Brewarrina Aboriginal Fish Traps, Aboriginal fish traps in Brewarrina, Australia.
Brewarrina Aboriginal Fish Traps, also called Baiame's Ngunnhu, are a group of stone-walled fish traps on the Barwon River at Brewarrina, New South Wales. The traps consist of numerous small stone circles linked by stone weirs that could be opened or closed to guide fish into pens. The whole structure runs for about 500 m across the river, and parts are now overgrown with reeds.
The traps are traditionally attributed to Baiame, a creator being who, according to Ngemba Wayilwan accounts, designed them by casting his net across the dry Barwon riverbed during a drought; his sons built them from stones. In the 19th and 20th centuries, stones were removed from the river to allow paddle-steamer passage and, in the 1920s, taken for house foundations and roads. The site was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 11 August 2000 and to the Australian National Heritage List on 3 June 2005.
The traps are Baiame's Ngunnhu, made by the creator Baiame from the pattern of his net, with his sons Booma-ooma-nowi and Ghinda-inda-mui building them in stone. Groups including the Kamilaroi, Morowari, Ualarai and Weilwan were invited to corroborees, ceremonies and trade, and fishing rights were shared under rules of time and section. An imprint of Baiame's foot is still visible near the site.
The traps lie in the Barwon River at Brewarrina, about 800 km north-west of Sydney, with the Brewarrina Aboriginal Cultural Museum, opened in 1988, adjoining the site. Parts of the stone arrangement are heavily overgrown with reeds, so the rock line is easiest to make out when the river is low. The site is on the New South Wales State Heritage Register and the Australian National Heritage List.
The stone formations create V-shaped channels that funnel fish into holding pens, working effectively during both high and low river flows. This clever design shows how the builders understood and made use of the seasonal water changes of the Barwon River.
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