Pescetarian Platter

These two stainless steel harpoons were used by Laurieton offshore commercial trap fisherman Bill Poole from the 1960s to the 1980s. Harpoons, such as these, were mounted on timber shafts and thrown from the bow or sides of a fishing boat. Ropes were attached between the timber shafts and the shafts on the harpoons so that the harpoons and their ‘catch’ could be readily retrieved.

The harpoons were used to catch large fish and mammals, such as sharks and dolphins, which were then cut into bait and placed into the traps. Large aquatic animals were only used for bait when smaller species such as mullet and salmon were not available, and only enough bait was caught for immediate use, as the local fishing industry at that time had no facilities for long term cold storage.  Usually none of the harpooned bait made it to shore as it was used immediately in the fish traps.

Fish traps were made from timber slats and chicken wire and trap fishermen along the Mid North Coast of New South Wales targeted snapper, bream, kingfish, leatherjackets, blue swimmer crabs and lobster on a seasonal rotation basis. The fishing fleet from Laurieton worked out to the 100 metre depth line, which is about 12 nautical miles offshore.

This certified document shows the transfer of the Lease for Oyster Farm 54.170 on the Hastings River, from Henry James Netherclift to Selby Edmunds on December 7 1955 and that the term of the Lease was for 15 years. Scale diagrams are included on the Lease document showing the dimensions of the Oyster Farm No. 54.170, and its location on the north western side of Herbert’s Island in Limeburners Creek, a tributary of the Hastings River.

Mr Selby was born in Port Macquarie in 1912 and worked as an oyster farmer along the Hastings River and in Limeburners Creek for over 60 years, owning many leases during this period.  Selby’s father, Henry, was also an oysterman and a contemporary of John Suart Dick who was the first successful oyster farmer on the Hastings.  However the cultivation of oysters is far from a recent innovation.  Aborigines in the Hastings area feasted on oysters for many hundreds of years and numerous shell middens were observed along the waterways when the first Europeans settled here in the early 1800s.

The NSW Fisheries Act was introduced in 1902 and from then onwards applications for leases had to be submitted to, and registered by the Department of Fisheries, and Fishing Inspectors were introduced to check on the size and location of leases in order to prevent over-fishing and the depletion of natural oyster beds.

Over the years, the Hastings River has become the largest oyster seed producing estuary in New South Wales and the fifth largest producer of oysters for human consumption in the State.   There are currently 28 registered growers on the River and approximately 6.6 million oysters are harvested for consumption each year.

This unnamed model boat, made by timber worker, Arthur Law (1900-1979), was once believed to be a replica of the Septom, an offshore fishing trawler which was built at the Hibbard boatyard in Port Macquarie during the 1940s by shipwright Septimus Windeyer for Tom Radley, a well known local fisherman,

The Septom was launched in May 1946 and was a familiar vessel in Port Macquarie and offshore waters for more than 30 years.  It is understood that Arthur Law, who worked all his life at the Telegraph Point and Hibbard timber mills, helped lay the hull of the fishing trawler.   However his model differs greatly in its dimensions and detail from those of the trawler, and does not display any of the finesse or classic lines of the full sized vessel.

Because this model has a simple structure and contains basic fittings which are made from readily available materials, it is likely that it was not built primarily as a display model, but rather as a children’s toy that was designed to float and sail yet, was sturdy enough to withstand regular use.

Model boat making has always been a popular men’s craft and is believed to be as old as shipbuilding itself, dating back to ancient times when water transport was first developed.  It is recorded that during the Napoleonic wars, French and English seamen who were taken prisoner often sought relief from boredom by building model ships from scraps of wood and bone.  Also Britain’s supremacy in the 18th and 19th centuries created wider interest in ships and in ship models and simple models were often built as children’s toys.