Tasmanian Fly Fishing Museum
(This is a report from Mike Stevens on the Fly Fishing Museum in Tasmania. The report is long – running to 15 pages, so we will spread it over a few months. In this first section we read about the initial attempts to introducef trout to Australian rivers.)
The Australian Fly Fishing Museum recently reopened, but is now closed for winter. It reopens in September. VFFA member Mike Stevens, along with Stuart MacDonald and some volunteers, have moved the complete museum to a new building on the Tasmanian National Trust’s site at Clarendon on Tasmania’s South Esk River.
The website is up to date and constantly changing to reflect exhibits and items in storage. Stuart has been updating the archives, and in that process has found almost 500 items not listed. The website carries stories and histories of people, events and objects. It is constantly changing and being updated, but as this is all done by volunteers, some of these changes do take time.
As well as the Chronology below, have a look at the recently added ‘Australian Bamboo Fly Rods’. Check out www.affm.net.au.
Chronology of fly fishing in Australia 1789 – 2011 – Jim Findlay
Part 1 – 1789 to 1900, but starting at 1803.
This is a short version of ‘A Comprehensive Chronology of Australian Fly-fishing by Jim Findlay’ and is available in full at www.affm.net.au
1803
Perhaps the first advertisement for fish hooks in an Australian newspaper…
Sunday 24 April 1803
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser
The remainder of the capital investment imported by the Atlas is now on sale at the Commission Warehouse of Simeon Lord (formerly in the occupation of Mr Simpson); High-Street, Sydney; Consisting of the following articles, viz., Gentlemen’s fine beaver hat s, ditto strong ditto, boot legs and soles, boys’ and girls’ shoes, sauces and mustard, tobacco and soap, spectacles, neck and watch chains, sleeve runners, key rings, fish hooks …
1827
This may be the first mention in print of an Australian fish being caught ‘on fly’,
Cunningham, Peter (1827)
Two Years in New South Wales: A series of letters comprising sketches of the actual state of society in that colony, of its peculiar advantages to emigrants, of its topography, natural history, &c. &c. Colburn: London; two volumes; 8vo; map; hard cover. Surgeon-superintendent on four convict transport ships who later spent four years in the colony, Cunningham makes a very early reference to fly fishing (for perch/bass) in Australia: The perch are caught with bait or fly, the red worm answering best in spring, and the grasshopper, or locust, in summer. They often take best after dark, but they are as capricious as those in England. I have caught as many in less than an hour in Hunter’s River as made both my arms ache in ca rrying homewards but a short quarter of a mile…
1833 Advertisement
ON SALE, AT THE STORES OF THE UNDERSIGNED.
AN assortment of HARDWARE, consisting of Coopers’ and Carpenters’ Tools, Agricultural Implements, Saws, Flies, Fish -hooks, Sail Needles, Latches, Hinges, &c. ALLAN M’GAA, BREED & COI Queen Street, 23d September, 1833.
1833 Advertisement
The Sydney Herald Thursday 21 November 1833
John T Wilson
68 George-Street Sydney
Fishing rods, one, two, three, and four joints Ditto hooks, including artificial fly. Ditto lines, furnished Ditto floats
1833
This is the big one. The first article with fly fishing at the core. Flies used to catch native grayling were the Fern Fly and Red Hackle. This was more than 30 years before trout came to Australia.
Richards, Thomas Piscator (1833)
A day’s fishing in the Plenty. Hobart Town Monthly Magazine, 1 March 1833; pp.33-42. In his Angling in Australia , Bob Dunn noted that this was the first Australian sporting article to appear in magazine format and possibly the earliest extended reference in print to Australian angling (p.306).
1835 J.S. Uther fishing tackle advertisement.
Launceston Advertiser 9, 12, 16 and 19 February 1835
Angling historian, Ian Wilson writes: Attached is the fishing tackle advertisement inserted in the Launceston Advertiser by J.S. Uther, ironmonger. The date given at the bottom of the advertisement of Feb. 7, 1834 is a mistake by the compositor—it should be 1835. The advert appeared on 9, 12, 16 and 19 February 1835. Note the mention of flies which must have been used for catching grayling.
1835 Advertisement The Hobart Town Courier Friday 13 February 1835
NEW MUSIC, STATIONERY, TOY, AND FANCY WAREHOUSE.
J. W. DAVIS begs leave to announce to his friends and the public, that he has removed to 23, Elizabeth -street, (next the Tasmanian Office, and lately occupied by Mrs. Howe,) where he has opened a Warehouse for the following goods, to which he begs to draw the attention of the public, every article being FISHING TACKLE. Hair and gut lines, flies and hooks, of every size and sort.
1835
FISHING TACKLE
Rods, jointed, ringed, and plain, &c. Lines, box reels, and cases furnished Wheels, multiplying, plain, and common Lines, best spun hair and platted silk, &c. Landing nets &c. Hooks, superfine and common, of every size, &c Artificial flies, assorted Fly books, of No. 1, 2, and 3 Silk worm gut Cork and quill floats Hair lines furnished, &c, &c.
1841
Captain Frederick Chalmers (Brighton, Tasmania) communicated with a Dr Mackenzie in Scotland about sourcing salmon fry to be sent to Australia. The letters led to discussion at the Royal Society of Tasmania about the feasibility of bringing salmon to the southern hemisphere.
1846
The Sydney Morning Herald Tuesday 27 October 1846 VICTORIA RIVER.
THE Victoria River, one of the most interesting discoveries of Captains STOKES and WICKHAM, is on the north -west coast, and disembogues in 14ᵒ40 S. lat., and long. 129ᵒE. The Victoria is connected in some degree with the latter traveller’s explorations and, hereafter, when Arnheim’s Land shall have been occupied, no doubt, the Gulf and the north -west coast will, by its means, be connected. Moreover, it is the largest river that has yet been discovered on that side of the continent. The return down the river enabled Captain STOKES to try fly-fishing on the Victoria; and to observe abundance of tortoises
1846
The Cornwall Chronicle (Launceston), Saturday 29 August 1846
SURPRISING BARGAINS IN ST, JOHN STREET, LAUNCESTON, AT THE SALE-ROOMS OF G. F. GOBLR
(Included) fishing basket, superb hickory fly rods, rod rings, reels, salmon gut hooks, eel swivels, silk, gut, hair lines, and floats, sure killing flies.
1851
Stanley, C.E.
On the introduction of salmon from the rivers of Scotland into Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings, Royal Society of Van Diemen’s Land, vol. I (1851), pp.135-143.
1852
Burnett, James L.
On the attempt recently made to introduce salmon and trout from England into Tasmania, by shipment of spawn. Papers and Proceedings, Royal Society of Van Diemen’s Land , vol. II (1852-54), pp.288-291.
1852
On January 31, 1852, Mr Gottlieb Bocchius arranged for a consignment of some 50,000 of salmon and trout ova to be shipped to Tasmania aboard the Columbus. This was the first attempt, and unsuccessful. By mid-March, the Captain and passengers observed “the water becoming thick and putrid”.
1852
On the 12th of June, 1852, J. C. Bidwell, Commissioner of Crown Lands in New South Wales, forwarded to Sir William Denison a paper entitled “Notes on the Establishment of Salmon and other Fish in the Rivers of Tasmania and New Zealand,” which was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania. Bidwell suggested packing spawn in ice to bring salmon to Australia: “… by merely packing it in ice there would be no danger of actual freezing as the ice would always be in a melting state”. Bidwell was a very ill man at the time and died months later.
1854
Boccius, G. (1854)
On the introduction of salmon ova into the rivers of Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen’s Land, 1854, pp.437-445.
1854
La Société Impériale d’Acclimatation, the world’s first world’s first acclimatisation society, was established in Paris. In 1861 James Arndell Youl travelled to Paris with letters of introduction to Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, the founder and President of La Société Impériale d’Acclimatation and to Victor Coste, Inspector General of Fisheries. It was from Coste’s assistant, Monsieur Z. Gerbe, that Youl learned about transporting ova in wet moss.
1855
Bleeker, Pieter (1855)
Over Eenige Visschen van Van Diemensland. Met eene plaat. C.G. Van der Post: Amsterdam; 4to; [ii], 32pp (last blank); folding lithographic plate at end, soft cover. Bleeker described and illustrated several new or previously rare species from Tasmanian waters.
1857
The Sydney Morning Herald Saturday 12 September 1857
FOR SALE by Private Contract, Trevallyn, containing 2710 acres, 25 miles from Morpeth and Maitland, 14 from the town of Paterson and the head of the navigation of the River Paterson, and 3½ from Gresford Post Office and Church… There is a good deal of land on the property well adapted for vineyards. Limestone is on many parts of it. The orange does well on the flats and low ridges, and might be easily irrigated at no great expense, as there is always abundance of water even in the driest seasons. The rivers abound in several varieties of fish, some affording good sport with the fly.
1858
D’Ewes, J. (1858)
Sporting in Both Hemispheres. G. Routledge and Company: London; 12mo; (xv), [1], 398pp; 2pp of publisher’s advertisements; eight multi-tone lithographed plates including the frontispiece; hard cover. D’Ewes claimed to be a direct descendant of Charles Cotton. He includes some accounts of shooting and fishing in Australia. He was unmoved by the fishing around Melbourne (whipping the Yarra-Yarra with a small palmer fly for a kind of diminutive fish, rarely exceeding half a pound ) and while its size impressed, the Murray cod wasn’t sufficiently sporting (a coarse hand -line and a piece of meat are sufficient for its capture ). Sydney Harbour was more to his liking, where during the best season of the year …we usually returned with our boat half full of fish.
1859
The Australian Home Companion and Band of Hope Journal (Sydney) Saturday 17 December 1859
A report describing the Kiwi included this tidbit:
The feathers are also employed to construct artificial flies, for the capture of fish, precisely after the European manner.
1859
Garnet, Thomas (1859)
On the Possibility of Introducing Salmon into New Zealand and Australia, From the essay (originally published in an unknown journal in October, 1859): The colonists of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand appear to wish for the introduction of Salmon and Trout into the rivers of these colonies, and one of them, Tasmania, is said to have offered the reward of £500 for the first pair of live Salmon which reaches that colony. If this is true it is a liberal offer, and one that is likely to induce various persons, both in England and France, to make the attempt. I should be sorry to say anything to check so laudable an endeavour, but I greatly fear that Van Diemen’s Land (to say nothing of the Australian colonies) is too near the tropics to offer a reasonable chance of success. I think it is practicable to take these fish there (or at least fertilized ova), but I don’t think they would live and thrive in the rivers of that colony.
1860
First attempt by James Arndell Youl to transport salmon ova (25,000); Liverpool to Melbourne, on the Sarah Curling. Unsuccessful.
1861
Black, Alexander (1861)
Acclimatising and Propagating Salmon: Report on the suitability of certain rivers of the colony for the purpose of … Sydney. Report to the Secretary of Lands.
1861
The Argus (Melbourne) Friday 22 February 1861
ACCLIMATISATION: It is proposed to establish an ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY in Melbourne on the basis of those in Paris and London ; and Mr. EDWARD WILSON will be glad to MEET any GENTLEMEN favourable to such a project, at the Mechanics’ Institution, on Monday , 25th February, at half – past 4 p.m. Sir Henry Barkly has kindly promised to take the chair.
1861
Wheelwright, Horace William An Old Bushman (1861)
Bush Wanderings of a Naturalist, or, Notes on the Field Sports and Fauna of Australia Felix / by An Old Bushman. Routledge, Warne, & Routledge: London; 12mo; (xv), 272pp; uncut pages; index; hard cover. Chapter XV, River Fish and Angling and Chapter XVI, Sea-fish and Sea-fishing provide a picture of the fishing in the middle of the nineteenth century. Some Victorians may identify with this, from Chapter XV: One thing is quite clear—that Victoria is no country for the angler. I hardly ever saw a stream on this side adapted to throwing the fly. Even if the fish were worth killing, and if you hooked a good fish, the chances would be very much against your landing i t, owing to the steepness and rottenness of the banks, and the heaps of moss and rubbish with which every river is filled.
1862
The (Hobart) Mercury Friday 23 May 1862
AT the latter end of last month the fresh -water mullet were in great abundance in the Derwent, at New Norfolk, and were caught in large numbers, both with the fly and the worm, the former, how over, being the most attractive bait, not only to the piscatory victims, but to the angler. They abound largely near the Falls, about two miles from the township, and the expert fly–fisher will find excellent sport in catching them.
1862
Second attempt by Youl to transport salmon ova; 80,000, from London to Hobart Town, on the Beautiful Star. Unsuccessful.
1863
Buckland, Frank (1863)
Fish Hatching. Tinsley Brothers: London; 8vo; (xvi), 268pp (plus 4pp publisher’s catalogue); appendix (experiments with the transport of salmon ova to Australia); hard cover. Buckland discusses salmon and trout hatching, including an explanation of the fish-hatching apparatus at the Royal Horticultural Garden.
1864 – Success
Successful attempt (Youl) to transport 118,000 salmon ova and 2,700 brown trout ova from London to Melbourne and Tasmania on the Norfolk.
1864
Cholmondeley-Pennell, H., ed. (1864, 1865)
The Fisherman’s Magazine and Review. Chapman and Hall: London; 8vo; two volumes (Vol. 1, April to December 1864 and Vol. 2, January to October 1865); 432pp and 479pp; 52 illustrations including 11 full page colour plates of fish and 14 full page black and white illustrations; hard cover. Contains articles on acclimatisation of salmon and trout in Australia including historic correspondence of Anglicus Australis (Bob Dunn). Vol. 2 includes Fishing in Australia by Anglicus Australis (p.24), Salmon Ova for Australia (p.135), a brief note about the death of young salmon in Tasmania (p.332) and The Angler in Australia; No. 2 (p.371) which relates an extended account of fishing on the Clarence. Anglicus Australis was the pseudonym of New South Wales District Court judge, Henry Ralph Francis. In Fishing in Australia , H.R. Francis famously writes: My first word on Australian angling must be a dismal confession. There is no fly-fishing worthy the name in New South Wales. (p.26)