CHAPTER VII 



AUSTRALIAN FISHES 



Australia used to be considered a non-piscatorial 

 continent. Mr. J. F. Vesey Fitzgerald, ex-Colonial 

 Secretary of Victoria, writing in 1881, says : — 



" The rivers do not contain many fish of any 

 great value, either for the angler or the table. . . . 

 The sea is well supplied with fish, but few of 

 any superior quality have been taken.'' Even Mr. 

 F. G. Aflalo, in the Introduction to his " Natural 

 History of Australia," remarks that, " The sea-fish 

 absorb most of one's attention, as the rivers only 

 furnish a couple of fish of either great commercial 

 value or scientific interest. . . . For table purposes, 

 they (the sea-fish) are a long way behind the 

 products of colder seas, and a number of our most 

 important families are either wanting, or, if present, 

 systematically neglected." 



Until a generation ago, there seemed to be 



98 



