Fishing for the Past: Casting nets and lines into Australias early colonial history

(Paperback)

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After long voyages, hungry crews needed to be fed. On board every ship were the keen fishermen, , catching fish to eat, but also ready with a great fish tale. On some voyages there were the resident naturalists and artists, recording, sketching and painting each new species found some familiar, some completely alien.

For tens of thousands of years Aboriginal people had been fishing these waters with spears, hooks, nets and traps, and gathering shellfish from the beaches, rocks and reefs. These activities were of considerable interest to the early mariners and were recorded in the same journals and diaries, so by these direct links we learn how the original inhabitants of this land fished at the time of first contact.

Author Bio

Dr Julian Pepperell has written numerous scientific and popular articles on marine fishes, including the book, Fishes of the Open Ocean which won the prestigious Whitley Award for Best Natural History and was shortlisted for the Queensland Premier's literary awards in the field of Science Writing.