all fishtraps operate most efficiently at present mean-sea level (PMSL), indicating construction in the last 3500 years. Quantitative recording techniques, analytical procedures and terminology developed in this study provide an opportunity to improve approaches to recording large-scale stone features and standardise documentation of stone-walled intertidal fishtrap sites. |
|
Professor Sean Ulm from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Histories said the oldest fish traps could be 10,000 years old.
"We think that the majority of traps date to the last 4,000 years and they're certainly the biggest structures built by Aboriginal and Torres Strait lander people," he said.
There are other Indigenous fish traps around Australia, but the Gulf structures extend over many kilometres, with one wall 900 metres long.
"The sheer volume of stone moved around is really staggering," Professor Ulm said.
"We think that the majority of traps date to the last 4,000 years and they're certainly the biggest structures built by Aboriginal and Torres Strait lander people," he said.
There are other Indigenous fish traps around Australia, but the Gulf structures extend over many kilometres, with one wall 900 metres long.
"The sheer volume of stone moved around is really staggering," Professor Ulm said.
|
|
|
SW Bentinck - devoid of freshwater
|
Handline fishing - no fish traps inside the creek.
|
ABC Radio - 'Some Bentinck Is. fish traps in need of repair' - image Sean Ulm - unknown location.
Forsyth is. NW
|
Fowler Is. South of Bentinck Is. Google Earth
|
What exactly is a fish trap? Methodological issues for the study of aboriginal intertidal rock wall fish traps, Wellesley Islands region, Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia.
Authors - Paul Memmott, University of Queensland - Richard Robins, Everick Heritage Consultants Pty Ltd (QLD) - Errol Stock, Griffith University
Authors - Paul Memmott, University of Queensland - Richard Robins, Everick Heritage Consultants Pty Ltd (QLD) - Errol Stock, Griffith University
Bayley Point - mainland opposite Forsyth Is. - Old Doomadgee area - Gangalidda
Tindale (1977, 1981) argued that: • "There were important differences in language, social systems, material culture and biological markers—most significantly the presence amongst the Kaiadilt of rare blood type for Aboriginal Australia; • the Kaiadilt were an isolate of early Australian settlers who “bore the mark of Wajak” (referring to Pleistocene Java), and their social system, technology and material culture were impoverished due to lack of contact with other island and mainland groups; and • the distance separating Bentinck from the mainland marked the limit for sure and successful movement by people using simple watercraft."
Figure 4.14 Bayley Point
Figure 4.14: A rock wall of a fish trap at Bayley Point that appears very ancient. Oyster growth has forced the individual boulders apart. It is within an outer pen which had been used in relatively recent time. (Photo by Richard Robins).
|
Ronnie Jupiter spearing a crab, Bayley Point, Sept. 1983
Figure 4.6: Ronnie Jupiter spearing a crab, Bayley Point, on a falling tide, September 1983. Note that the fishing spear was a male-specific implement. The wall is cemented together with oysters (Photo from Trigger 198:127)
|
| memmott_4_et_al_what_exactly_is_a_fish_trap..pdf |
Tindale 1962
Some Population Changes among the Kaiadilt People of Bentinck Island, Queensland
Norman B Tindale Records of the South Australian Museum Volume 14, Number 2, 27th July 1962 - Paul Mackett 2008
Norman B Tindale Records of the South Australian Museum Volume 14, Number 2, 27th July 1962 - Paul Mackett 2008
SUMMARY - 'This paper records the rise, and decline of a small isolated population of Australian aborigines on Bentinck Island, Queensland. After two or more generations of steady and slow increase to a peak of 123 persons in 1942, five years of decline brought about by less favourable conditions reduced the population to 58. Some removed from outlying islands by official intervention were eventually restored to the community after it was transferred to Mornington Island following white contact in 1948. Thereafter from a minimal population of 71 in 1951 they have increased again to 80 persons in 1960. Data given enables observation of the course of this population change in a simple hunting or foraging community, not in contact with other peoples. Their experiences illustrate some of the forces moulding tribal populations of people at the Stone Age level of culture.'
INTRODUCTION - 'Bentinck Island is the centre of a small series of islands with an area of some 53 square miles situated in the southern curve of the Gulf of Carpentaria. It probably became an island group only when the Post-Glacial rise of sea-level flooded the Gulf. It had previously been a part of the Great Australian plain which extended across to New Guinea during the last cold phases of the Pleistocene and also during earlier cold phases of the Ice Age. Bentinck Island has varied in size. During the highest sea levels of Mid-Recent time (5000 B.P.) its total land area must have been reduced to close on one-half, as indicated by a shore line of eustatic type at approximately 10 feet above present sea level.
The Kaiadilt, a small tribe of dark Australian aboriginals, have occupied Bentinck Island for centuries. They were first known to exist when the explorer, Matthew Flinders, met six of them on an off-shore islet in 1802. Despite this early encounter the people avoided further close contacts with Westerners until 1948, although largely ineffective earlier efforts were made to meet them by Government officials, missionaries, and by would-be usurpers of their island. Between 1940 and 1948 there occurred a series of events which had drastic effects on the wellbeing of this people. The happenings included inter-hordal conflicts, accidental drownings by loss of small rafts during inter-island crossings, a long continued drought of serious effect, and finally an abnormal tide or tidal wave, in February 1948. This tide inundated the island for the greater part of a day, rising to about 12 feet above the highest normal tide mark. The water in effect reoccupied what is estimated to have been the maximum Post-Glacial shoreline, often in Australia called the 'Ten Foot' Terrace.
Fairbridge (1958, 1960) suggests that this terrace may have been the result of two relative still stands of the seas, an earlier and longer phase which he calls the Older Peronian, and a shorter, the Newer Peronian Terrace. He dates the end of the second phase to about 3500 B.P. (1540 B.C.) and the earlier phase to near 5000 B.P. (3040 B.C.).
A previous paper in these Records, Tindale (1962), supplies details of the geographical and modern historical backgrounds for this study, and provides a map on which are shown the boundaries of the several divisions of the Kaiadilt tribe. Genealogical studies detailed herein suggest that in 1940 there was a population of 119 persons, divided among eight dolnoro or territorially defined hordes. This population slowly increased from 103 persons present in 1910 to 123 persons in 1942.'
The Kaiadilt, a small tribe of dark Australian aboriginals, have occupied Bentinck Island for centuries. They were first known to exist when the explorer, Matthew Flinders, met six of them on an off-shore islet in 1802. Despite this early encounter the people avoided further close contacts with Westerners until 1948, although largely ineffective earlier efforts were made to meet them by Government officials, missionaries, and by would-be usurpers of their island. Between 1940 and 1948 there occurred a series of events which had drastic effects on the wellbeing of this people. The happenings included inter-hordal conflicts, accidental drownings by loss of small rafts during inter-island crossings, a long continued drought of serious effect, and finally an abnormal tide or tidal wave, in February 1948. This tide inundated the island for the greater part of a day, rising to about 12 feet above the highest normal tide mark. The water in effect reoccupied what is estimated to have been the maximum Post-Glacial shoreline, often in Australia called the 'Ten Foot' Terrace.
Fairbridge (1958, 1960) suggests that this terrace may have been the result of two relative still stands of the seas, an earlier and longer phase which he calls the Older Peronian, and a shorter, the Newer Peronian Terrace. He dates the end of the second phase to about 3500 B.P. (1540 B.C.) and the earlier phase to near 5000 B.P. (3040 B.C.).
A previous paper in these Records, Tindale (1962), supplies details of the geographical and modern historical backgrounds for this study, and provides a map on which are shown the boundaries of the several divisions of the Kaiadilt tribe. Genealogical studies detailed herein suggest that in 1940 there was a population of 119 persons, divided among eight dolnoro or territorially defined hordes. This population slowly increased from 103 persons present in 1910 to 123 persons in 1942.'
Decline - 'Early in 1940 members, substantially of one dolnoro (horde-like unit), engaged in a quarrel and after fights with others, escaped to the outlying Allen Island, within their territory, but an area not permanently inhabited, because of the unreliable nature of its water supplies. They journeyed on rafts, losing three persons by drowning during the crossing of some eight miles of water which intervenes. A native from Mornington Island Mission who landed on Allen Island from a dinghy, while on a mail-carrying journey to Burketown, was killed.'
Police rounded up and removed the survivors of the Bentinck Island horde to Aurukun, a Mission Station on the eastern side of the Gulf. The remainder of the Bentinck Island population, now reduced to some 107, who were ignorant of the fate of their kinsfolk, remained out of contact with other peoples until 1945, excepting for an attack they made on personnel of a Royal Australian Air Force launch, anchored off Sweers Island during a gale, in 1943, when one Kaiadilt man was shot.
'Rainfall records available from adjoining areas imply that there were years of reduced rainfall between 1942 and 1945. Water supplies normally are obtained from soaks and seepages at sea level. These derive from domes of fresh water trapped within the sands of the island following the heavy rains of the North-West Monsoon (December to March). Water itself is not remembered as presenting any special problem, but vegetable foods were stated to have been scarce and fishing was poor in 1945 and 1946. Page 300 Available rain records from surrounding areas suggest the summer rains generally were near to normal in 1946 and 1947 but on Bentinck Island there was severe famine.'
'In 1946 the culmination of several years of less than average rain brought stresses to a head. Inter-hordal friction was renewed; of 96 persons on the island at the beginning of 1946 only some 87 survived a year later.'
'In late 1946 or early 1947 fourteen of nineteen persons, predominantly of a second dolnoro, were drowned while going to Allen Island by raft. Those who escaped say they had hoped to obtain better food supplies; water then was not critically short. These five surviving persons were discovered by the missionaries at Mornington, to be on Allen Island, and were removed to Mornington Island. When found, they were in distress from shortages of water and probably would have died if they had not been rescued.'
'Of 58 persons who remained alive on Bentinck Island following the departure of these unsuccessful voyagers, a further sixteen died between early 1947 and mid-1948, after which, through the intervention of the Mission authorities on Mornington Island, all survivors were evacuated, the last leaving Bentinck Island in October.'
'Most of the deaths in the last year are attributed to effects of a culminating blow which struck this island population. This coup de grace was a seemingly unprecedented high tide during February 1948. The coastal dunes were inundated and the sands flooded with sea water, rendering useless their normal water supplies. Frantic searches for water-bearing frogs, which pass the dry season buried in the dried muds of rainy season pools and ponds, marked the last days of the residence of the remaining Kaiadilt people on the island.'
'When brought together on Mornington Island there were only 83 persons representing the original 119 of the Kaiadilt population of 1940, including all those born in the intervening time and those held at Aurukun. Several of those rescued from the stresses on Bentinck Island died from the effects of their experiences. The rest, who by 1951 numbered only 71, received careful medical treatment and their numbers then began to increase. They now live in a, small endogamous community, an enclave within the territory of the Lardiil tribe, on Mornington Island, under the care of the Presbyterian Mission; those at Aurukun eventually were brought back into the group. Between 1951 and 1960, after the initial losses of weakened persons between 1948 and 1950, Page 301 there has been a steady population increase from 71 to 80. When some further genealogical enquiries have been completed it will probably be possible to establish some ideas on the capacity for increase of the Kaiadilt people.'
Police rounded up and removed the survivors of the Bentinck Island horde to Aurukun, a Mission Station on the eastern side of the Gulf. The remainder of the Bentinck Island population, now reduced to some 107, who were ignorant of the fate of their kinsfolk, remained out of contact with other peoples until 1945, excepting for an attack they made on personnel of a Royal Australian Air Force launch, anchored off Sweers Island during a gale, in 1943, when one Kaiadilt man was shot.
'Rainfall records available from adjoining areas imply that there were years of reduced rainfall between 1942 and 1945. Water supplies normally are obtained from soaks and seepages at sea level. These derive from domes of fresh water trapped within the sands of the island following the heavy rains of the North-West Monsoon (December to March). Water itself is not remembered as presenting any special problem, but vegetable foods were stated to have been scarce and fishing was poor in 1945 and 1946. Page 300 Available rain records from surrounding areas suggest the summer rains generally were near to normal in 1946 and 1947 but on Bentinck Island there was severe famine.'
'In 1946 the culmination of several years of less than average rain brought stresses to a head. Inter-hordal friction was renewed; of 96 persons on the island at the beginning of 1946 only some 87 survived a year later.'
'In late 1946 or early 1947 fourteen of nineteen persons, predominantly of a second dolnoro, were drowned while going to Allen Island by raft. Those who escaped say they had hoped to obtain better food supplies; water then was not critically short. These five surviving persons were discovered by the missionaries at Mornington, to be on Allen Island, and were removed to Mornington Island. When found, they were in distress from shortages of water and probably would have died if they had not been rescued.'
'Of 58 persons who remained alive on Bentinck Island following the departure of these unsuccessful voyagers, a further sixteen died between early 1947 and mid-1948, after which, through the intervention of the Mission authorities on Mornington Island, all survivors were evacuated, the last leaving Bentinck Island in October.'
'Most of the deaths in the last year are attributed to effects of a culminating blow which struck this island population. This coup de grace was a seemingly unprecedented high tide during February 1948. The coastal dunes were inundated and the sands flooded with sea water, rendering useless their normal water supplies. Frantic searches for water-bearing frogs, which pass the dry season buried in the dried muds of rainy season pools and ponds, marked the last days of the residence of the remaining Kaiadilt people on the island.'
'When brought together on Mornington Island there were only 83 persons representing the original 119 of the Kaiadilt population of 1940, including all those born in the intervening time and those held at Aurukun. Several of those rescued from the stresses on Bentinck Island died from the effects of their experiences. The rest, who by 1951 numbered only 71, received careful medical treatment and their numbers then began to increase. They now live in a, small endogamous community, an enclave within the territory of the Lardiil tribe, on Mornington Island, under the care of the Presbyterian Mission; those at Aurukun eventually were brought back into the group. Between 1951 and 1960, after the initial losses of weakened persons between 1948 and 1950, Page 301 there has been a steady population increase from 71 to 80. When some further genealogical enquiries have been completed it will probably be possible to establish some ideas on the capacity for increase of the Kaiadilt people.'
'This paper thus records stages in a natural calamity which had the sudden effect of reducing a population to about 60 per cent of its former size. In fact this population presents us with the possibility of examining a small breeding group, maintained in isolation, subjected to abnormal climatic and other forces, of kinds which we may infer have occurred from time to time in the past. The happenings took place while living on Bentinck Island under natural conditions, without any buffering or direct intervention by Westerners during critical phases of their period of stress. No detailed account of any similar sequence of events has been obtained. The facts therefore may be of some assistance in enabling researchers to visualize some of the kinds of events which have played a part in moulding the fate of early human populations.'
'There is a time limit on the situation, a maximum of 7,000 years since the islands were formed (Tindale 1962). There is the probability that, during the Climatic Optimum (Ten Foot Terrace) of Mid-Recent times (about 5000 B.P.), the island group was reduced effectively to no more than half its present size, probably with more than corresponding reduction in its carrying capacity. Its present area may not have been re-established permanently until some 3,500 years ago. The situation is likely to be most useful for several kinds of studies in microevolution. In this regard the blood grouping evidence reported by Simmons, Tindale, and Birdsell (1962, in press) is likely also to provide ample scope for theoretical discussion and thought.'
Women Gathering - 'Among the Kaiadilt, women's work is tied closely to the actic zone (in its sense of the strip of half-land between high and low water marks). At low tide they gather tjilangind (small rock oysters), kulpanda (Arca mud cockles), and the denizens of mud holes and rock pools, retreating only at high tide to their camps under the sheoak trees just above tide mark (pl. 10, fig. 1) or to inland areas of land to dig for roots and stems of 'edible' trees and vines, to catch grasshoppers for food and to glean the few varieties of seeds and fruits which the sandy dune and salt-marsh environments yield to them. Wood for fires, armsful of dry grass for camps, and plant fibres for ropes and string are the chief products of the land essential to their well-being.'
Men Hunting - 'Males explore the wider littoral, either walking up to their waists or chest in water or drifting over deeper reefs on their rafts of logs lashed together; at half tide either spearing fish trapped behind the walls of their stone fish traps or standing motionless for hours on the edge of outer reef channels waiting, in the hope of spearing a dugong, a turtle, or a shark. It is woman's work to repair fish trap walls and take the small fry among the fish trapped when the traps are almost dry. It is man's privilege to spear the larger fish cornered while the water is still deep.'
Population - 'The density of population for the whole of Bentinck Island area in 1940 (the last year when all were present) was 1.7 persons per square mile of total land and reef surface, or over 6.8 persons for each square mile of reef. Since part of the total area is inaccessible, and only used at some risk (as indicated by two tragic episodes accompanying efforts to reach Allen Island in 1940 and 1947) only about 14 square miles of reef were in constant use, i.e., over 8 persons obtained their food on each square mile of reef.
These figures are remarkably high for a 'stone age' people. In the southern parts of Australia, even in areas of high rainfall the figures for the most dense populations seemingly went no higher than about one person per two square miles.'
These figures are remarkably high for a 'stone age' people. In the southern parts of Australia, even in areas of high rainfall the figures for the most dense populations seemingly went no higher than about one person per two square miles.'
Flinders at Bentinck & Allen Is.
Voyage to Terra Australis Vol 2 p137/8
Sat. 20 Nov. 1802
"I went eastward to a smaller island two miles off, where several Indians where perceived. The water was too shallow for the boat to get near them; but we landed at a little distance, and walked after three men who were dragging six small rafts toward the extreme northern rocks, where three other natives were sitting.
These men not choosing to abandon their rafts, an interview was unavoidable, and they came on shore with their spears to wait our approach. One of us advanced towards them, unarmed; and signs being made to lay down their spears, which were understood to mean that they should sit down, they complied; and by degrees, a friendly intercourse was established. They accepted some red worsted caps and fillets, as also a hatchet and an adze, the use of which being explained, was immediately comprehended. In return, they gave us two very rude spears, and a womerah, or throwing stick, of nearly the same form as those used by the natives of Port Jackson.
The rafts consisted of several straight branches of mangrove, very much dried, and lashed together in two places with the largest ends one way, so as to form a broad part, and the smaller ends closing to a point. Near the broad end was a bunch of grass, where the man sits to paddle; but the raft, with his weight alone, must swim very deep; and indeed I should scarcely have supposed it could float a man at all. Upon one of the rafts was a short net, which, from the size of the meshes, was probably intended to catch turtle; upon another was a young shark; and these, with their paddles and spears, seemed to constitute the whole of their earthly riches."
Flinders noted the impressive stature of the natives - the prevalence of iron ore - no canoes only rafts - contrary to Dutch accounts they were not ferocious but unusually timid and without bows and arrows.
These men not choosing to abandon their rafts, an interview was unavoidable, and they came on shore with their spears to wait our approach. One of us advanced towards them, unarmed; and signs being made to lay down their spears, which were understood to mean that they should sit down, they complied; and by degrees, a friendly intercourse was established. They accepted some red worsted caps and fillets, as also a hatchet and an adze, the use of which being explained, was immediately comprehended. In return, they gave us two very rude spears, and a womerah, or throwing stick, of nearly the same form as those used by the natives of Port Jackson.
The rafts consisted of several straight branches of mangrove, very much dried, and lashed together in two places with the largest ends one way, so as to form a broad part, and the smaller ends closing to a point. Near the broad end was a bunch of grass, where the man sits to paddle; but the raft, with his weight alone, must swim very deep; and indeed I should scarcely have supposed it could float a man at all. Upon one of the rafts was a short net, which, from the size of the meshes, was probably intended to catch turtle; upon another was a young shark; and these, with their paddles and spears, seemed to constitute the whole of their earthly riches."
Flinders noted the impressive stature of the natives - the prevalence of iron ore - no canoes only rafts - contrary to Dutch accounts they were not ferocious but unusually timid and without bows and arrows.
Sweers Island south east - Google Earth