THANK YOU FORV THE RESEARCH Julie Gough "The Secretary then read the following
paper, prepared by Colonel W. V.
Legge, R.A., entitled "Note on Stone
Knives of the Tasmanian Aborigines
Found at Cullenwood Estate." : "These
knives were found in a bank, or small
tract of rising ground, about 100 yards
from one of the broad, deep reaches of
water which are characteristic of the
Break o' Day River. The site was
ploughed up somewhere about the year
1856, and since then has lain fallow. The
specimens were discovered in digging
post holes for a fence, and were from
8in. to 15in, beneath the surface. This
depth may be accounted for on the supposition that they were turned under by
the plough, and the depth being increased by the action of worms during the
process of their workings, over a period
of 50 years. The bank in question was,
no doubt, a camping-ground of the East
Coast tribes during tho summer, and
was used by them as a fishing station,
where they captured their fish in the
deep reach of the river, and procured
the large fresh-water mussel so common
on its banks. There are no flints about
this bank ; but around a smaller lagoon,
half a mile distant, there are plenty of
the same character as those found. Some
years ago other specimens were found on
a rising piece of ground, about half a
mile to the south of this lagoon. The
choice of these banks as camping
grounds may have been for safety purposes, so that a lookout could be maintained from them ; but this theory is
perhaps not very tenable, when we consider that there is supposed to have been
but one tribe affecting this district. As
winter resorts they would naturally
have been chosen to avoid the severe
frosts, which grip all low-lying flats on
the Break o' Day plains with a band of
iron. The sub-soil in the bank I write
of consists of a remarkable brown clay,
which has not been met with in any
other part of the district, and a specimen of which is enclosed for the inspection of any geologist at the meeting."
Remarking on Colonel Legge's paper,
Mr. R. M, Johnston stated that the Tasmanian natives derived a great part of
their food from shell-fish, which in
many cases accounted for the heaps of
shells near the sea shore. The natives in all cases fed upon the kind of
shell-fish which was most plentiful at
any particular spot."
ROYAL SOCIETY OF TASMANIA. (1904, September 15). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 2. Retrieved February 6, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9689784
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