BLACK SWANS AND THE CATCHMENT

Some Symbolism

In European cultural imaginations the BLACKswan (Cygnus atratus) did not, indeed could not, exist. Things of rarity were compared with a BLACKswan, in other words, as a BLACKswan did not exist, neither did the supposed, speculated upon, imagined, characteristics of the RAREbird with which it was being compared exist.

It turns out that this was so until it wasn't.

The 'idea' passed into various European  cultures as a popular proverb, in which the stage was set for the irony. The narrative typically started out with the first four words ... "a rare bird in the land". 

The BLACKswan in the European imagination was a metaphor for that which could not exist albeit that it turns out that it did. Like it is with research, something is so until you look hard enough, and long enough and with great care. Often the unimagined is found serendipitiously while looking elsewhere– or quite close to home.

In Aboriginal cultures it seems that the BLACKswan has many moral stories embedded in their totemic  meanings and imaginings. At the confluence of of the Esk Rivers and the Tamar , reportedly understood by the First Tasmanians as ponrabbel, there must have been such imaginings given that the BLACKswan was in abundance and a great provider.