Articles/Letters
The life and times of the local oyster Story & photo Mary Gardner
In some daring moment, you may have proclaimed ‘the world’s my oyster!’ But exactly what is an oyster’s world? Salty wet morsels on a half shell, what sort of life leaves them finally exposed on a plate at a fancy dinner? Pearl oysters, a separate group from the edible oysters, live in the tropics of Australia. Here in the northern rivers, the rock oyster and flat oyster were foodstuffs of the Aboriginal people for thousands of years. Large middens hint at centuries of bygone meals. Most of these are hard to find now because, from the mid 1800s, many were dug up and burned to create lime. This product was used partly in farming but more urgently for building. The British, wanting the type of housing they knew best, needed lime for mortar and cement. When the more obvious middens were used up, they pulled up live oyster reefs. This process was called ‘skinning’. Another word that makes a person think. ‘Skinning’ meant peeling away from river banks and coastal areas kilometres of structures made over centuries by oysters. These reefs were like coral reefs: layers of dead shells glued together and topped with a living layer of animals.
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unconscionable and reflect poorly on those public servants who owe fidelity of duty to the responsible minister for Crown lands, Andrew Stoner, and put the minister for local government, Don Page, and the delegated powers of our councillors, in opposition to them. Patricia Warren Brunswick Heads
Shuttle train issues Byron Council has recently given its blessing to the proposal for running a train shuttle from Bayshore Drive into the old station in Byron Bay. This proposal is part of the North Byron beach resort. The concept of a shuttle train sounds like a really good idea to get people out of their cars. The trouble is there are many issues that have not been looked at or given enough review. What will be the impact on the traffic at Lawson Street when the road is closed 20 times a day (report says minimum of ten trips a day on
(A variation of this communal living was the oyster bed.) In either setting, these animals are filter feeders. They open their shells and circulate water across their gills for both oxygen and particles of food. In great numbers, they once cleared vast amounts of water. Individual oysters are clocked at clearing up to 190 litres of water a day. Adult rock oysters change sex several times a year. Rock oysters simply shed eggs and sperm into the waters. Flat oysters are also sex changers but in a female mode, the oyster collects sperm and broods the young inside the shell. About a week later, the youngsters are sent off. By either process, a new generation swims away, attaches somewhere and grows. Either type of oyster reproduction en masse was also an opportunity for a feed by
different schools of fish. Reefs were generally good for a meal of oysters or of other animals that made their homes there. The complexity is hard to picture. Different predators were a hazard for different sizes of shellfish. Certain sharks also ate oysters. Still, many oysters survived. Oral histories suggest that Aboriginal people encouraged settlement of oysters by deliberately placing old shells or sticks in the water. Shellfishing was often considered women’s work. Is it possible that coastal regions were partly shaped by generations of women ‘gardening’ young oyster spat? Back to ‘skinning’. Since shellfish doubled as everyday foodstuff for Aboriginal people and immigrants alike, laws tried to stop the destruction of live reefs and beds. ‘Skinning’, along with
the weekend)? Have the pollution issues been measured? This includes noise pollution for the residents along the line and the soot from the diesel engine. Has a study been done to determine how many people would use the train? If the rail trail goes ahead and the train is using the existing track a new path will be required. Will the developers pay for the additional cost of the new path and bridge? What other options were looked at, such as solar-powered buses, electric carts etc? I believe these issues need to be satisfactorily resolved before the proposal is approved by the state government. Greg Byrnes Lennox Head
not adequately and reasonably considered. Most importantly I dispute that the ABC does not operate in the interests of ‘Australia’. I’d love to hear a Fact Check on that one. I strongly support an independent national news broadcasting system that is without fear or favour, unlike the leader of the Liberal Party, whose comments appear to be a very determined insult. As for his criticism of the Fact Check stories, the Fact Check concept is innovative, informative and (probably) instrumental in keeping a whole lot of bastards (more than they otherwise would be) honest. In the public interest there should be more of it across media boundaries. When I was a councillor distributing my own newsletter to my constituents, I would always open them with the line that ‘A genuinely informed electorate is democracy’s greatest friend’. The ABC is a genuine friend of democracy, no matter who the electorate chooses to lead them. The value of free media in Australia is under attack by the very person who should
ABC under attack The comment by the PM that ‘a lot of people feel at the moment that the ABC instinctively takes everyone’s side but Australia’s’ sends shivers down my spine. I dispute that the numbers are ‘a lot’. I dispute that the ABC makes decisions that are
North Coast news daily: www.echonetdaily.net.au
deforestation, literally muddied the waters. One place after another ‘lost’ their oyster reefs or beds. Marine food webs changed, as did water quality. By the turn of the 20th century, legislation formalised oyster farming as a strictly commercial industry. Farmed shellfish were served in the oyster saloons of Lismore, Mullumbimby, Byron Bay and Brunswick Heads. The best oysters in the country were said to come from ‘the Bruns’. They were sent to Sydney, Brisbane and overseas. The question today is which species of oysters were they? The ones now found at the markets are rock oysters. Old photos from before the cyclone of 1954 suggest that flat oysters were more abundant. There isn’t an ending to this story. Exactly what happened in Brunswick Heads? How extensive were the oyster beds and reefs from Richmond River to the Tweed? An oyster on a plate may be two or three years old. Given the chance, they can live for decades, building reefs and beds, feeding fish and filtering water. Would we give these small animals such an opportunity? Do you know about local oysters past? I would love to hear from you. be its staunchest defender. The ABC needs us all to help resist these attacks. I say freedom is worth fighting for. Alan Rich Lennox Head
Imaginary place In your article (January 28) about the speed camera at Ewingsdale you reinforced a widespread error. The item said the camera is at ‘St Helena, Ewingsdale’. It is not at St Helena, Ewingsale. There is no St Helena, Ewingsdale. The descent from the top of the scarp to Ewingsdale is McLeods Shoot. (We also have Possum Shoot and Skinners Shoot.) Halfway down McLeods Shoot is a road, designated St Helena Road, heading east to, not all that surprisingly, St Helena, which is shown on maps as ‘St Helena (locality)’. That locality is at the top of Hayters Hill on the Bangalow–Byron Bay road. The St Helena railway siding was just south of the railway bridge. So St Helena is between Talofa and Byron Bay. Thus, Ewingsdale and St Helena are several kilometres continued on page 15
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The Byron Shire Echo February 4, 2014 13