Rafts	Rolled-Bark and Reed Catamarans - Tasmania
Tied-Bark Canoes - East Coast Australia	Thomas Dick Photographs - Macleay Valley, c1910.
Sewn Bark Canoes - North Coast Australia [Awaiting content]	Dugout and Bark Canoes  - North Coast Australia
Museum Collections	Modern Replicas
Fishing	References

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Rafts

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1818 Phillip Parker King: Articulated log raft, Northern Australia. A page from King's Remark Book, reproduced in: Horden, Marsden: King of the Australian Coast. The Work of Phillip Parker King in the Mermaid and Bathurst, 1817-1822. Melbourne University Press, 1997, plate facing page 84.

1888 The Barron River, near Cairns. J.R. Ashton Garran: Picturesque Atlas of Australasia (1886-1888) Part 37, page 402. Julian Rossi Ashton (1851-1942), art teacher and artist, was born in 1883, moved to Sydney to work on the Picturesque Atlas of Australasia until 1886. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ashton-julian-rossi-5073

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1888 Dugong Fishing. [Northern Australia] Schellsberson: Garran: Picturesque Atlas of Australasia (1886-1888) page 402.

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1888 Making a Bark Canoe. [Inland NSW?] Ellis Rowan Garran: Picturesque Atlas of Australasia (1886-1888) page 711. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellis_Rowan

1910 Thomas Dick: Two Aboriginal men spearing fish from canoe, Port Macquarie. State Library of NSW http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/itemID=392831 - Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) page 75. For a selection of Dick's photographs from the Macleay Valley in the early 1900s, see below.

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1962 A unique photograph of a Murray River bark canoe being made in 1962. - State Library of South Australia (Archives Department, photograph by George Burnell) [cropped] - Edwards: Bark Canoes of the Murray Valley (1972) page 28.

State Library of South Australia http://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/mpcimg/12750/B12659.htm

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Left: 1972 Many centuries ago, the aborigines cut bark for a canoe from this fine red gum at nor-West bend station, near Morgan, South Australia. Photograph: Robert Edwards - Edwards: Bark Canoes of the Murray Valley (1972) page 32. Right: 1988 A canoe tree at Broulee. Photograph: Colin Totterdell - Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) page 318. Also see: Andrew Long: Aboriginal Scarred Trees in NSW NSW Office of Environment and Conservation, 2005.

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Thomas Dick: Tied-Bark Canoes, Port Macquarie, c1910.
In the early 1900s, Thomas Dick took a series of photographs of the Aborigines in the Macleay Valley in an attempt to record a culture
that was rapidly disappearing.
As such, the images were posed with the participants, some appearing in multiple images, in minimal clothing and with appropriate tools. 
These important, probably unique, images illustrate building and using tied-bark canoes, tool manufacture, and fishing practices.
Variously dated c1905-1910, they appear to be mostly around a coastal salt-water estuary around Port Macquarie, but the images of canoe construction, where the  trees larger, were possibly taken further inland.

A substantial of the images are held by the Australian Museum and the State Library of NSW,

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Tool construction. Left: Stone flaking. - Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) page 68. Right: Grinding and chipping flakes. - Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) page 28.

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Using hatchets and stone wedges to harvest  bark for a shield. State Library of NSW - Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) page 75.

Two Aboriginal men removing bark from mangrove tree for shield. State Library of NSW http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/itemID=392819 - Muekee and Shoemaker: Aboriginal  Australians (2004) page 32.

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Three methods of climbing a tree: 1. Using a strap. - Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) pages 68 and 75.

2. Using pegs or wedges. State Library of NSW

3. Using a beam, while removing a sheet of bark from the tree trunk.

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Left: Removing a sheet of bark from the tree trunk. Right: Heating the bark for making a canoe. - Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) pages 22 and 75. State Library of NSW  http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/itemID=393076

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Aborigines forming a bark canoe. After removing a large bark section from a tree, it is held like a flue over a fire, monitored by another, to make it more pliable, above. It is then placed on the ground and the ends prepared for binding. State Library of NSW http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/itemID=392798 - Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) page 75.

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Two Aboriginal men spearing fish from canoe, c1905. State Library of NSW http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/itemID=392831 : Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) page 75. Other similar photographs by Thomas Dick are reproduced on pages 31 and 66.

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Collecting pippies on the shore near Port Macquarie. Photograph: Thomas Dick, Australian Museum. Removed by request of members of the Birpai community. - noted, with thanks, by Vanessa Finney, AM.  - Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) page 66.

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Sewn Bark Canoes - North Coast Australia.

1818 Phillip Parker King: A sewn bark canoe and stone-headed spear found at Port Essington in April 181. A page from King's Remarks Book, reproduced in: Horden, Marsden: King of the Australian Coast. The Work of Phillip Parker King in the Mermaid and Bathurst, 1817-1822. Melbourne University Press, 1997, plate facing page 90.

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Dugout and Bark Canoes - North Coast Australia.

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1819 Spear Fishing from an Outrigger Canoe, Northern Australia, 1819. - King: Western Coasts of Australia (1827), page 225.

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1935 Outrigger Canoe on the Endeavour River, North Queensland, circa 1935. Courtesy of Keith Kennedy Kennedy was the President of the Anthropological Society of New South Wales. Wilfrid D. Hambly: Primitive Hunters of Australia Anthropology Leaflet 32 [Fieldiana, Popular Series] Field Museum of Natural History, Chigago, 1936, Plate III. https://archive.org/details/primitivehunters32hambl

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Aboriginal Watercraft: Museum Collections

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1870 Canoe - Woi wurrung, Yarra Canoe, Bark, Melbourne, circa 1860s, Reg. No: HT 24782

Bark canoe, made by Woi wurrung, a clan of Victorian Aboriginal people, whose land extended from the lower Yarra to the mountains east of Melbourne.
This is the only remaining 19th century Aboriginal canoe from the Melbourne region.

Description:

Sharp marks show that the bark was cut with a metal axe.

Charcoal marks suggest that the bark was heated to help shape it into a canoe.
The canoe is tied in several places with rope to hold the bark in place.

The two thicker ropes are hand-made, and most likely an original part of the canoe.

The thinner twine tying the canoe at each end is machine-made.

Hoops from a barrel have been used to hold the bark.

Possibly the Aboriginal makers used these hoops, combining a European material with the traditional design.

Or they may have been added by the collector.

Museum Victoria
http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/items/1557376/canoe-woi-wurrung-yarra-canoe-bark-melbourne-circa-1860s

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1930? Canoe - possibly Hunter valley Reg. No: E 78217 Canoe (A1-98-10) Tied bark canoe with four folds in both ends, and a timber pins. On initial observation, the twine is possibly a natural vine and one of the 4'' timber pins appears to be dowel, possibly replacing the original. There is no evidence of internal struts or supports or binding. There are a significant number of cracks and splitting, and some sections of the hull have possibly warped over time. Photographic material suggests the canoe's construction is similar to that of the Macleay Valley NSW, (Thomas Dick, c1910) and Lake Tylers, Victoria (N. C. Caire, c1888). Dimensions (all approximate): Length: 11ft 4'' - 3450 mm Width: 17.5'' - 230mm @  +12'' - 300 mm Bow: 9'' - 230 mm @ 12'' - 300 mm Stern: 8'' - 200 mm @ 12'' - 300 mm Depth: 6'' - 150 mm Thickness: 0.25-0.5'' - 5-10 mm Photographs: Australian Museum, 6th August 2014 Many thanks to Rebecca Fisher (Australian Museum), David Payne (Australian National MM), and Graham Hinton (Lady Denman MM).

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Canoe - possibly Hunter valley Reg. No: E 78217 Canoe (A1-98-10) AM Catalogue, 16 Dec 1982. Photograph: unaccredited

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1965 Wooden raft from Sydney Island, Gulf of Carpentaria Description: A slightly concave and triangular raft made from long cylindrical wooden logs of variable diameter, lashed together with thick two ply fibre rope. The rope is secured at the distal and proximal end by lashing together underneath the raft. The anterior surface is covered with a thick layer of dried grass to form a level deck. The wooden logs have extensive borer damage. Mornington Island Mission Collection, made in 1965 for a documentary film on traditional hunting and ceremony. National Museum of Australia http://www.nma.gov.au/collections-search/display?irn=180718

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Aboriginal Watercraft: Modern Replicas

2014 Aboriginal Canoe, South Coast NSW. Constructed in association with David Payne and the Australian  National Maritime Museum. Sydney, September 2014 Photograph courtesy of David Payne.

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Nawi Workshop, ANMM, Darling Harbour, 28-30th November 2014.
Crew
Stage 1.
The large sheet of blue stringy bark was harvested by the NSW Forestry during the winter from Watagan State Forest on the Central Coast of NSW.
This was Debra Swan, Aboriginal Partnership Liaison , Hardwood Forests Division, Forestry Corporation of NSW
and


It was then transported to the ANMM where it was and stored undercover and kept regularly hydrated by David Payne.

The workshop was supervised by David Payne and included:
Debra Swan, Aboriginal Partnership Liaison , Hardwood Forests Division, Forestry Corporation of NSW
and

Donna Carstens, ANMM Indigenous Programs Manager
David Payne, ANMM
Dean Kelly, National Parks and Wildlife Service Aboriginal Community Liaison Officer
Paul Carriage, Aboriginal Affairs Co-ordinator, State Forests, Batemans Bay
, Botany Bay Park
Geoff Cater, Lady Denman Maritime Museum, Huskisson 

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Stage 2. On the 28th, David Payne supervised the construction of a model of a nawi, to serve as a guide for the building of the full scale vessel. It dimensions are approximately 6ft 5'' x 14'' x 4.5''.

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Stage 3. On the morning of the 29th the model nawi, the bark, a variety of metal tools, ropes,  a portable hearth, a supply of heated freshwater, some tarpaulins, and a few house-bricks were assembled in the Museum forecourt. The modern tool kit; comprising a hammer or mallet, paint scrappers, and a screwdriver; replicated traditional tools of stone, bone or shell and vastly reduced the labour and time. Likewise, the use of hot water to assist the steaming of the canoe ends also significantly compressed construction time. Whereas a nawi was possibly assembled over a number of weeks, here production was reduced to a couple of days.

The sheet of bark, approximately 13 ft x 43'' and in some places, over 2'' thick, was laid inverted.
That is, with the smooth internal "sap bark" became the outside of the canoe, with the rough stringy surface as the inside.

A "waterline mark" was scored across the sheet with a hatchet, approximately 43'' from either end.

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These areas were progressively thinned, initially using wedges and mallets to split the bark at the ends away from the hard sap wood. The bark was then further separated with scrappers and torn by hand back to the score line. It took about 30 minutes to suitably prepare each end to a thickness between  0.5 - 1''.   The removed strips of bark provided fibre for the twisting and plaiting of rope or cord (not shown).

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When both ends were thinned (below), one end was heated over the hearth and soaked with boiling water.

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The bark was steamed, with the occasional addition of more hot water, for about 20 minutes.
When David and  Dean agreed that its flexibility was suitable for folding and binding, it was removed from the heath and laid flat.
Two strong ropes were looped under the bark, without tension, one placed at the "waterline mark" and a second at about the centre of the thinned section.
A layer of damp clay was then rubbed and worked into an area about 12'' - 30 cm from the end.

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Small strips of paper-bark were lightly soaked and layered and bound with the clay, creating a poultice which serves as a sealer for any internal cracks or splits that might occur when the end is folded, which is clearly an acquired skill.
The bark is folded by simultaneously from both sides, the builders working in unison and the size of the seams somewhat determined by the inclination of the the bark itself to bend.
The compression of the folds is assisted by progressively increasing the tension on the two ropes positioned earlier along the hull, the process taking about 30 minutes

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At this point, the hull is rotated and the other thinned end now dampened and steamed over the hearth, another clay and paper-bark poultice added,  and the folding process of replicated. With both ends bound, the damp clay is used as a filler or sealer to block the seams.  Any cracks or splits in the hull apparent after folding are likewise sealed with clay and paper-bark.

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A screwdriver was now forced though the folds, and a sharpened stick of (?) wood inserted through the hole, tightly locking the bow and stern.

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With both bow and stern now tied, plugged and pinned, the hull was blocked with house bricks at either end, enhancing the waterline. The craft  was now left overnight for the moisture induced by the steaming process to evaporate. Various cross struts and ties were intended to be added the following day, before launching.

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Reed Canoe Reconstruction Hobart Museum, Tasmania, c 2000. Photograph courtesy of Bob Green, April 2020.

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Fishing

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1817 Lycett, Joseph: Fishing [Port Jackson?], 1817. Aborigines spearing fish, others diving for crayfish, a party seated beside a fire cooking fish.  National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an2962715-s17 - Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) page 35. Note the tied-bark canoes, spear-fishing, and the three aboriginals at the left who are diving, swimming, and returning to shore with a catch of crayfish.

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1817 Joseph Lycett: Aborigines cooking and eating beached whales, Newcastle, New South Wales, ca. 1817. National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an2962715-s11 - Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) page 57 (flopped).

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Louis Auguste de Sainson: Sharing the catch, Jervis Bay, 1826. Dumont D'Urville: Two Voyages to the South Seas Volume 1: Astrolabe 1826-1829 Translated by Helen Rosenman Melbourne University Press, 1987, facing page 91

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1847 George French Angas: Aboriginal fishing implements, Murray River, SA. South Australia Illustrated, South Australian Museum. - Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) page 246, detail and adjusted. The descriptions are yet to be confirmed. 2. Scoop net. 3. Drag net. 7. Fishing net, detail. 16. Abalone, or mutton-fish, shell. 20. Harpoon barb 21. Pole or shaft

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1847 Unaccredited: Natives Fishing at Port Jackson, [circa 1800]. Using a net or trap. Illustration from Ida Lee: The Coming of the British to Australia 1788 to 1829. (1906), Chapter 1, plate 8. Derived from: George French Angas: Coast Scene near Rapid Bay, Sunset Natives Fishing with nets,1847. Second Vallery, from the South Australia Illustrated series. or Samuel Calvert (1828-1913): South Australian Natives fishing- near Rapid Bay, at the Mouth of the Parananakooka Creek, 1871. From the Illustrated Sydney News (1854 to 1889)

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1888 Mullet Fishing [Northern Australia] Schellsberson: Garran: Picturesque Atlas of Australasia (1886-1888) page 402.

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Figure 6: Fishing at East Corrimal. ('Condon's Creek', Captain Robert Westmacott, circa 1846, lllawarra Images) Figure 7: Spear fishing at Tom Thumb lagoon. (Tom Thumb Lagoon'John Skinner Prout 1840-1850, State Library of NSW) Figures 8: Fish spears, bone hook, woven basket and spear thrower. (Etchings from Brough Smyth 1878) Wesson, Sue (editor): A History of the Aboriginal people of the Illawarra 1770 to 1970 Department of the Environment and Conservation, NSW, 2005, page 11.

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1910 Collecting pippies on the shore near Port Macquarie. Photograph: Thomas Dick, Australian Museum. Removed by request of members of the Birpai community. - noted, with thanks, by Vanessa Finney, AM. - Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) page

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1910 Children with a catch of lung-fish, originally found only in the Mary and Burnett Rivers of south-east Queensland. Growing to some 2 metres in length, the lungfish was called a barrumundi by Aboriginal people, subsequently applied to a differ­ent fish from northern rivers. Photograph: possibly by Charles Kerry or Henry King, Australian Museum. (accreditation noted by Vanessa Finney, AM) - Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) page 100.

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Stone wall fish traps, Upper Macleay River (?) The two young Aboriginals in the foreground hold successful catches. Photograph: Thomas Dick.   - Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) page 70.

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c1930 Fishing with scoop net or trap, Nth Queensland. Photograph: Donald Thomson, courtesy Mrs Thomson.   - Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) page 134. The Donald Thomson Collection at Museum Victoria: http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections...donald-thomson/

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circa 1920 Left: Barramundi was appreciated as a fine eating fish long before the arrival of European chefs. The Australian Museum. Photograph: Frank Hurley, registration AMS320/V5217. (accreditation noted by Vanessa Finney, AM)   - Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) page 154. Right: Turtles were a favourite delicacy of the peoples of North Queensland. Photograph: Donald Thomson, courtesy Mrs Thomson.  - Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) page 135.

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1988 Woven reed eel trap, Murray River. Museum of Victoria. Photograph: Reg Morrison   - Burnum: Burnum Burnum (1988) page 273.

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References
Angas, George French: Savage life and scenes in Australia and New Zealand : being an artist's impressions of countries and people at the antipodes
Lithographers Day & Haghe, Published by Smith Elders & Co., Adelaide, 1847.
 
Brierly O.W.: Sketches made in Australia, and during the voyage of the H.M.S. Maeander, in New Zealand, Tonga, and South America, 1842-1844, 1850.
An almost identical design to that of Jervis Bay, above.
Brierly's notes for Canoe of Twofold Bay, Number 8 read, in part:
 b_ of sitting - kneeling and sitting on their heels
Oars mer(e)ly a small bit of bark about the size of a china plate
at the bow are a m_ of wooden skewers r_ in which the spears rest
two half hoops keep it in shape
- 9ft long, 6 in deep, 14 inches beam
made from the inner rind of gum tree, gathered togr. (together) at each P_

Barlow, Alex: Aboriginal Technology: Watercraft, Macmillan Education Australia,1994.
[Junior publication]

Bass, George: Journal of a Whaleboat Voyage.
Queensberry Hill Press, Carlton, Victoria, [1986?].
Trove http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/14140153

Burnum Burnum (edited by David Stewart):
Burnum Burnum's Aboriginal Australia : A Traveller's Guide.
Angus &​ Robertson, North Ryde, 1988.

Dumont D'Urville: Two Voyages to the South Seas, Volume 1: Astrolabe 1826-1829
Translated by Helen Rosenman
Melbourne University Press, 1987.

Edwards, Robert: Aboriginal Bark Canoes of the Murray Valley.
South Australian Museum, Rigby, 1972.

Garran, Andrew (editor):
Picturesque Atlas of Australasia.
Picturesque Atlas Publishing Company, Sydney, 1886-1888.

Grant, James: Narrative of a voyage of discovery, performed in His Majesty's vessel the Lady Nelson.
T. Egerton, Whitehall, London, 10th January 1804.

King, Phillip Parker: Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts ofAustralia
Performed Between the Years 1818 and 1822, Volume 1
John Murray, London,1827.
Australian Fascimile Editions Number 30.
Libraries Board of South Australia, Adelaide, 1969.

Muekee, Stephen, and Shoemaker, Adam:
Aboriginal  Australians - First Nations of an Ancient Continent
Thames and Hudson, London, 2004.

Phillip, Arthur: The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay.
J. Stockdale,London, June 17, 1789.

Rienits, Rex and Thea: The Voyages of Captain Cook, Paul Hamlyn, London, Sydney, 1968.

F. King & Sons, England, 1899.

Smyth, Robert Brough
The Aborigines of Victoria: With Notes Relating to the Habits of the Natives, Volume II.
The Government of Victoria, Government Printer, London, 1878.

Stokes, J. Lort, Stanley., Owen: Discoveries in Australia. with an account of the coasts and rivers explored and surveyed during the voyage  of H.M.S. Beagle in the years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43,  by command of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty: 
also, a Narrative of Captain Owen Stanley's visits to the islands in the Arafura Sea, Volume Two. 
T. and W. Boone, London, 1846.

Also note:
Foreign field sports, fisheries, sporting anecdotes, &c. &c. : from drawings by Messrs. Howitt, Atkinson, Clark, Manskirch, &c. : with a supplement of New South Wales.
London : Edward Orme, [ca. 1819]
Hand-coloured aquatints of Australian aborigines were originally published separately as Field sports of the native inhabitants of New South Wales (1813).
 In 1814 they were issued as a supplement to the larger work, Foreign field sports.
http://monash.edu/library/collections/exhibitions/recent-acquisitions4/virtual/photos/photo1.html
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lewin-john-william-2354
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lewin

Film
Charles Mountford: Aborigines of the Sea Coast, 1948-1951.
The record of the 1948 expedition to Arnhem Land sponsored by the National Geographical Society and the Smithsonian Institution.
It shows the life of sea coast Aborigines at Yirrkala in the north-eastern corner of Arnhem Land.
Demonstrates how, as children, they learn to handle canoes made from bark and as adults how they use them for fishing and hunting turtle.

Trove: http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/45481152