STOXE AGE IN VICTORIA. 499 



or peace, and occupied in the pursuits pertaining to the condition of 

 their primitive social advancement. The signs of their presence 

 remain in the " mirru-yongs," or extensive heaps or layers of 

 broken shell, mingled -with charcoal, ashes, ' or fire-hardened clay, 

 among and around which are found the stones used in breaking the 

 accumulated shell-fish, in forming the ovens for baking or otherwise 

 cooking their food, and in fashioning their stone axes, chisels, wedges, 

 knives, adzes, and cutting implements. Here may be found stone axe- 

 heads in various stages of completion, from the roughly-chipped 

 material to the finely-balanced and smoothly^-finished axe; chips of 

 flint, quartz, and quartzite, used in cutting and scraping; pounding 

 and grinding stones for the treatment of seeds and roots; stones used 

 for sinkers in fishing, for shaping basket work; and also worn anvil- 

 stones, used as a base in striking off chips and preparing the rough 

 stone for serviceable weapons. 



These kitchen middens, similar to those observed in all the older 

 continents, are sometimes of- immense extent, the remains covering 

 acres of surface, and stretching almost continuously for nearly a mile, 

 or even miles, in length. Here are abundant evidences of the toll 

 which the ocean paid to these dusky inhabitants of her shores. The 

 more common and accessible shells are numerous, such as limpets 

 {Patella tramoserica), cockles {Natica idumhed), mussels Q,Iytilus 

 lotus), oysters (Ostrea edulis and murdax), Pvrpura succincta, Scutus 

 anatinus, and large shells of the Haliotis, well preserved, but brittle 

 when exposed. The cockles are usually bi'oken, and the limpets show 

 where a sharp stone has been used to detach them from the rock 

 surface. These shells were probably collected in baskets or other 

 receptacles, carried to the cooking-places, where fire was used to make 

 their marine occupants more palatable to the taste; and the shells 

 remain in countless numbers, and often in several layers varying in 

 <lepth, the mute evidences of a race practically extinct in Victoria. On 

 some parts of the coast, near larming selections, tlie remains, full of 

 oi'ganic matter, are often removed to be used in fertilising the soil, 

 excavations being made to a depth of many feet. 



The sea has encroached upon many of these old camping-places; 

 others ai-e hidden beneath shifting sand, and some are now more 

 distant from the shore on account of progressive alterations in the 

 physical features of the district. 



In the northern and western parts of Australia the mode of 

 accumulation of these " mirru-yong" heaps still persists. In the Vic- 

 toi ian '•' Naturalist," Mr. G. A. Keartland, the Avell-known ornitholo- 

 gist, mentions that he saw, a few years ago, the aborigines on the 

 Fitzroy River, Western Australia, collecting mussels, which they 

 boiled and ate; and at this particular place there were ten to fifteen 

 dray-loads of shells. Mr. D. le Souef also mentions having seen in 

 the Gulf country. North Australia, middens of burnt shell (chiefly 

 Area granosa), some of which were 30 ft. high and a quarter to a mile 

 in length. As the local population was sctirce, the inference was that 

 many genei-ations must have elapsed during the construction of these 

 accumulations. 



In Victoria, as elsewhere, the materials used in the construction 

 of axe-heads varies somewhat according to the geological features of 

 the district, but throughout Victoria eenerallv there is evidence that 



