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Wallabies, echidna, possums, quail, pigeons, parrots, geese, spoonbills, snakes, lizards, and many other birds, mammals and reptiles were taken as game and cooked for their flesh. 

Fish and Shellfish

Fish  Mullet, Whiting, Flounder, Flathead, Salmon, Trevally, Tommy-rough and many other species were speared and netted, particularly along tidal flats and in estuaries. 

Kooderoo (abalone)  These are an important source of protein and are cooked on a fire in the shell, or are eaten raw.  Kooderoo cooked in their shell on the fire have a wonderful texture and taste.

Wi-ity (rock lobster) Due to overfishing, these are not as numerous today as before, but were easily captured in rock pools, where discreet fishing ensured a constant supply of fish (females were rarely eaten). 

Warrener (turbot shell)  The green intestine of the turbot shell does not look too flash, but has a delicious flavour.  These are cooked in the shell and picked out later with a 'Leather Jacket' spine or a fine wallaby bone.

Eugarie (pippi shell)  These white bi-valve shells are collected from surf beaches and are carried back to camp and cooked directly on the fire.  They are as good a taste as you’ll ever find.  The shells are discovered by grinding the feet into the sand.  When one shell is found, the area is dug out with the hands, and usually hundreds of shells are then uncovered.  Wathaurong people were very particular about how many shells were taken from an area at any one time, but today the shellfish is becoming increasingly rare due to the habit of white fishermen using shovels and filling up their ‘utilities’.  The pippi is sold as a fish bait, most people being unaware of its high nutritional and culinary values.

Bruce Pascoe
Wathaurong Co-operative