Turrbal and Jagera peoples relationship with the river

“The Turrbal and Jagera people are fishing people. For over 60,000 years, the rivers and streams provided them with a bountiful source of water and food – mullet, flounder, crabs, shellfish, turtles, eels and water birds among the seasonal foods on offer. Attuned to the environment, the Turrbal and Jagera people moved with the seasons, relocating before exhausting food sources. As Jagera man Neville Bonner explained in 1995, ‘We rotated around allowing nature to provide and crops to rejuvenate.’” 

Margaret Cook (2019) A River with a City Problem: A History of Brisbane Floods p1

Neville Bonner (Jagera), transcript of interview by Robyn Buchanan, Ipswich City Council, 1995, pp2-3

Image: Brisbane River in the 1890s. Courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, FL272539.