Cooking Meats and Fish

Meats and Fish in Victorian Indigenous Life: Foods, Cooking, and Culture

MLA Educational Series — Country, Food, and Culture

For tens of thousands of years, Indigenous communities across Victoria harvested, cooked, and shared a wide range of meats and fish from forests, plains, rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. Animals such as kangaroo, emu, wallaby, possum, and wombat provided vital protein, fat, and material for tools, clothing, and ceremony (Howitt 1904; Clarke 2009).

Rivers like the Murray (Dhungala), Yarra (Birrarung), Barwon, and Glenelg were rich with eels, fish, and freshwater crayfish, while coastal peoples gathered shellfish, seals, and seabirds from the southern ocean (Museums Victoria 2023). Cooking methods — roasting in ashes, slow-baking in earth ovens, steaming in leaves, and smoking for preservation — reflected profound ecological knowledge and sustainable practice. These foodways nourished both body and spirit, reinforcing laws of respect, reciprocity, and connection to Country.

Land Animals: Hunting, Food, and Knowledge

The terrestrial environment of Victoria offered abundant game, hunted with spears, boomerangs, nets, and the strategic use of fire.

Kangaroo was a staple food and a symbol of generosity and skill. Hunters used coordinated drives to guide animals toward spears or nets. Meat was roasted over open coals, while tails — rich in collagen and flavour — were cooked slowly in ashes until tender. Whole kangaroos were sometimes baked in earth ovens for communal feasts (Howitt 1904). Nothing was wasted: hides became cloaks, bones became needles and tools, and sinew was used for bindings and cordage (Gott 2019).

Emu, another key species, provided lean meat, eggs, and valuable fat. Emu eggs were buried in coals and roasted until firm, while the fat was rendered and used for medicine and ceremonial body decoration (Clarke 2009). The emu also featured prominently in cosmological stories across south-eastern Australia, including the Emu in the Sky constellation, connecting seasonal food cycles to star knowledge.

Possums, abundant in forested regions, were hunted at night and roasted over coals. Their soft pelts were sewn into cloaks, particularly in cooler southern regions like Wadawurrung and Wurundjeri Country. Smaller marsupials such as wallabies, bandicoots, and wombats were hunted with dogs or driven into traps using low fire burns — a practice that also managed vegetation and promoted grass regrowth (Pascoe 2014).

These hunting systems reflected the principle of balance: taking only what was needed, sharing with kin, and maintaining renewal through seasonally timed harvests.

Aquatic Foods: Eels, Fish, and Shellfish

Victoria’s waterways sustained some of the oldest and most sophisticated aquaculture systems in the world.

Eels (Anguilla australis), central to Gunditjmara culture at Budj Bim, were trapped in complex stone and channel systems that directed flow between wetlands and lakes. These systems — over 6,000 years old — supported semi-permanent villages and trade networks (UNESCO 2019). Eels were speared or netted, then roasted or smoked over slow-burning fires for preservation. Smoked eel became an important trade commodity exchanged with inland groups (Museums Victoria 2023).

Fish such as Murray cod, bream, perch, and freshwater crayfish were caught with spears, woven nets, and fish weirs along the Murray (Dhungala), Loddon, and Yarra rivers. In Wadawurrung Country, fish were often wrapped in paperbark or clay before cooking in coals, which sealed in moisture and imparted a subtle smoky flavour (Clarke 2009).

Shellfish and crustaceans formed a key part of coastal and estuarine diets, particularly among the Boon Wurrung and Gunaikurnai peoples. Mussels, abalone, oysters, and crayfish were roasted on hot stones or steamed in earth ovens. The massive shell middens still visible along Victoria’s coastlines stand as enduring cultural records of thousands of years of sustainable harvesting (Gott 2019).

Seals and seabirds, including penguins and muttonbirds, were taken in moderation along coastal rocks and islands. Their oils were used in both diet and ceremony, reflecting a broader cosmology where land and sea were interconnected.

Cooking and Preservation Techniques

Cooking was both a practical and ceremonial act, blending firecraft, observation, and environmental care.

Open Fire Roasting
Most meats and fish were cooked over glowing embers or hot stones, producing simple, smoky meals. Skewered meats were rotated to ensure even cooking, and this method was central to daily life across all Nations.

Earth Ovens
For larger feasts, earth ovens (ground ovens) were constructed by digging a pit, lining it with hot stones, and layering in leaves, bark, and food. Meat, fish, and tubers were placed inside, covered with soil, and slow-baked. This produced tender, flavourful food ideal for communal gatherings (Howitt 1904).

Smoking
Smoking served both culinary and preservation purposes. Eels and fish were suspended above smouldering fires for days, creating food that could last for weeks — essential for travel and trade (UNESCO 2019).

Ash Cooking and Leaf Steaming
Small animals, eggs, and roots were buried directly in hot ashes to cook quickly. Leaf steaming — using green reeds or paperbark — infused foods with moisture and aroma, showcasing a culinary sophistication that paralleled modern slow-cooking techniques (Clarke 2009).

These methods reflected precise control over temperature, time, and resource use — an Indigenous science grounded in observation and deep familiarity with natural materials.

Cultural Dimensions of Food and Law

Food was central to community, law, and ceremony. Many animals and fish were also totemic beings, embodying ancestral identities and responsibilities. Individuals could not hunt or eat their own totem species — a practice that reinforced ecological restraint and social ethics (Atkinson 2002).

Feasts accompanied important gatherings such as corroborees, initiations, and trade exchanges, where food was shared according to kinship law. Seasonal patterns of hunting and fishing aligned with natural indicators — the flowering of wattle or the migration of birds signalling when eels, emus, or certain fish were ready to harvest.

This cyclical knowledge formed part of what Clarke (2009) calls an “ecological calendar,” where time was measured not by months but by the behaviour of Country itself.

Nutrition and Ecological Science

Traditional diets in Victoria were exceptionally balanced, combining lean meats with roots, fruits, seeds, and greens. Kangaroo, emu, and fish provided high protein and low fat, with omega-3 levels comparable to modern seafood (Gott 2019). Eel fat was particularly valued in cooler regions, offering dense energy and essential fatty acids.

Indigenous cooking methods such as smoking and roasting preserved nutrients while reducing spoilage. Modern nutritional studies have confirmed that such diets — low in refined carbohydrates and rich in natural proteins — supported physical endurance and long-term health (Museums Victoria 2023). These findings align with contemporary understandings of “paleo” or ancestral nutrition, though rooted in far older, place-based systems of knowledge.

Impact of Colonisation

The arrival of European settlers disrupted Indigenous food systems at every level. Damming, overfishing, and grazing degraded river ecosystems and grasslands (Pascoe 2014). Traditional hunting and fishing rights were restricted by colonial law, while mission life replaced native foods with rations of wheat flour, sugar, and salted meat — leading to malnutrition and illness (Atkinson 2002).

The introduction of livestock displaced native animals, and pollution from industry contaminated wetlands and coasts. Despite these losses, oral traditions and cultural memory preserved the knowledge of hunting, cooking, and sharing — knowledge now being actively reclaimed through cultural revival.

Revival and Cultural Renewal

Today, Victorian Indigenous communities are restoring ancestral food practices through education, heritage programs, and land management. On Gunditjmara Country, eel smoking and aquaculture are once again being practised at Budj Bim, integrating traditional and ecological knowledge. Wadawurrung and Wurundjeri groups host community workshops demonstrating fire-based cooking, basket-weaving for fish traps, and the ethics of shared hunting (Museums Victoria 2023).

In modern bushfood enterprises and tourism ventures, traditional ingredients such as kangaroo, emu, and freshwater fish are celebrated alongside native herbs and vegetables — reconnecting food with story, land, and identity. These initiatives not only revitalise ancient culinary traditions but also contribute to sustainable, culturally led industries and ecological restoration.

Conclusion

Meats and fish in Victorian Indigenous culture represent more than nutrition — they embody law, respect, and reciprocity. Each meal told a story of Country: kangaroo feasts shared in the plains, eels smoked in Gunditjmara wetlands, shellfish roasted along the Boon Wurrung coast. Colonisation sought to sever these ties, but the knowledge endures — in language, ceremony, and practice. Cooking with fire, earth, and smoke today is an act of reclamation: feeding the body, healing the land, and renewing the spirit of connection between people and Country.

References

Atkinson, J 2002, Trauma Trails: Recreating Song Lines, Spinifex Press, Melbourne.
Clarke, PA 2009, Australian Aboriginal Ethnobotany: An Overview, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
Gott, B 2019, The Yam Daisy: A History of Aboriginal Plant Use in Victoria, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra.
Howitt, AW 1904, The Native Tribes of South-East Australia, Macmillan, London.
Museums Victoria 2023, Aboriginal Hunting, Fishing and Cooking Collections, Museums Victoria, Melbourne.
Pascoe, B 2014, Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture, Magabala Books, Broome.
UNESCO 2019, Budj Bim Cultural Landscape, World Heritage Centre, Paris

Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter (22 October 2025)

MLA

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Magic Lands Alliance acknowledges the Traditional Owners, Custodians, and First Nations communities across Australia and internationally. We honour their enduring connection to the sky, land, waters, language, and culture. We pay respect to Elders past, present, and emerging, and to all First Peoples’ communities and language groups. This article draws only on publicly available information; many cultural practices remain the intellectual property of their respective communities.