National NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia in the first week of July each year (Sunday 6th July - Sunday 13th July) to celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
As part of Sydney Fish Market’s Reconciliation Action Plan, we’ve been enjoying learning about the rich Aboriginal history of our area.
To mark NAIDOC week, we wanted to share a snapshot of that history, and we are looking forward to having many more opportunities to honour First Nations heritage and culture at the new Sydney Fish Market.
Pre-colonisation, Sydney Fish Market’s location (Blackwattle Bay) was a significant one for Aboriginal people as it provided access to fresh unpolluted water as well as a saltwater source for seafood.
Blackwattle Bay now sits at the end of what used to be Blackwattle Creek, which was a major source of fresh water for local Aboriginal people. As the creek reached the harbour, it became a tidal brackish system that held large amounts of bivalves. The surrounding land was dense scrub shaded by a large colony of Ironbarks, of which the last surviving member still stands on the grounds of St John’s Anglican church in Glebe.
Traditional owners hunted game and harvested plants, but archaeological evidence suggests that they depended heavily on the waters of Sydney Harbour to survive. Methods of fishing varied, but evidence shows a strong preference for eating Mullet, Bream, Snapper, Flathead, Stingrays, Cockles, Oysters, Crabs, Octopus, and the occasional Turtle.
A fishing vessel used by residents of Sydney Harbour was the bark canoe (called a ‘nawi’). While the men fished with spears from the shore, the women would build cooking fires on clay beds in their nawis before paddling out, often carrying a baby, in all but the roughest conditions. The fires provided warmth for the fishers and cooking coals for the fish, and the women were able to meet back on shore with their families and enjoy already cooked fish. They fished as often as possible, so much that it was said that day or night, Sydney Harbour was dotted with glowing fires trailing threads of smoke.
Aboriginal people in the Sydney area historically gathered and traded local produce including sour native currants prized by colonists for making jams, jellies and scurvy treatments; native sarsaparilla, used to brew tea; native flowers; and seafood. However, as Glebe and surrounding lands were increasingly privatised and settled by Europeans, Aboriginal people were displaced and gradually lost access to these resources and trading opportunities.
Early colonists used the Glebe area for pig and cattle farming, or other early industry. Eventually the increased traffic and livestock compacted the soil and turned Blackwattle Stream, the community’s freshwater source, into an impassable swamp. Many years later, the swamp was drained to provide land for recreation - giving us Wentworth Park, Harold Park, and Jubilee Oval.