River an ‘angler’s paradise’
12 COLLIE RIVER VALLEY BULLETIN, MARCH 23, 2023
MUSEUM MORSELS Contributer: TOM REARDON MR L LE SOUEF, of the Acclimatisation Society, suggested in an interview with a Collie Miner correspondent in early 1908 that the Collie River was an angler’s paradise. In order to understand the role of Mr L Le Souef it is important to know something about the society. The Western Australian Acclimatisation Society’s committee first met in 1896. It had two roles. One was to introduce animals from Europe into the Australian wild and the other was to establish a zoological garden. In an early report to the WA Parliament, in 1898, president John Winthrop Hackett described the committee's progress in introducing such species as deer, oysters, eels and pheasants. He wrote in the report: “Being convinced that the conditions of the colony are specially fitted for the acclimatisation of deer, the committee is making every endeavour to procure some of these beautiful and useful animals from the other Australian colonies. An application has also been made to Her Majesty the
Queen for a gift of Red, Fallow and Roe Deer." Also listed on the report were “laughing jackasses”, which these days are better known as kookaburras. "Twenty-nine giant kingfishers or laughing-jackasses, have been received, and most of them have been liberated in various localities," Hackett wrote. While kookaburras are native to Australia, they were only found on the east coast until the society's decision to import them to WA. At the time the society in WA was founded, scientists in the Eastern States had already begun to realise that introducing species to new areas and countries might not be a good idea. In 1897, the committee had invited the Director of Melbourne Zoo, Albert Le Souef, to select a site for the zoological garden. Mr Le Souef chose the current South Perth site and his son, Ernest, was appointed as director and work began in June 1897. On October 17, 1898, the Zoological Gardens were opened by the Governor of West Australia, Lieutenant Colonel Sir Gerard Smith. On Thursday January 28, 1908, Mr Lancelot Le Souef visited Collie with the idea of seeing how the English Perch, which had been “liberated” by the society some seven years before, had acclimatised, and to verify reports of the species being caught in the Collie River. Once his investigation was completed, he would then be able to report back to the committee on the advisability or otherwise of throwing the river open to fishing. To reach a conclusion Le Souef undertook tests using a set net specially constructed for this task. It was an experimental net as the first time it was used was in the Collie River and according to Le Souef, it proved very successful. The test concluded that the waters of the Collie River were stocked with perch.
"O taste and see that the Lord is good..." Psa 34:8
COALFIELDS BAPTIST CHURCH
invites you to our monthly "taste and see" free Lunch
4th Sunday of every month (next event 26th Mar) 43 Venn St Collie
10am morning service followed by early lunch All ages welcome
IDYLLIC: Perch fishing on the Collie River. However, it was too early to reach the same conclusion about carp and tench. It would appear that from around the time of its formation, the acclimatisation committee had been working towards getting all the southern waters of Western Australia stocked with edible fish and, after numerous experiments, it had been found that the fish most suitable for the waters in the south were the English perch. Large numbers of trout had been placed in different rivers and streams but by 1908 there was no trace of them and so it was concluded that the waters of the south were not suitable for trout. It was therefore decided to concentrate on stocking the rivers with perch. What is of interest here is that years later a trout farm would be established on the Collie River. It seems that prior to his visit to the South-West, large numbers of perch had been reported in the railway dam at Chidlow’s Wells. This dam was stocked with perch and the residents in the three months of April, May and June of 1907 took out over nine hundred kilograms of perch. An official test of this dam using rods caught over 20 kilograms of perch. Because of the large number of small fish caught in the dam it was decided to transport a lot of these to other rivers in the South-West. It had been found that streams stocked with fish in the 1890s had fish in them. However, because of the abundance of other food in the rivers, the perch were not hungry enough to be attracted by bait on a line. Le Souef suggested that once this food supply was not as plentiful, the bait on a line would become attractive to perch. He concluded that the government had
always supported the work of the society because it recognised that country waters were “at present absolutely valueless”. It was the belief of the government that rivers should be made productive, giving both food and pleasure to the inhabitants who abided by these waterways. It was the belief of the Society that hunting and shooting as a sport were losing popularity because the animals hunted such as kangaroos were fast being culled and that very soon sport other than fishing would be an unknown quantity. If fishing as a recreation was to survive, Mr Le Souef suggested that size limits should be placed on catches and small fish be allowed to grow. He was in high praise for the Collie Anglers’ Society which had helped the acclimatisation society in any way it could to ensure his work was completed. Members had assisted him on all his ventures on the waterways. It is worth printing his remarks about the Collie River as he found it in 1908: “The Collie River is literally one of the finest rivers in the State. "I have seen nearly all of them but rarely seen such a stretch of water as the Minninup Pool, extending four and a half miles. It will be of much use to publish photos of this stretch of water because very few people have any idea at all that there is such a magnificent expanse of water, the prevailing idea being that the river is just a series of little water holes which dry up in summer. “When that stretch of water is thoroughly stocked with fish, it will be equal to giving Collie a good fish supply and fishermen all they want.” Could this be said of the Collie River in 2023, I wonder?
