It is an irony that some fifty years after the photo was taken, the secretary of Animal and Bird Protection Board complained of mutton birding being carried out on Trefoil Island on a commercial scale. This must have evoked some derisive smiles from a few old timers who birded the island in the 1890s. In 1902 alone 70,000 birds were caught and in the same year on the adjacent Steep Island, a party under James Reid caught approximately 40,000. Back then, there were not many families in the Circular Head district who did not have at least one barrel of birds to eat during the winter. Today mutton birds (shearwaters) are protected in all states of Australia except for Tasmania. The photo above left is James Reid's brother, William Barrett Reid, slashing oats with a scythe on Robbins Island. The photo on the right taken at Irishtown in 1906 depicts James and William Reid second and fourth from left. Their parents resided on Robbins Island for 43 years before they moved to Irishtown. There are more photos of the Reid family which can be found by using the search function on the Gallery webpage.
1 Comment
Heather Reid
14/6/2022 20:37:27
I’m so proud of my family for working so hard in such hard conditions.
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
HELLOThanks for checking in and welcome to my adventure Follow in Facebook to receive the latest updates
Archives
September 2020
Categories
All
worth watching |
|