The First Fishers - How First Nations People Caught Their Fish

This is a reproduction of a mungah, a type of fish trap used by the Aboriginal people in the southwest of WA in the many rivers of the region since time immemorial. This example was made by a former member of the Maritime Museum Visitor Services team, Craig Wright, a Binjareb Nyoongar man, through consultation with his uncle Joe Walley who was then the Binjareb Custodial Elder in the Mandurah region. At the time of the construction of the Museum, Craig was asked if he could make an Aboriginal fish trap for display in this gallery. He leapt at the chance, but there was a problem- no one had built a mungah for over 100 years! The best known of these fish traps was the Barragup mungah which stood on the Serpentine River, just downstream from the present-day Barragup Bridge. It was still in use in the early 1900s, alongside the commercial fisheries that had been established in the area. It was destroyed around 1909, in a futile attempt to restore fish stocks in the area. So, Craig approached uncle Joe and asked him if he could remember anything of how that mungah had been constructed. Uncle Joe was happy to share his knowledge of the Barragup mungah, which had been passed down to him by past Elders and it was from their recollections that this example was built.

Uncle Joe's family have given permission for the museum to use his full name in this article.

Aboriginal Fishtrap, Murray River, about 1900.
Credit: WA Museum, Anthropology Department collection