FISH AND FISHERIES. 133 



The following extract from Mr. Oliver's paper on the Fisheries of the 

 Colony describes the grounds from Botany to Wattamolle : — " At and 

 oif the entrance of Botany and CurranuUa Head there are several well 

 known schnapper grounds, and about two miles within CurranuUa 

 bight (the " Bate Bay" of our charts) is a famous ground known to 

 fishermen as the Mary, Merry, or Shamrock Rock, for it goes under all 

 these names. It is a sunken flat rock, or series of rocks, with about 8 

 to 11 fathoms of water, situated at the point of a reef which runs from 

 a little boat-harbour called ' Doughboy,' about half a mile to the 

 southward. Tons upon tons of schnappers have been taken off this 

 ground, which however is difficult for a stranger to find, as the 

 crossbearing marks are not easily described. The whole of this Port 

 Hacking or CurranuUa Bight is one vast nursery and feeding-ground 

 for fish, and the harbour and river of Port Hacking at its southern 

 extremity is second only to Broken Bay as a net ground. Here are 

 caught generally the first garfish and mullet of the season, both which 

 fish come to us from the southward, generally seeking the smooth 

 harbour waters after heavy south and south-easterly weather, and, after 

 a few days continuing their progress northward, and putting in at every 

 inlet or river-mouth lying in their course. A cable-length or so distant 

 from ' Jibben Head,' the southern point of the entrance to Port 

 Hacking, lies Jibben ' bumbora,' a fishing-mark of great rejiute, but 

 not now much resorted to for school-fish, i.e., the schnapper of about four 

 to six or seven years old and found on the off-shore grounds in large 

 schools, as distinguished from the native, which is the same fish at a 

 later stage of growth, but frequenting different haunts (the shoals 

 off headlands, sunken rocks, and river points. Passing south, the 

 inshore grounds off Marly Head and Wattamolle are next reached, and 

 this latter point forms the Sydney and Botany fishermen's Ultima 

 Thule. Indeed, these southern fishing-grounds are rarely troubled, 

 except in the winter months, when the wind generally blows off the 

 shore, and is fair for both the up and the down trip." 



(2.) TJie Middle Grounds [North). — Between Cape Three Points, a 

 few miles to the northward of Broken Bay, and the inlet commonly 

 known as Cape Hawke, a section comprising about 100 miles of coast- 

 line, both the breeding and offing grounds are perhaps more abundant 

 and of greater extent than are to be found anywhere on our coast. In 

 the first place we reach, soon after passing Terrigal High Land — Point 

 Upright of the charts — the famous Tuggerah Lakes. This series of 

 lakes or salt-water lagoons, consists of Tuggerah (proper) and two smaller 

 connected lakes, locally known as Budgewi and Mdnmura. They are all 

 comparatively shallow, perhaps averaging rather less than 2 fathoms, 

 though in some places, e.g., near Woollahra Point in Lake Tuggerah, 

 the depth is considerably more. Tuggerah is by far the largest of the 

 series, being about 9 miles long by about 2 J^ in width. The others are 

 much smaller. 



The sea connection with Tuggerah is at a small rocky opening in the 

 beach about 3 miles north of Point Upright, and about 7 from the well- 

 known boat harbour called Terriajal. A dangerous line of reefs runs 

 out in a line about E. S. E. from the entrance, terminating in one of 

 the most treacherous " bumboras" on the coast. This entrance is 



