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Catalyst: Indigenous eel farming

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Indigenous man stands in front of stone ruin
Catalyst: Indigenous eel farming

SUBJECTS:  Science

YEARS:  5–6


Discover a method for catching eels while watching how archaeologist Dr Heather Builth works scientifically at Lake Condah.

She works to determine whether the Gunditjmara community were truly nomadic or used advanced farming techniques to support their way of life.


Things to think about

  1. 1.Imagine if you wanted to catch an eel. What would you build to catch them? Now imagine if an ancient indigenous community was farming eels thousands of years ago. What evidence might you look for in the landscape?
  2. 2.What were some of the clues that led Dr Builth to consider that the Gunditjmara community had farmed the area for eels? Why did Dr Builth measure up all of the surrounding land?
  3. 3.How was computer technology used to help Dr Builth solve the mystery of Lake Condah? How did the results of Dr Builth's research provide evidence that the Gunditjmara community may have developed farms?
  4. 4.Build your own model of an eel trap. You could even show it in place in a model of the Lake Condah region.


Acknowledgements

Image credit: 171:365 'Reflections at Lake Condah', courtesy brittgow (Flickr).


Date of broadcast: 13 Mar 2003


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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