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Division of labour
Both men and women caught fish but each used different equipment: men used multi-pronged fishing spears, called fizz-gigs by British colonists, while women used a hook and line. The men fished from rock platforms and canoes while the women fished only from canoes. The division of labour can be seen in many of the historical images. In A Family of New South Wales, the man carries fishing spears while the woman carries a hook and line, some fish and a net bag in which she carries a variety of objects including fishing equipment. (A Family of New South Wales published in John Hunter, 1793) Shell fish-hooks were first used along the NSW central and south coasts around 900 years ago. Their introduction would have led to substantial changes in the food-gathering patterns of both men and women during this period. Watercolours from the period show women fishing in canoes, people eating fish around a campfire outside a bark shelter and a 'family' carrying the equipment they used in their daily lives. The frequent, and possibly incorrect, attribution of these watercolours to Governor King (Phillip Gidley King, the elder) is based solely on the caption to the etching A Family of New South Wales published in John Hunter, 1793. It is also on this basis that they are often dated between 1788 and 1792.
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