146 R. H. MATHEWS. 
THE ABORIGINAL FISHERIES ar BREWARRINA. 
By R. H. MATHEWS, L.S., : 
Associé étranger Soc. d’Anthrop. de Paris. 
[With two Illustrations. | 
[Read before the Royal Society of N. S. Wales, August 5, 1908 ] 
THE town of Brewarrina is built upon the left bank of the 
Darling River, parish of Brewarrina, county of Clyde, New 
South Wales, and is at present the terminus of the railway 
into that district. Near the northwest extremity of the 
town, at a bend in the Darling River, there is a low bar of 
Desert Sandstone across the channel, forming a natural 
weir or dam when the river is low. Above the bar there 
is a long stretch of deep water, never known to go dry, 
called Gurrungga by the natives. As soon asthe water in 
the river rises to the level of the rocky bar, it flows over, 
and forms a series of shallow rapids for about a quarter of a 
mile, in which distance it is said to fall eleven feet. When 
the river is in flood, the channel is filled to a sufficient 
depth to allow flat-bottomed steamers and barges to pass 
over the rocks. These barges carry merchandise on the up 
journey, and wool and other produce on the downward trip. 
In examining the channel of the river at the site of the 
rapids, we find evidence of the sandstone outcrop at this 
spot having been much wider and higher in ancient times 
than at present. Ali the way along the southern bank of 
the river from the present bar downward for about fifteen 
chains—and at a few places on the opposite bank—the 
Desert Sandstone is exposed. Here and there on the river 
floor, within the same distance, isolated masses of this 
rock, which have withstood the erosion of flood-waters, 
