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Aboriginal People of the Sydney Region

Fishing line, carrejun


Fishing lines were two-ply twine made from the bark of several different plants including Cabbage Tree Palm, Livistona australis, and probably the Kurrajong tree, Brachychiton populneus. In addition to bark, fibres from Settler's Flax, Gymnostachys anceps, were used to make fishing line.

The coastal word for fishing line was carrejun or carrahjun - a word now used as the common name (Kurrajong) for the tree Brachychiton populneus.

'the [fishing] lines appear to be manufactured from the bark of various trees which we found here of a tough, stringy nature'
Captain John Hunter, 1793

Small stones called gna'mmul were tied to the lines as sinkers.






Bundle of twine, made from wattle bark fibre, in or before 1952 by an Aboriginal woman called Maria from Ulladulla, NSW south coast. Fishing lines used around Sydney Harbour would have been the same. From the Australian Museum Collection, E.54636. Photo: Australian Museum.









Possible fishing sinker from a shell midden on Botany Bay. From the Australian Museum Collection, E.57368. Photo: Australian Museum.