The trading fishermen soon learned to resort to some of their unfair practices in which that fraternity has since become such adepts. The most reprehensible conduct was alleged against them, and they were known at night to lay down close nets from bank to bank of the two rivers, Remonstrance against such foul and sweep everything in the form of a fish, even to the spawn. play was so unavailing as to render it necessary to organize measures of co-operative resistance to such misdoings, and accordingly
The Waltonian Club
Was formed in 1850 for the preservation of the river fishery. A meeting was held on the 24th July at the Fitzroy Arms Hotel, corner of King and Little Lonsdale Streets. It was decided to start a Protection Society under the above designation, for the purpose of preventing poaching in the Yarra and the Saltwater River; and for promoting the healthful and invigorating old British sport of angling. The entrance fee for members was to be 2s. 6d., and is. per month as subscription. The officers chosen were — President : Mr. John Stephen; Vice-President: Mr. J. T. Smith ; Hon. Secretary : Mr. William Stewart; Treasurer : Mr. John Cosgrave ; Committee : Messrs. Lewis Pedrana, M. Dent, Isaac Hinds, Charles Morgan, Frank Stephen, Henry Rankin, George Williams, James Hay, and J. Manton, with power to add, etc., etc A n address was adopted for presentation to Mr. James Simpson, the Commissioner of Crown Lands for the County of Bourke, soliciting his co-operation towards the conservancy of the Yarra and Saltwater River fishing within legitimate bounds. The Commissioner assisted the Society in every way in his power, and much good was done so long as it continued in existence.
THE FIRST OYSTERS.
Those bi-valves were first known as an esculent in Port Phillip in 1835. They were found by the sailors and bark-strippers from Launceston, whose operations at Western Port are described elsewhere. The best place for obtaining the shell-fish was off Signal Point, at the mouth of Sandy Creek, a short distance from Cowes (Phillip Island). The locality now known as Cowes was first named " Elizabeth Cove," after the schooner employed in the transport of bark from the mainland to Launceston. In the beginning, the oysters could be picked up like paving-stones at low-water; but, when the surface crop was disposed of, dredging was resorted to. Delicious oysters were afterwards procured without difficulty at Corner Inlet (Port Albert), on grounds known as Shallow Inlet, and a small island at the east side of Port Albert, named Clonmel, after the steamer wrecked there in December, 1840, on her passage from Sydney to Melbourne. Oysters were also gathered at the bar, near what was designated " Stumpy Jack," a rock marking the entrance of the old channel from Williamstown to Melbourne. It was an occasional recreation of John Batman to indulge a spell of oysterfishingwith two or three of his Sydney natives, when one of the blackfellows would roll overboard on a diving expedition after the other " natives." Thomas Halfpenny, the old Studley Park Ranger, before quoted, once took it into his head to turn oyster-fisherman, and had a peculiar instrument made for grappling with the capturing difficulty, which succeeded better than the Batman Aboriginal contrivance. The Halfpenny gear was a clumsy concern, which he called "the tongs." It was something in the shape of two poles, each 20 feet in length, having strong long-toothed iron rakes attached, and braced near the centre with iron, in such a manner that it worked like a scissors. This could be plied by two m e n in a boat, the oyster ground scraped, and the shell-fish hooked or scooped up. Oysters were also disinterred from reefs in Geelong Harbour, and though large and puffy, were never of much account. The Western Port oysters were for a time the regular market stock, but the famed Sydney Rock soon eclipsed them. As years rolled by, and the town with its population and trade increased, the oyster shop made its appearance. Amongst the oystermen themselves, especially the first two who opened shop in this way, a bitter enmity prevailed, and the manner in which the competition was pushed yielded no small amusement to the public. Their names were Peter Perkins
