The historical descriptions provide very little specific information about how shell fish-hooks were made. However, they indicate that part of the process was grinding the shell into shape with a stone. Archaeological research has identified more clearly the shells which were used and the process by which the shell fish-hooks were made.

Finished and partially-made shell fish-hooks and 'blanks' cut from heavy turban shells in readiness for making hooks have been found in several Aboriginal middens in the Sydney region.

The archaeological record suggests there were five stages to making a shell fish-hook:

Stage 1: one or more oval-shaped 'blanks' were cut from each shell. The edges of these blanks were partly smoothed by filing.

Stage 2: the outer (convex) surface of the blank was ground down, probably on a flat stone, until its centre was very thin or worn through.

Stage 3: a hole was made (if the centre was not worn through) or enlarged (if the centre was worn through) by chipping out the thinned centre of the shell until there was only a ring of shell left.

Stage 4: the rough shape of the final fish-hook was formed by removing a small part of the ring.

Stage 5: the final hook is formed by filing the inside smooth, finishing the point and notching the longer end where the line was tied.

Small, pointed ground stone files (often referred to as fish-hook files) which were used in making the hooks, have been found in shell middens of the same age and geographic distribution as the shell fish-hooks. These files were also used to work wood and perhaps bone.

Fishing equipment

Finished and partially-made shell fish-hooks and 'blanks' cut from Heavy Turban shells from shell middens around Port Jackson and Botany Bay.

'Their hooks are commonly made from the inside, or mother of pearl, of different shells. The talons of birds, such as those of hawks, they sometimes make this use of, but the former are considered best.'

Captain John Hunter, 1793