Lorne Middens

A midden is a sacred site for Aboriginal people, as it represents a site where ancestors gathered to eat and cook the shellfish and seafood available along the coast. There is a midden near the South end of the old Coop building at Point Grey and another is about opposite the hospital on the foreshore along the Doug Stirling Track.

Scientific evidence shows that the Gadubanud language group gathered shellfish from rock platforms along our coastline. In the Lorne district there are eight middens and the study of these midden provide evidence of their diet and of the gathering places used by the Gadubanud people. These midden were formed over the past 2,500 years. Earlier middens were destroyed by ongoing coastal erosion and natural coastline regression.

Midden are old dumps of domestic waste containing evidence of Indigenous activities. They can include: the remains of hearths and cooking fires, tools made from stone, bone or shells, bones from land and sea animals used for food. In Lorne there are six middens, plus one at the St. George River and another at the Cumberland River; which is classified as being of high scientific significance. The midden at Point Grey contains a large variety of shellfish, mostly gastropods and two coastal flint artefacts. The shellfish composition is:

  • Sixty-five percent limpets
  • Twenty-five percent turbos
  • Five percent abalone
  • Five percent mussels

The Point Grey midden contains dark charcoal-rich soils indicating that fires were probably used to cook this food and also to provide warmth at this location. Anecdotal accounts and stories passed down to Indigenous peoples of the region tell of them spearing fish and using fishing lines with shaped bone as a hook.QQR Code

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