Among the many interesting relics of the Aborigines of

Tasmania that yet remain, not the least interesting are the

shell- mounds that mark the spot where they formed their encampments

and feasted before the intrusion of a white race

had disturbed their simple and peaceful modes of living.

Such shell heaps as that to which I am about to refer occur

in other parts of the world, and for some time they were supposed

to be nothing more particular than ordinary " raised

beaches." Even now in Tasmania there are many well-informed

people who cannot bring themselves to believe that

the shell heaps noticeable in many places on our shores are

the kitchen-middens, or " refuse heaps," of the Aborigines of

the colony ; and it is for the information of such sceptics that

I place on record the following evidence as establishing

beyond all reasonable doubt the fact that they are this, and

nothing more

Taylor, Alfred J

University of Tasmania Open Access Repository

NOTES ON THE SHELL - MOUNDS AT SEAFORD,LITTLE SWANPORT:By Alfred J. Taylor, F.L.S., F.R.G.S.,E.Among the many interesting relics of the Aborigines ofTasmania that yet remain, not the least interesting are theshell-mounds that mark the spot where they formed their en-campments and feasted before the intrusion of a white racehad disturbed their simple and peaceful modes of living.Such shell heaps as that to which I am about to refer occurin other parts of the world, and for some time they were sup-posed to be nothing more particular than ordinary " raisedbeaches." Even now in Tasmania there are many well-in-formed people who cannot bring themselves to believe thatthe shell heaps noticeable in many places on our shores arethe kitchen-middens, or " refuse heaps," of the Aborigines ofthe colony ; and it is for the information of such sceptics thatI place on record the following evidence as establishingbeyond all reasonable doubt the fact that they are this, andnothing more. One has only to examine these remarkableaccumulations to obtain evidence of an intensely interestingand convincing character, and the results of a personal ex-amination of the extensive shell mounds to be found on theestate leased by Mr. Samuel Drake at Little Swan port haveinduced me to hope that a few notes on the subject may beof some interest to the Fellows of this Society. It may be aswell, I think, to prelude what I have to advance as directevidence in favour of my contention by briefly referring toone or two of the reasons why the accumulation of shells atLittle Swanport cannot be regarded as having been due tothe upraising of oyster beds, or as having been due to thewash of surf upon the spot. In the first place, although itcan be shown that at some places where shell mounds occurin the colony live and dead shells are thrown up by the surf,at Little Swanport there is no wash or surf to cast up shells,for while the plunging seas roar on the bar outside, the waterswithin are, as a rule, as still and as peaceful as the waters ofa mill pond. The conclusion that the shell beds have beenupraised from the sea is disposed of by the natural featuresthat distinguished true raised beaches from kitchen-middensor refuse heaps. Sir John Lubbock, in his " PrehistoricMan," has drawn attention to the fact that raised beachescontain species the individuals of which are of different ages,and that the shells are, as a matter of course, mixed up witha large amount of sand and gravel. He also quotes ProfessorSteenstrup, who, in combating the idea that the shell mounds90 NOTES ON i'HE SHELL-MOUNDS AT SEAFORD.of Denmark were raised beaches, directed attention to thecircumstance that " the shells belonged entirely to full-grownor to nearly full-grown individuals, and that they consistedof four species which do not live together, nor require thesame conditions, and would not, therefore, be found togetherin a natural deposit ; and thirdly, that the stratum containedscarcely any gravel, but consisted almost entirely of shells "(pp. 224-5). This reasoning applies exactly to the shellmounds at Little Swanport : for not only is there an absenceof anything like stratification or admixture of much sand orgravel with them, but the whole of the oyster shells thathave come under my notice are of mature growth, and aremixed up with other species that do not live together. Inconnection with this negative evidence I may throw out theconsideration that if these deposits were merely the indica-tions of an upraising it would only be reasonable to anti-cipate that many of the shells would be found in naturalpairs. Such, however, is not the case at Little Swanport, theshells that I noticed during my recent visit to that verypleasant and interesting spot being, in every instance, singleshells scattered just as we might expect to fiiid them inrefuse heaps. Another noticeable feature in the mounds atLittle Swanport is the fact that a very large proportion of theshells are broken at one particular part, as if they had beenbroken there to assist in the process of opening them. It isalso noticeable that many of them have undergone the actionof fire. To turn to the more direct evidence. The encamp-ments of the Aborigines were always formed on the marginof streams or lagoons. Possessing no appliances for diggingor sinking wells, it was a matter of importance to them to benear fresh streams or springs. On the spot where the shellmounds are thickest, at Little Swanport, there is a splendidfresh water spring, which bubbles up within a few yards ofthe bay, yielding a plentiful supply of the sweetest freshwater. Their place of encampment depended also upon thefood obtainable, and as the daily food of those living near theCoast consisted largely of shell fish, such as oysters, turbos,and haliotis or mutton fish, they would naturally resort tosuch a favoured spot as Little Swanport, where these, togetherwith the crayfish, another article of their diet, could be foundin abundance. As a matter of history, it is known that avery large tribe of natives, known as the Oyster Bay tribe,frequented the spot, and during my recent visit to it I wasable to discover some very interesting indications of theprimitive conditions under which they existed. When I firstdecided to turn the shell heaps into lime of commercial value,it struck me that many articles of ethnological interest mightbe discovered, and I gave strict instructions to the partiesemployed to send me all bones or remarkable stones that theyBY A. J. TAYLOR, F.L.S., F.E.G.S., E. 91might come across in breaking down the shells for the kiln.It was not long before I had the pleasure of receiving aparcel of bones— the remains of the marsupials the nativesused to feed upon—and I at once noticed that the largerones had been split, evidently for the purpose of extractingthe marrow. At a meeting of the Eoyal Society of Tasmaniain 1873 Mr. James Scott volunteered certain informationreceived from his brother, Mr. Thomas Scott, who, amongother things, referred to a stone which he had sent to Eng-land—" A round stone chipped all round to a circle about7in. in diameter, and l|in. thick in the centre, to lin. at theedge. On this the females broke the bones of animals forthe marrow, using another stone about 6in. in diameter forstriking." I am able to exhibit a stone exactly answeringthis description, which I took from the surface of one of theshell-mounds. It will be noticed that at the middle part onone side it has been worn smooth by the friction of use. Ialso found mixed up with the shells other round water wornstones, evidently used for the same purpose ; for in theTransactions of the Ethnological Society for 1863 there is astatement made by Mr. Milligan to the effect that theAborigines had assured him that round stones of differentsizes, together with chipped flint instruments, would be foundin the shell-mounds left on the scenes of their feasts. Bear-ing in mind the latter portion of this statement, I was veryanxious to find some of the chipped flints, and made a carefulexamination of the surface of the shell-mounds. You mayimagine my delight when my eye rested on a well marked onewhich had been turned up in ploughing. Further examin-ation led to the discovery of several others of the samecharacter. But I was not yet satisfied, as I had found themall upon the surface. Being anxious to test the extent of theshell deposits, I got my companion, Mr. W. Luttrell, to putdown a few prospecting holes, and in sinking one of these wecame across a well-chipped flint, buried in the shells some12in. below the surface. There is one significant fact in con-nection with the bones found in these shell-mounds, and, in-deed, with the shell heaps alone, and that is the constantoccurrence of charcoal—the remains of the fires kindled bythe natives to roast the animals and to cook the shell fish " intheir own gravy." It is known that to do the latter the largeshells were placed upon the fire as dishes, and that thismethod of cooking rendered the contents tender and succu-lent. The presence of the charcoal under such circumstancesaffords another link in the chain of evidence that bears out thecertainty that these shell-mounds are something much moreinteresting than upraised beaches or oyster beds. Perhapsthe most interesting of the " finds" yet made in connectionwith the shell-mounds at Little Swanport has been the dis-92 NOTES ON THE SHELL-MOUNDS AT SEAFORD.covery of a bone (which I now exhibit) which gives evidenceof having been worked or ground. As far as I know it isthe first bone instrument of the kind that has yet been re-ierred to in connection with the history of the Aborigines ofthis colony. It was discovered by Mr. Herbert Luttrell inbreaking down the shells from one of the faces opened tosupply the kiln. Mr. Eonald Gunn has stated that in re-moving haliotis or mutton fish from the rocks to which theyclosely adhere the natives used a wooken spatula-shaped in-strument, and Backhouse writes that the mutton fish wereoften taken in deep water by the native women, who dived forthem and forced them off the rocks by means of a woodenchisel. The French explorer, La Billardiere, saw how thesechisels were made. " We observed," he writes, " some of thesavages employed cutting little bits of wood in the form of aspatula, and smoothing them with a shell, for the purpose ofseparating from the rock limpets or sea-ears on which tofeast." I think it quite probable that the bone instrumentbefore us was used for a similar purpose. On examination itwill be found that it is somewhat worn just at the spot whereit would be most likely to show the effects of friction if usedto work and lever the sea- ear from the rock. In any case itis interesting, as indicating one step towards a degree ofcivilisation that the Aborigines of the colony were destinednever to reach. In putting down the prospecting holes abovereferred to I satisfied myself that the shell deposits at Sea-ford extend over several acres of ground, varying in depthfrom 6in. to 6ft. It is the vast extent of these deposits thatrenders it almost impossible for anyone at first blush torealise that they are the refuse heaps of the Aborigines. Whenit is remembered, however, that the tribes near the sea-shorelived principally on shell fish—for, according to Calder, andother authorities, the natives of Tasmania would rather havestarved than use any kind of scale-fish for food—it will easilybe seen that large refuse heaps would very rapidly accumu-late on the feeding grounds. The best authorities agree thatthe natives were very ravenous eaters, and setting the num-ber of the Oyster Bay tribe at 500 (an estimate I have heardgiven), and putting down to the account of each member ofthe tribe a consumption of 20 oysters per day, that smallcalculation alone would give 20,000 single shells per day tothe refuse heaps. There is one thought in connection withthis matter with which I will conclude my somewhat desultorynotes. Lubbock has pointed out that—" A country, the in-habitants of which live by hunting and fishing, can never bethickly populated." Regarding the shell-mounds at LittleSwanport in the light of this fact, and taking into consider-ation their vast extent, the conclusion is forced upon us thatthe spot must have been frequented by the natives for a veryDISCUSSION ON THE SHELL-MOUNDS AT SEAFOED. 93long period of time, and this is a fact that should not be lostsight of when efforts are being made to trace their historyand origin. It now only remains for me to mention that weare about to turn these interesting shell-mounds into a valu-able article of commerce, and should anything of interest bediscovered during their removal, it will give me great pleasureto make the Fellows of this Society acquainted with thefact.DISCUSSION.Mr. E. M. Johnston said he was very pleased to find Mr.Taylor had taken so much trouble in obtaining such valuableinformation dealing with the Aborigines of Tasmania. Thepaper read by Mr. Taylor was extremely interesting from anethnological point of view. He, Mr. Johnston, had made aclose study of these native " kitchen middens " for manyyears, and in his work on " The Geology of Tasmania " hehad devoted a considerable space to the description of theseinteresting deposits so common along the borders of ourestuaries and coasts. The particular shell deposit at LittleDevonport, referred to by Mr. Taylor, had been investigatedby him about two years ago, and his observations thenmade, in company with Mr. Morton and other membersof the Fishery Board, left no doubt in his mindthat the deposit was simply one of the many kitchenmiddens of the Tasmaniau Aborigines abounding every-where along our coast lines in similar situations.The lenticular layers of ashes and charred wood, inter-calated with the shells, were then observed by him, andpointed out to those who were with him as proof of theiraccumulation by human agency. He could therefore confirmthe accuracy of Mr. Taylor's descriptions and conclusions.Anyone who has had the slightest experience in observingthese interesting deposits, now fast disappearing or beingobliterated by the agriculturist's plough and other agencies,would never confound them with the raised beaches socommon in Bass Strait Islands and along portions of thenorthern coast.Mr. Johnston then drew attention to the numerous kitchenmiddens existing all along the borders of the estuary of theDerwent, and especially along the Domain, New Town Bay,mouth of the Jordan, One Tree Point, and Blackman's Bay.These are generally formed on little knolls or headlands,commanding a good outlook on every side. One interestingmound exists high up on the Domain, near the New CricketGround. From all of these he had collected the chipped94 DISCUSSION ON THE SHELL-MOUNDS AT SEAFORD.flints, and occasionally split bones of the wallaby. Over 150chipped flints had been collected by him from these depositsnear Hobart, and a very large number had recently been sentto him, collected by Mr. John Morrisby on the borders ofPipeclay Lagoon, South Arm.He stated also that he had recently received a communica-tion from Mr. Mitchell, of Lisdillon, who tried upon thebasis of the extent of these shell deposits to make some esti-mate as to the length of time during which the Island wasoccupied by the last Tasmanian race. Mr. Johnston statedthat an estimate formed in this way would be very unsatis-factory, as the kitchen middens are formed for the most parton the marginal boundaries of our seas and estuaries, and areconstantly being encroached upon by the great invader, thesea. It is evident therefore that the horizontal encroachmentof the sea would have destroyed the very earliest deposits,supposing them to have existed. It is almost certain fromethnological considerations that the Tasmanian Race musthave existed in Tasmania for a very long period, for otherwisehow can we account for the marked racial type as comparedwith the natives of the Australian mainland and elsewhere.

Notes on the shell - mounds at Seaford,

Little Swanport

http://eprints.utas.edu.au/15977/1/taylor-notes-shell-mounds-1891.pdf

Notes on the shell - mounds at Seaford, Little Swanport

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