Sja&fo, was Mill Oil the Avon, 

 alH^ugh close to us mouth. The 

 (jfljjk] icasou given lot U>iS second 

 choice #4S ,llul " tlK ' Ah'-T'S'iies were 



ihc liahit of congregating there". 



\H ihis points to a tmtly large 

 \Mienial population, not only on the 

 &t>t» Oi l ake Victoria, hul atflp 

 ,,„ nt .he Avon River ami its tribu- 

 taries. 



In a former paper I have attempted 

 to reconstruct ihe scene- in the 

 YluiUo Districi. btil the same activity 

 could have lakcu place anywhere 

 along the upper Avon heroic the 

 coming of the white men. Groups 

 oi Ahotigincs. having collected suil- 

 ,hle pebbles from the river bank. 

 Aspersed through Ihe comparatively 

 open lo.est ol red gum. stringy hark 

 and red box. 'I here were large mohs 

 Of kangaroos and many emus about 

 .uul ihis meant plenty of food lot 

 Ihcm and for the wsinng groups, 

 who would soon come up river to 

 baTttl lor axes; and away from Ihc 



river surface-water was available 

 everywhere. Scattered over this land 

 of plcnly were many smallish ferru- 

 ginous sandstone outcrops, the more 

 line-grained of which made perfect 

 whetstones for grinding the river 

 pebbles into axes. 



The grinding process however, 

 leaves an impression or groove, 

 roughly the width of the edge of Ihe 

 pebble being ground upon the rock, 

 and by this means we arc now able 

 10 tell which rock was so Used. 



lo the south-cast of and quile 

 close to Stratford the current of the 

 Avon Rivet met a resistant obstacle 

 in a rocky hillock, which caused ihe 

 river lo go around il, thus lorming 

 ,i prominent bend. This hillock, 

 although in itself not much higher 

 than MH\ feet, is ncvcr-the-les* high 

 enough ahnve the Great Plain lo be 

 .1 scry good ohscrvaiion point. This 

 is the KtiLib Lookoul. which the 

 Pldcrs of Stratford, in their wisdom, 

 have lone since declared a Reserve 



Plate I 



ihc groovei 

 ftljcavcrad 



,,! Slr;,ltV,r.l 



Mnrch. 1971 



