Barragup Fish Munga (Trap) - Site of

Statement of Significance

The Barragup mungah site is of very high social, cultural and historical significance to Nyungar people, because it was a site where legal, social and ceremonial activities took place. The site is also of considerable rchaeological
significance for reasons of representativeness and research potential. Barragup was not just a site but rather a ‘site complex’ which was multifunctional and had major significance to Southwest Nyungars.

Physical Description

A wooden weir that crossed the Serpentine River. The weir comprised brush and
sticks laced together into a ‘barrier’ stretching from bank to bank, leaving only a small gap in the centre, into which fish were forced by the current. People stood on either side of the gap, tossing out hundreds of the fish that passed through.
The weir was probably used mainly during autumn when run-off from the first rains forced the sea-fish downstream.

History

The Barragup mungah (or fish trap/weir) was located on the Serpentine River, some 100 metres downstream from the bridge on the Mandurah-Pinjarra Road. The Serpentine River itself was an important food source for Aborigines both in the hills and down towards the coast. The Barragup mungah was in regular use during the 19th century, and probably for centuries prior to European colonisation, although archaeological evidence suggests that the Serpentine and Murray rivers were being fished a few centuries after the present estuarine system formed some five thousand years ago. The Barragup mungah in particular would have provided enough fish during the season to enable hundreds of people to congregate in the district for weeks or months on end. It was during these gatherings that the different Nyungar sub-groups carried out many of their legal, social and ceremonial activities.
The mungah was the source of some dissension between Aborigines and white fisherman during the 1890s, with local fishermen and the Fisheries Inspectors claiming that it was leading to a decline in fish numbers. The mungah was destroyed at least three times and rebuilt, and in 1897 a deputation of local Aborigines lodged a complaint with Governor Smith, who was visiting Mandurah. It appears that European fishermen also used the mungah at times, and Charles Tuckey reported to a Joint Select Committee appointed to look into the fishing
industry that he had secured 10,000 tins from that source in six weeks in 1896. The mungah was finally destroyed by a Marine and Harbours snagging operation in 1937.
A team of divers from the WA Maritime Museum, accompanied by archaeologists, found that the Serpentine River bottom had been cleared of any wooden structures, and all they recovered was a single wooden stake, sharpened by a steel axe. Archaeologists have been unable to determine whether the stake was in fact part of the mungah.

Condition

Destroyed

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

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