Making connections with therivers of the Murray-Darling Basin

Talking fish

Upper

The rivers of the Murray-Darling River Basin The rivers and creeks of the Murray Darling Basin flow through Queensland, New SouthWales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and South Australia. The 77 000km ofwaterways that make up the Basin link 23 catchments over an area of 1 million km2.

Each river has its own character yet these waters, the fish, the plants, and the people thatrely on them are all different.

The booklets in this series tell the stories of how the rivers, fish and fishing have changed.The main stories in these booklets are written from oral history interviews conducted withlocal fishers in 2010 11, and relate individuals’ memories of how their local places havechanged. These booklets showcase three ways of knowing the Condamine River: personalexperience, scientific research and historical research. Just as individual fishers do notalways agree with one another, so their understanding might not necessarily agree withcurrent scientific information or historical records. Similarly, specific items and events mightbe remembered differently by different people. These varied perspectives show the range inviews about fishing and the rivers, each important in its own way. There are many othergreat stories out there about fishing in the Murray Darling Basin. These booklets are just thebeginning.

Acknowledgements – Upper Condamine

A very special thank you to Sam Bonner (Githabul Elder), Noal Kuhl, Brian Kuhn, Dessie Obst,Geoff Reilly and Olive and Ray Shooter, who generously shared their stories andphotographs in this booklet.

Advice and field support – Upper Condamine

Hamish Sewell (The Story Project) and Greg Ringwood (NFS Coordinator, Fisheries Queensland).

Front photographs – L RSource: Dessie Obst.Source: Geoff Reilly.Source: Greg Ringwood.Source: Greg Ringwood.

Back page images

Goldfish and Hyrtl’s catfish: Gunther Schmida. All other fish images: NSW DPI.

Authors

Zafer Sarac, Hamish Sewell, Greg Ringwood, Liz Baker and Scott NicholsCitation: Sarac, Z., Sewell, H., Ringwood, G. Baker, E. and Nichols, S. (2012) UpperCondamine: Talking fish making connections with the rivers of the MurrayDarling Basin, Murray Darling Basin Authority, Canberra.

Project steering committee

Terry Korodaj (MDBA), Cameron Lay (NSW DPI), Zafer Sarac (Qld DEEDI), AdrianWells (MDBA Community Stakeholder Taskforce), Peter Jackson (MDBA NativeFish Strategy advisor), Fern Hames (Vic DSE) and Jonathan McPhail (PIRSA).

Project Team

Scott Nichols, Cameron Lay, Craig Copeland, Liz Baker (NSW DPI); Jodi Frawley,Heather Goodall (UTS); Zafer Sarac, Greg Ringwood (Qld DEEDI); Hamish Sewell(The Story Project); Phil Duncan (Ngnulu Consulting); Terry Korodaj (MDBA);Fern Hames, Pam Clunie, Steve Saddlier (Vic DSE); Jonathan McPhail,Virginia Simpson (PIRSA); Will Trueman (researcher).

ISBN 978 1 921914 45 4

©Murray Darling Basin Authority, 2012Published by the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA), Canberra.

Graphical and textual information in the work (with the exception ofphotographs and the MDBA logo) may be stored, retrieved and reproduced inwhole or in part, provided the information is not sold or used for commercialbenefit and its source (Murray Darling Basin Authority, Talking Fish Project) isacknowledged. Reproduction for other purposes is prohibited without priorpermission of the Murray Darling Basin Authority or the copyright holders in thecase of photographs. To the extent permitted by law, the copyright holders(including its employees and consultants) exclude all liability to any person forany consequences, including but not limited to all losses, damages, costs,expenses and any other compensation, arising directly or indirectly from usingthis report (in part or in whole) and any information or material contained in it.The contents of this publication do not purport to represent the position of theMurray Darling Basin Authority. They are presented to inform discussion forimproved management of the Basin's natural resources.

Research and editing by the NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI)and the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). The views expressed in thisbooklet are not necessarily those of the NSW DPI, UTS or other project partners.

The MDBA acknowledges the intellectual property rights of the people whosestories are featured in this publication.

Aboriginal readers are warned that this publication may contain the names andimages of Aboriginal people who have since passed away.

The Condamine a river systemnot just a channel, much of itswater is underground you onlysee its power after a suddendownpour reinvigorates it.³

The Condamine River rises in the Border Ranges thenmakes its way along the eastern part of the Darling Downsregion in Southern Queensland, becoming the BalonneRiver near Glenmorgan. The 13 000km2 catchment is oneof the major tributaries of the Darling River System.

Twenty thousand years ago, the Barunggam, Bigambul,Giabal, Kambuwal, Githabul and Jarowair people knew avery different Condamine River: a cooler climate, differentplants and animals and, most importantly, a river thatflowed year round. With much of the water in theCondamine River flowing underground, spring fed creeksand waterholes were permanent water sources utilised byfish and traditional owners alike.

Nowadays the river waters one of the richest agriculturalareas in Queensland. The average annual rainfall is inexcess of 600mm, mainly falling during the summermonths. Alluvial flats adjacent to and east of theCondamine are fertile and particularly suited to cropping.

Intensive land use and development has resulted in a verydifferent river to that of years ago. The extensivefloodplains are easily eroded and with the arrival ofhoofed stock the Condamine River changed and now thecatchment is degraded significantly. Over 60% of theaquatic habitat is now considered in poor condition.

These are the stories of those who love the river and wholove to fish in the river. Their stories are part of a biggerstory about changes to the Condamine River and its fish.People remember the glory of the Condamine past andwant to talk about a future for the Condamine and theirvisions for a healthy river that is, once again, full of nativefish.

Introducing the river and its people Once upon a time Prior to the European settlement there wereat least eight Aboriginal clans in the UpperCondamine catchment. These communitieswould gather every three years in the BunyaMountains, north of Dalby, from May toNovember, for the bunya nut harvest.European records of multi clan Aboriginalgathering goes back to 1866 when 400 – 500individuals from Barunggam, Bigambul, Dalla,Giabal, Jagara and the Jarowair peoplegathered along Lake Broadwater near Dalby.

These Aboriginal clans have a strong spiritualconnection with the Condamine River. TheBarunggam people believe that the GreatRainbow Serpent called Gaiwar carved outthe rivers, creeks and lakes during its journeyacross the earth. The Githabul people calledthe Rainbow SerpentMochel Mochel andbelieve that it lived in the waterholes aroundWarwick. For the Githabul people swimmingin the river was associated with strict rules.The genders were segregated and allocatedseparate times. Some water holes were alsoused for initiation ceremonies that were outof bound to the opposite sex³.

The Upper Condamine was rich in fish,freshwater turtles, shellfish and waterfowl aswell as a triennial bumper crop of bunyanuts. This led to the area being a regulargathering site for the surrounding clans².

Nardoo, a plant which grows in the shallowmargins of billabongs along the Condamine,was ground to make a type of pancake. Thebulbs of the native leek and water lilies wereused as vegetables³. The banks of theCondamine River and its tributaries alsoprovided the Aboriginal peoples with thefruits of ruby saltbush, native lime, winterapple and sandalwood.

The richness of the Upper Condamineallowed local clans to trade with the clansfrom other catchments.

Although there have been some changesover the years, traditions associated with theriver are as vivid now as they were beforethe arrival of the Europeans. As Sam Bonner,Githabul Elder, points out:

In past times aboriginals were required toremove rubbish from the river leaving it cleanand tidy as they found it.

As in the past, the river continues to play asignificant role in the lives of Aboriginalpeople today.

A creek in the Upper Condamine River catchmentwith intact riparian vegetation. Photo: Condamine Alliance.

The arrival of the Europeans The first European explorer in the area, AlanCunningham, travelled through thecatchment in 1827, naming the DarlingDowns after the governor of NSW, Sir RalphDarling. During the 1840s, the early settlersestablished several grazing enterprises. Moresettlements were encouraged afterQueensland became a state in 1859, andlegislation was passed to subdivide largepastoral establishments into smaller blocksto increase population².

The area witnessed a significant increase inthe region’s agricultural economy as thecropping and dairy industries expanded.

The Leslie Dam, south west of Warwick, wasconstructed in 1964 with a water storagecapacity of 47 000 ML. It was later modifiedto increase its water holding capacity tosupport the irrigation industry.

Water extractions and weirs have resulted inreduced high flows, minor changes toseasonality and variability and a reduction inannual water volumes within theCondamine. Reduced flows and nutrientrunoff have also increased the incidence ofblue green algal blooms in the system.

Brian Kuhn has been a resident, fisherman, fishstocking club member and Fishcare volunteer. Morerecently Brian has been involved in river restorationprojects. Photo: Greg Ringwood.

Olive and Ray Shooter have lived on Dalrymple Creekfor 48 and over 77 years respectively. In their youngeryears their lives revolved around the creek.Photo: Greg Ringwood.

Sam Bonner, Githabul Elder, is passionate about theCondamine. Sam is keen to pass on his traditional andenvironmental knowledge on to the children, to showthem what the river means to him and his people.Photo: Greg Ringwood.

Noal Kuhl is a keen fisherman and fishing journalist.He is involved in the local fish stocking club and hasundertaken local historical research to guide manyriver restoration projects in his area. Photo: GregRingwood.

Brian Kuhn – The passion of a farmerBrian Kuhn has beenworking as a farmersince he was 17 yearsold. He lives on aproperty that bordersKings Creek, a majortributary of theCondamine River. Brianhas fished the Kingssince he was oldenough to fish.

Catfish and more Fishing is a family pasttime in this part of theworld and the fishingskills have been passeddown from generationto generationunchanged. Brianlearned how to fishfrom his father who

had an easy way to teach the kids whenthey’d caught a fish.

He had a float on the end of his line and theline was suspended about probably 3 or 4feet under the water and, you'd sit there inthe afternoon and when the cork started to

bob up and down you knew you had a bite.So it was an easy way to learn to fishanyway.

Brian remembers catching many fish, butmostly catfish.

Well the majority of fish we caught werewhat we called the old eeltailed catfish. Hewas the most predominant fish we caught.We caught the odd yellowbelly or goldenperch, even rarer, was the odd Murray cod.But since we have started stocking goldenperch and Murray cod in these systems theyhave become more prevalent.

The silver lining Everyone has a secret about fishing – Brian’sfather was no exception.

I remember back to when Dad taught mefishing in the creek years ago. We had a littlefish called the bobby perch. Now they onlyever grow to about 15cm. That’s probably asbig as they grow and once you got them onthe bite there was a little feeding frenzy, Dadused to put a little piece of silver paper out ofhis tobacco pouch and they'd take that. So Imean if you run out of worms just put a bit ofsilver paper on the end and put it in thewater and flick. Probably works like an earlyversion of a lure.

Spangled perch(Leiopotherapon unicolour

bobby, spangled grunter, nicky)

Photo: Gunther Schmida.

Average length 15cm, maximum length 25cm

Extremely hardy: recorded travelling up to 16kmin 2 hours along wheel ruts during thunderstorms

Upstream spawning migrations triggered bysummer floods and temperatures exceeding26ºC

Highly predatory fish that will eat anything it canswallow

Most widespread native freshwater fish inAustralia

River regulation, cold water pollution andreduced floods are threats to spangled perch

Remains abundant across the northern Basin

Doing what young people do To Brian, the river provided a lot more thanjust the fish.

Living on the creek, our house was less than100 metres from the water. We'd just popdown in the afternoon and catch a fish. Butas I grew older and started having friendswe'd come out here, 15km out of Clifton,camp the night, have a fish and, you know,do what young people do.

The secret of preparing a fish It seems regular fishing creates somepractical ways of preparing and cooking fish,especially when the taste of the fish fillets istainted with a somewhat muddy taste.

Gone are the old days of just throwing a fishon the BBQ, scales and all because you doget a very muddy taste out of the flesh.There are various recipes soaking them inmilk or soaking them in salty water afteryou've filleted them. The best is to leave itovernight in the fridge and then nextmorning you will see all the fat areas on theflesh have solidified. All you do is cut thataway and give that to the cat and the niceclear flesh it tastes fine. The Murray coddoesn't seem to have that problem as such.

Losing the banks One of the major issues in relation to thehabitat loss in the Upper Condamine is theremoval of snags from the river channel.Brian remembers:

In the 1960s, there was a scheme going. Itwas run by the Condamine River Trust andtheir job was funded by the Government toremove all the trees and snags out of thestreams. It was to let the water get awayfaster, to allegedly stop flooding down thestreams. Well, I think it made it worse,because I think it made the water flow a lotfaster and there was a lot more damage anderosion done to the banks.

Righting the wrongs Brian notes how attitudes have changedover the years. He has worked with localauthorities to improve this section of theCondamine River.

In the last three years, money was allocatedhere so we could start putting snags back inthe water. In this general area of 500 metres12 big, big trees were plonked back in thewater.

The River Improvement Trust

The River Improvement Trust is a statutory authorityconstituted under the River Improvement Trust Act1940 to protect and improve rivers, repair and preventdamage to rivers and prevent or mitigate flooding ofland by riverine flood.

The primary role of the Trust is to plan, design, finance,undertake and maintain stream improvement worksfor the benefit of the community within its riverimprovement area.

The Trust has the powers to undertake these functionsincluding the ability to raise funds, enter land, occupyland, enter into contracts and carry out works4.

In the upper Condamine River the Trust removedhabitat, vegetation and snags, forming a channel withincreased water velocities, leading to elevated erosionissues and increased down stream flooding in manycases. This impacted heavily on native fish populations.

Sam Bonner – Traditional river connectionsSam Bonner is a Githabul Elder who lives closeto Emu Creek, one of tributaries of theCondamine River. He has a close connectionwith the river.

Sam points to a river red gum whose trunk stillbears the deep scar from bark removed toconstruct a canoe over 160 years ago.

According to Sam, canoes were made by thelocal Aboriginals not for their own use but totrade with other Aboriginal tribes for locallyunavailable products such as ochre forpainting.

Here we are, in front of a scarred tree. Seehow they cut around that sappy part, andtook all that out. They used to do that withwedges. They had special material to makewedges out of, you know, like special stone.And they cut them and mark them all theway around and then they wedge it. Theywedge all that out. That is what they used tomake the canoe out of.

An underground sea The Githabul people maintained a closerelationship with the river, using stories toconvey the connectivity of waters above andbelow ground.

Sam Bonner and the canoe tree.Photo: Greg Ringwood.

Since way back – I was told about it, back inthe 1950s, they said 70 years before theanimal thing was sighted here. Mum and theother elders told me every 70 or 80 yearsthose things come back and show themselves.

They come up from underneath here, becauseit’s deep, so deep it was bottomless, it goesinto the big underground stream. It’s like a bigsea of water, all this country, underneaththere. There are passage ways, and thesethings might come up down Tweed Heads orsomewhere, or they might come up out atCunnamulla. So this is a sacred water hole, thisplace. We’re never allowed to swim here onaccount of they said there’s some prehistoricanimal or something that’s in here. No oneknows what it is, you know. But it has beensighted back in them days. Some describe it aslike a big overgrown wombat.

An Upper Condamine River waterhole.Photo: Greg Ringwood.

Only take what you need Sam learned how to fish from his aunties.They often went fishing to bring home afeed for the family, always catching whatthey needed and only what they needed.

They would catch about five or six each, andthen start packing up and put the fish in thebags, and I couldn’t understand myself. Iused to say ‘Aunty, what are we going homefor? We’ll get some more.’ And she wouldreply ‘No, you’re only allowed to catch somany.’ That’s what they taught me. You onlycatch what fed the family, see. You’re not toget anymore.

Sam, his family and friends always kept theriver clean and tidy. For others, such care forthe river was not always undertaken,especially when it came to catching fish.

People these days they fill their fridge rightup to the top with fish. That’s stupid. That’sgreedy. They’re still doing it. They take bigeskies out there and they bring home asmuch as they can catch – unbelievable whatdo they do with it all? They can’t eat all that.

Timber mills and bobbing Sam’s father was a tree cutter, so mostfamily members worked in the local timbermill. They used some of their free timecatching fish in Emu Creek.

We worked in sawmills and things. We neverhad that much spare time. Weekends werethe only time we had, and then if we werelucky we’d get to town. If not we’d comefishing to these places. We’ve fished all alonghere. We used to catch a fair bit of fish back inthem days, 18 or 19 jew [catfish] andyellowbelly. You’d get a good feed every time.

Sam and his family used a variety of baitswhen they fished, attaching a cork to the lineand using ‘bobbing’ techniques to attract thefish.

We used to use anything for bait. Maybecrayfish and frogs are number one,grasshoppers, crickets, and black crickets.We’d just lift up a log or cow manure to seeand you’d see plenty of crickets. Use them,anything. Get the cork bobbing steady so itmakes a big noise going ‘pop’ when it comesup. The bigger and wider the cork the better itmakes that noise. The fish hear it and theycome and they see the bait moving, and theyjust go and grab it.

Protecting the perch Emu Creek flows straight into the CondamineRiver. It has Murray cod, yellowbelly andcatfish that all breed in the creek’swaterholes. Occasionally you can get silverperch, but they are very small in the creek.

Silver perch (Bidyanus bidyanus grunter, black bream,

silver bream, bidyan)

Photo: Barry Porter.

Medium to large fish growing to 50cm and8kg, but usually 35cm and 2kg

Found in similar habits to Murray cod andgolden perch (lowland turgid, slow flowingrivers)

Spawning can occur without a flood, butthese fish seem to benefit from a rise in waterlevel

Will move through fishways

Eat aquatic plants, snails, shrimp, and aquaticinsect larvae

Potential threats include river regulation,barriers to migration, altered flow regimes,cold water pollution and interactions withcarp and redfin

Perch like a lot of protection, lots of trees,because they’re fish that birds can get easily,especially Kingfishers and stuff like that,because perch are only small. You get silverperch here no more than about six, seveninches. Birds get anything that they can see.They can see out in the open, but aroundshade they can’t see fish.

A silver perch in Oakey Creek. Photo: Noal Kuhl.

The importance of plants Sam believes the river along Emu Creek haschanged over the years. It is partly due tothe clearing of vegetation in and around theriver.

It’s changed – there’s not enough vegetationhere now – timber and stuff. And you can seewhere it’s gradually getting washed downand the banks on the creeks are gettingnarrower. That’s because no vegetation isthere to halt the erosion.

The water holes are getting smaller andshallower all the time because they haven’tbeen allowed to revegetate themselves, nowwe’ve got to help them to revegetate. This isall part of the main catchment of theCondamine and definitely has to be lookedafter.

Riparian vegetation provides shade and is a source ofsnags, both of which are important aspects of healthyfish habitat. Photo: Condamine Alliance.

The revegetation of Myall Creek, a tributary of theCondamine River, was severely affected by the 2010 –2011 floods. Photo: Condamine Alliance.

River vegetationWater plants are important because they providehabitat, food, refuge, spawning and nursery sites forfish and invertebrates. They also stabilise and filtersediments and influence water quality.

Ribbon weed growing next to a snag. Photo: Scott Nichols.

The plants on the river bank (‘riparian vegetation’) area key source of organic matter for the aquatic system.Many aquatic invertebrates feed on decaying materialand these, in turn, provide a food source for otherinvertebrates and fish. Woody material which fallsinto rivers and streams provide fish with shelter and asubstrate for food, such as algae, and breeding sites.Riparian vegetation provides shade, which reducesdaily and seasonal extremes in water temperature,stabilises riverbanks, slows surface runoff and can actas a filter to pollutants and nutrients. It also leads tomore diverse fish habitats through providing snags,undercut banks and variation in the channel bed.

Olive and Ray Shooter – A lifetime on the creekOlive and RayShooter have beenmarried since 1963.Ray has lived alongDalrymple Creek forover 77 years. Olivegrew up a fewkilometres fromwhere they livetoday, moving to

their current home 48 years ago.

When he was a boy Ray could not keep awayfrom the creek.

Oh, it was very carefree and we used to swimand play in the creek. There were willows inthe creek at that time, and they were lovelyshady tree. It was good.

Ray and his family also often had picnicsalong the river.

We used to – even when we were young,have a few picnics on the bank. We used totake the afternoon tea. It was lovely, it hadthe Condamine couch under the trees. It wasa fairly nice little area. Mainly just us andother nephews and nieces that might comeand stay. We’d just play around and maybepaddle a little bit, because you could getdown into the creek very easily.

Fishing is a family pastime Ray did not fish much when he was young,but his father and brother were keen fishers.They caught yellowbelly, jewfish (catfish)and cod.

They used to fish in Dalrymple and theCondamine. In my boyhood days the codweren’t here, but I heard stories from myfather, when he was a boy, that there plentyof cod in the creek. They disappeared for somereason or other, and they come back in 30years ago, I suppose. And they – well theylasted up until the dry, I think, that that wouldhave finished them off. But our son has caughta small cod recently; we had to throw himback of course, so they are still about.

Although Ray does not fish, Olive is a keenfisher. She sees fishing as a relaxing activity.

I just love fishing. It’s like looking formushrooms, really. You never know whenyou’re going to get one, do you? I used toalways say, ’It doesn’t matter whether yousit at the bank all day and you catch nothing,it’s lovely.’ The dragonflies, and everythingthat flits around the creek are there. Littlewrens and kingfishers and all the other littlebird life flittering around. It’s beautiful.

Learning to fish Olive’s father was a fisherman, and taughtOlive and her sisters how to fish. They usedseveral different methods of fishingbetween them.

Dad used to set us a line with a cork on it andwe’d sit with that when we’d go fishing.Mum never fished. She would always takethe New Idea and have a day out at the river.It was a good family day.

Mayflies are importantparts of the aquaticecosystem – andparticularly loved byfish as food.Photo: Luke Pearce.

When we were kids and we’d go down toKings Creek, my eldest sister had an idea thatif you bobbed you’d catch more. She caught48 spangled perch one day by just bobbingthe cork all the time. We couldn’t ever repeatthat.

I never even use a cork now, and I don’t likerods either. You can’t feel what the fish isdoing with a rod. If you just hold onto theline, you know what the fish is doing.

Olive with one of her catches. Photo: Ray Shooter.

Best thing you could ever get When teaching her son to fish Olive lovedthe spangled perch.

Spangled perch are the most beautiful littlefish you’ve ever seen. They’re a dear littlefish. For mothers introducing their sons tofishing, they were the best thing you couldever get, because as soon as the bait hits thewater they grabbed it. You could catch themwith a pin on a string. You could just throw itin, and whatever you had as bait, they wouldbite on it. I think they were the best fun formothers and small boys.

Driven to distraction When the fish are on the bite, not even afear of the bait would stop Olive fromcatching a fish.

One time when I couldn’t find any worms, myson said he’d get some willow grubs,something I don’t like to handle. Anyway, Itook the toilet paper with me, and I used toget a piece of toilet paper, and pick up thewillow grub with that, and put it on the hookand bait up. I was going all right until theystarted biting, and then all of a sudden Ididn’t care if I picked up a willow grub or not.I picked up a willow grub and I put it on thehook, no trouble. I didn’t need toilet paperafter that.

Olive is now teaching her grandson Harry tofish the same way as she did her son.

Harry is 11 and a real fisherman. He can talkof nothing else but fishing when he’s fishing.He comes up to me wanting to go fishingbecause he’s not allowed to go to the creekon his own. He takes a lounge chair for me tosit on while he fishes.

A drier creek Both Olive and Ray have noticed changes inthe creek over the years. In the 1950s and‘60s, Olive noticed that the local water holedried out less often.

Just down here, where I always fished, thebig hole. Well it’s been dry on quite a fewoccasions lately and it never was dry in pastyears. We always had water in the creek. Butthose times are gone.

Some of the aquatic creatures have ways ofcoping with these changes, as Olive explains:

There’s yabbies in the little hole down here.They’re amazing really, ‘cause the water holegoes completely dry and there’s nothingthere at all. Then as soon as it gets water init there’s yabbies and the little perch,spangled perch, in it.

Ray also says the river dries out moreregularly than it has in the past.

I’ve lived on the creek all my life. I’ve noticeda big change in the creek. When I was a kid,we used to swim and play in the creek and itvery rarely stopped running in those days. It’schanged dramatically now. Partly I’d saybecause of the 16, 18 year drought thatwe’ve had, and the over allocation of theirrigation water.

A changed creek Removal of vegetation along the river hasaffected the flow and creek banks. Rayrecalls:

In their wisdom, the River [Improvement]Trust decided to get rid of the willow trees,they were slowing down the stream toomuch. And they took them out, and as aresult then, the stream ran much faster, andit scoured the banks and it made it into adifferent creek altogether. Instead of the nicesloped grassy banks, we finished up with agreat scoured out steep bank. It used to take24 hours for the water to come from the topdown to here, and after that it came for 12hours. Before the flow would get to theCondamine, it deposited all the silt.

In an attempt to address some of theseproblems, the River Trust carried out workon erosion effected areas, some moresuccessful than others, as Ray explains:

They tried three different things to aiderosion control that I can remember. Theybattered the banks down and planted grasson them. That was moderately successful.They put a wall of tyres down the bank there;to hold the creek from washing back to theroad. The tyres were successful. And thenthey put posts in and tied logs and brownsaplings to them and they backfilled thatthen, but that wasn’t a success because thesaplings that they put in very soon rottedaway and it washed away.

Denuded and eroding banks on the Condamine.Photo: Brian Kuhn.

Yabby(Cherax destructor)

Photo: Greg Ringwood.

Seldom over 250g

Widely distributed in SE Australia

Found in ponds, billabongs and slow flowingstreams

More active in the warmer months, less activewhen water temperatures are below 14°C

Breed from September to March

Fast growing: can reach 50g in first year

Live for 6 7 years

Reduction of backwaters, floodplains andbillabongs biggest threat, overfishing leading tolocalised losses

Noal Kuhl – Angler, historian and fish habitat restorer

Noal Kuhl has lived inOakey area all his life.Restoring the localwaterways to theirformer natural gloryhas always been anambition.

All you saw was sewage As a youngster growing up Noal saw howpoorly the river was treated.

When I grew up in the 1970s, all you couldsee was sewage flowing down the creek andit was foamy, brown, and that certainlywasn’t eye pleasing. It certainly wasn’tappealing as kids to come down to the localcreeks for a fish. So it became a challenge tochange all of that. With the EnvironmentalProtection Agency in place, the local councilwere forced to clean up the creeks. Theimprovement in treated water flowingdownstream became noticeable. The creeklandowners tell us they noticed better qualitywater in the creeks around 1997 as it got alot cleaner and a lot clearer.

Noal became interested in the health of thewaterways so future generations couldrespect and know that waterways areimportant ecosystems to have in thecommunity and not a water source to beabused. In 1994 he joined the OakeyFreshwater Fish Stocking Association.

Through his involvement with the fishingassociation Noal began interviewing the longterm residents for historical records andstarted piecing together some of thechanges that had occurred to the waterholesand headwaters of the Condamine River,including Gowrie, Westbrook and OakeyCreek.

The first settlers only needed the water fortheir domestic use, where they’d be washingclothes, or feeding livestock. There was nolarge scale irrigation like we have now. Sonow during dry times, you will probably seethe creek run dry. Back in the 1960sToowoomba City was expanding and housingestates started covering over thesurrounding natural springs, so there’s lesswater seeping out and filtering into thecreeks now. Not a lot of people noticedbecause sewerage treatment water wasreplacing the good spring water, so thewater level basically stayed the same but the

water quality was reduced. Now thesewerage water is no longer being releasedinto the creek, all the fish have to rely on isthe rainwater that falls in the catchmentzone. The creek is not as permanent as whatit used to be.

Noal with one of the water quality samples fromOakey Creek, downstream from Gowrie Creek. Thewater in Oakey Creek contains treated waste waterfrom the Wetella treatment plant in ToowoombaCity as well as stormwater comes from the citystreets and surrounding farmland.Photo: www.nma.gov.au.

Carp country It’s not only the water flows that havechanged in this part of the Condamine –many parts of the river and its creeks havehad their vegetation cleared to the creekedge and removed from the creek channel.

This has led to areas so disturbed that theycan no longer support a diverse range ofaquatic life including the native fish thatonce thrived here. Despite carp only arrivingin the Upper Condamine in the late 1990s,Noal describes these areas as ‘carp country’:

Basically, this is European carp country: ifyou fish here you will catch a lot of carp.There is basically no habitat here for nativefish to live. There are no trees for native fishlive under. It’s just a ‘glorified gully’. There’shardly any structure in the water, no logs inthe water, or anything to hold native fish. It’salso shallow, about four to six foot deep rightthrough and that’s what carp like.

Oakey Creek – habitat for carp. Photo: Noal Kuhl.

The disappearing silver perch Along the Upper Condamine, the silverperch is considered to be the mostvulnerable of all native fish. Although theyare in abundance in stocked impoundments,

they are not often found in the natural riversystem. Noal puts this down to habitat lossfrom past human activities.

Much of silver perch’s habitat has beendestroyed and wild populations of them arevery rare. There was a lot of discussion in ourstocking group about releasing these fish.Fishermen told us ‘its very difficult to catchlegal sized fish for the esky’. Our stockinggroup committee’s response was ‘It’s ourgroup’s responsibility to make sure thisspecies is kept alive and healthy in ourwaterways’.

A wriggly problem There are many different types of bait usedto catch fish in the Upper Condamine but, asNoal recounts, bloodworms are consideredthe best, especially the species that live inthe black soil country of the Darling Downs.

The local fishermen come to the waterwayscollecting bloodworms for bait. The DarlingDowns produces the best fishing bait on theEastern Seaboard for catching native fish andthis is because of the blood worms.

Because of the popularity of bloodworms,many fishermen regularly visit to dig forthem. This is having a great impact on theriparian vegetation where the bloodwormsare easily located.

Ground worked over for bloodworms. Photo: Noal Kuhl.

Some friendly rules have been developed tolessen the impact on the riparian zones.

Local fishermen have their own little bedsmade up and they continually dig them overfor worms and look after them. That’s whatis needed: to limit the diggings and reducethe need to go into new areas and stuff upthe riparian zones.

Ringtanks and catfish Despite the numerous negative impacts thathuman activities have placed on thewaterways, Noal believes sometimes manmade structures have had a positive effectby providing habitat to some native fish.One example is the role ringtanks (farmdams) play in the survival of eeltailed orTandanus catfish.

Catfish(Tandanus tandanus – eeltailed catfish, jewie)

Photo: Gunther Schmida.

Medium sized fish, usually 50cm or lessBottom dwellers that prefer slow movingwaters of rivers or creeksEat aquatic insects, yabbies, molluscs and smallfishEggs laid in a circular gravel nest which themale guards until the eggs hatchListed as ‘Endangered’ in Victoria, ‘Endangeredpopulation’ in NSW and protected in SA

Photo: NSW DPI.

Back in 1991, there were only three ringtanks on Oakey Creek. What happened isthat fish get pumped through with the water.When the dams are nearing empty you cansee all the round hollows at the bottom ofthe dams indicating eeltailed catfish nests.Eeltails collect little pebble rocks and placethem in the middle which help the eggs tostick. The eeltailed catfish are a hardy nativespecies that thrive in farm dams, as do silverperch. Other predatory fish are lessadaptable to ring tanks so without thecompetition, catfish thrive.

Noal and his mates used to have greatsuccess fishing in the ring tanks.

All you’d catch was eeltailed catfish. But theywere the plumpest, healthiest, fattestlooking eeltails you’re ever likely to see.Some were over 900mm long and you’dcatch 14 or 15 in a session and take somehome. Sometimes you’d put them in ahessian bag (especially if you knew they werefemale with a lot of eggs) and take themback down to the creek and let them go. Ringtanks are prolific sites for eeltailed catfishbreeding on the Downs. Oakey Creek has alarge population in comparison to the rest ofthe Murray Darling Basin where they arepretty scarce. I’d say the ring tanks are onearea to nurture eeltailed catfish to returnthem in big numbers elsewhere.

Pumping water, not fish Irrigation pumps and drains are a problem for fish. Up to 200fish can potentially be extracted daily from the river throughhigh volume irrigation pumps. These fish are removed fromthe natural system with little chance to return to the river,effectively being ‘lost’ from the main river channel. Thissituation has a major impact on the health of native fishcommunities in the Murray Darling Basin.4

Some of the more resilient native fish species, such asspangled perch and bony bream, are able to live in storages,but their ability to return to the rivers and contribute totheir natural community is lost.

The issue is not new – back as early as 1928 the InlandFisheries Officer of NSW recommended:5Screens should beinstalled at all irrigation and other pumping plants havingnot more than half an inch perforation to minimise thedestruction of fish life.

Research is continuing into theeffective use of screens.Photos: NSW DPI.

State of river: ‘moderate ‘ The Sustainable Rivers Audit (SRA) is an ongoingand systematic assessment of river health for 23major river valleys in the MDB. Environmentalindicators include hydrology, fish andmacroinvertebrates, which are monitored and willhighlight trends over time.

The Condamine Valley was surveyed in 2005. TheCondamine Valley fish community and EcosystemHealth were considered to be in ModerateCondition. 56% of predicted native species werecaught from the “Slopes Zone”. Alien fish werewidespread, and comprised just over half fishbiomass (55%).

Bony herring were numerous and carp gudgeons,Australian smelt, golden perch, Murray Darlingrainbowfish and spangled perch also werecommon. Three alien species, Eastern gambusia,goldfish and carp, were captured frequentlyduring the survey¹.

Making connections Being involved with native fish During the early settlement, fishing was anecessity as it provided a vital food source.Those interested in fishing only had the timeto catch a feed of fish. These days fishing hasbecame a passion for many who not onlyspend time fishing but also observe thehealth of the river and the native fishpopulations. Brian Kuhn explains:

We started the fishing club at Nobby in 1988.It was a family orientated fishing clubfocused on putting fish back into the river. Itbecame evident there was a need for aneducational program to aid native fish in thisarea. The fishcare volunteer program, whichwas orientated towards sustainable fishing,was kicked off by the Qld Department ofPrimary Industries (Qld DPI). They providedus with brochures and general material toeducate the fishing public on the correct wayof caring for native fish. The program wasproactive not just saying they could nottake a fish. Further extension was providedby the Qld DPI in Brisbane, training us aboutfish and fish habitat. Now, from time to timeI come out here and just check the river ingeneral and make sure that everything looksreasonably healthy. That is part of beinginvolved with native fish.

Moving toward zero till Tilling of the fields around Dalrymple Creekhas contributed to the turbidity of the creekwater as soil was eroded off paddocks andinto the creek. Recently farmers have madechanges to land management practices andzero till is gradually becoming moreprevalent. Ray Shooter observed that thishas led to clearing of the creek waters:

I think that a lot of the farmers now havegone to zero till. Well that certainly has cutdown the silt entering the creek. When weused to plough, the water that ran off thepaddock after a storm was quite dirty. Sincewe knocked off cultivating, the water runs offmostly clear. I suppose it would be 80% zerotill in this area now.

Escape the rat race The river is enjoyed by many people foractivities including fishing and as a place tospend quality time with friends and family.Brian Kuhn recalls it is mostly a place torelax:

At busy times, typically at Easter time youcome out here and there are lots of familiesthat camp here for the Easter weekend.

People come from all over to get away fromit all. They set up their camp, their little dogand a fire, it's marvellous to be out hereaway from the rat race; just the river andnature to enjoy.

Visions for the Condamine The fishing people who contributed to thisproject have all talked about their hopes forthe future of the Condamine. Many felt theyhad seen some improvements but mostdon't feel the river is as healthy yet as theywould like to see it. Each of these fisherssuggested ways to help the river and in turnhelp provide healthy habitats for fish.

Helping fish in tough times Fishing clubs including Nobby and DistrictFishing Club and Oakey Freshwater FishStocking Association are very active givingnative fish a hand when needed. Between2001 and 2009 the Upper Condamine wasgripped by one of the worst droughts inhistory, resulting in a significant number ofwater holes drying out. The native fishrequired human intervention to survive, asBrian Kuhn recalls:

For the past 20 years the Condamine Riverhas been in a pretty sad state with onlyoccasional flow. More often than not it hasbeen dry holes. Eighteen months ago, wewalked some of the river, rescuing Murraycod and put them into more permanentwaterholes. We’ve got a few very dedicatedpeople who love fish.

A combined approach With the help the Condamine Alliance andFisheries Queensland, these two fishinggroups approach the issue of sustaining fishpopulations in the Upper Condamine moresystematically than just stocking fingerlingsinto the water. Both clubs have also beenclosely involved in habitat restoration workson the Upper Condamine. As Noal Kuhlexplains:

We asked the question: when we putfingerlings in the waterways, is it worth theeffort? To answer this question we needed tounderstand what the creeks were like beforeand what we see today. Once the changeswere identified we looked at if we couldrectify the bad aspects. We found that a lotof the vegetation had gone. Mostimportantly ploughing the banks hadreduced the riparian zone. That requiredfixing so the native fish would want toreturn. Once we started putting fingerlingsinto the creek in the ‘80s, we noticed anincrease of native animals as well. Thefarmers started telling us that koalas,goannas and birds, were appearing on thecreek quite noticeably. Once revegetationbegan, there’s been major improvementsfrom 1995 and what you see here today.

Members of the fishing and stocking groups areinvolved in revegetating numerous creeks along withthe local councils in the Condamine (above) as wellas fish monitoring (below). Photos: Noal Kuhl.

You have to take the time Sam Bonner believes it’s important to teachhis young relatives to respect the river andtheir history. Sam explains:

They used to come here to swim. It took metwo or three seasons to stop them. Becausethis is my area where I was brought up, Iknow all about it. I had to do my job, do myduty. You’ve got to keep them legends alive,see. In our days, we had to listen. These daysit’s different they’re brought up differentculture now. You’ve got to get through –you’ve got to take the time to get throughthem now.

Noal Kuhl releasing a Murray Cod caught amongstreintroduced snags. Photo source: Condamine Alliance.

One of the interpretive signs explaining the work that is being done to improve the health of the creeks and riversof the Condamine catchment. Photo: Greg Ringwood.

Bringing back the fish a) The Dewfish Demonstration Reach

The Condamine Alliance Natural ResourceManagement Group is undertaking theCondamine River Rescue Program torehabilitate and protect the CondamineRiver catchment. Native fish are used as anindicator to gauge the health of the riversystem.

The Murray Darling Basin Authority fundedNative Fish Strategy ‘Dewfish DemonstrationReach’ is located within the Condaminecatchment. This rehabilitation site is over100km long.

The River Rescue Program and the NativeFish Strategy are working in partnership withlandholders, local governments andstakeholders to deliver improved riverhealth through improved land use practiceslike riparian fencing, off stream watering,erosion and weed control. Instream worksinclude re snagging, fishways and carpcontrol.

You can get involved with this program byvolunteering or providing financial support.For more information contact Kevin Grahamor Condamine Alliance on 0418 411 351.

Resnagging at Bowenville Reserve. Photo: Noal Kuhl.

b) Restoring fish migration

Two weirs along the Condamine River wereidentified as major barriers to fish passage:Loudoun Weir and Reilly’s Weir, a historicalprivate weir. Both weirs have prevented fishpassage since their construction. In 2009both weirs had fishways retrofitted toimprove fish passage. The improvements toReilly’s Weir allow fish movement along theCondamine River during flows for the firsttime since the weir was constructed in 1936.

For more information contact the MDBANative Fish Strategy Coordinator on(07) 3239 0727.

The construction of Reillys Weir. The recentinstallation of a fishway on this structure is givingfish access to habitat that have not had since 1936.Photo source: Geoff and Sue Reilly.

c) Condamine Headwaters LandcareGroup IncCondamine Headwaters Landcare Group’sinitiative ‘Love My River’ aims to engage thecommunity to better understand thecatchment and the river environment. Itincludes story telling, a catchment crawl,water bug testing, waterway monitoringand more. The initiative covers the UpperCondamine Area around Killarney, Dalveen,Leyburn, Maryvale and Allora. For moreinformation contact Elspeth Cooper on(07) 4685 2096.

River resources -Native Fish Strategy Coordinator, Southern Queensland,Greg Ringwood: (07) 3239 0727 / 0423 829 028

Condamine Alliance, Kevin Graham: 0418 411 351,http://condaminealliance.com.au

Condamine Catchment Management Association,Mary Lou Gittins: (07) 4666 6290

Condamine Headwaters Landcare Group Inc.: (07) 4661 9909,landcare@chlgroup.org.au

Chinchilla and District Amateur Fishing Club Inc.:PO Box 342 Chinchilla Q 4413.

Chinchilla and District Landcare Group Inc:chinchilla_landcare@bigpond.com

Crows Nest Historical Society: (07) 4698 1776,suepechey@skymesh.com.au

Oakey Freshwater Fish Stocking AssociationPO Box 262, Oakey Qld 4401

Nobby and District Fishing Club Inc.:brian.kuhn@bigpond.com.au .

North east Downs Landcare Groups Inc.: 0427 024 921,krausebuilder@bigpond.com

Toowoomba Historical Society: (07) 4638 7362,history@icr.com.au

National Library Australia: www.nla.gov.au

Warwick District Recreational Fish Stocking Association:kemp3@dodo.com.au

About the Talking Fish project The Talking Fish project arose from an increasing realisation that many different groups ofpeople, including fishers, Indigenous communities, tourists and landholders have developedunique relationships with the rivers of the Murray Darling Basin. There is also the growingrecognition that the health of the Murray Darling Basin is at risk. By accessing and recordingdifferent people’s stories about their experiences of a river, its fish and how both have changedwill contribute to our collective knowledge and help shape future management decisions. Thesestories also have the potential to give people a sense of just what these magnificent rivers andtheir fish were once like and could be again with ongoing rehabilitation efforts.

The Talking Fish project focussed on 12 reaches within the following rivers: Namoi (NSW), UpperCondamine River (Qld), Katarapko Creek (SA), Upper Murrumbidgee River (NSW / ACT), CulgoaBalonne Rivers (Qld / NSW), Paroo River (Qld), Goulburn River (Vic), Lower Darling and GreatAnabranch (NSW), Ovens River (Vic), Mainstem Murray River (NSW / Victoria), Darling River(NSW) and The Coorong and Lower Lakes (SA).

The Talking Fish project is a starting point to share local knowledge and learned experience withothers to improve the health of the Murray – Darling Basin. Project information is available at:www.mdba.gov.au.Note: The term Talking Fish is also being used by the Australian River Restoration Centre as a way of sharingknowledge about people’s connection to fish and waterways.

References

1. Davies, P.E., Harris, J.H., Hillman, T.J. and Walker, KF 2008 SRA Report 1: A Report on the Ecological Health of Riversin the Murray–Darling Basin, 2004–2007, Canberra: Murray–Darling Basin Ministerial Council.

2. Biggs, A. and Carey, B., 2006. The Condamine Catchment. Queensland Natural Resources and Water CatchmentSeries Fact Sheet. QNRM05066, 2 pages.

3. Potter, C.; Moles, S.; Connors. L, and Postle, Pam, 2002. Conversations on the Condamine – An oral history from theQueensland Murray Darling Basin. Envirobook, Australia, 128 pages.

4. http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/water/regulation/river_improve_trust.html

5. http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/wetlandinfo/resources/static/pdf/conceptual model case studies/Dewfish.pdf

All fish fact boxes: Lintermans, M. 2007 Fishes of the Murray Darling Basin: An introductory guide, Canberra: MurrayDarling Basin Commission.

AbbreviationsDEEDI Department of Employment Economic Development

and Innovation (Qld)

DPI Department of Primary Industries

MDBA Murray Darling Basin Authority

Some fish of the Upper Condamine regionGolden perch / Yellowbelly / Callop Hyrtl’s catfish / Moonfish / Yellow finned

catfish

Spangled perch / Bobby cod Catfish / Eeltail catfish / Jewfish Yabby / Craybob

Native

(Not

toscale)

Silver perch / Murray bream / Grunter Murray cod / Cod

Introd

uced

(Not

toscale)

European Carp / Common carp Goldfish