This Dharug season is hot and thirsty, around March – April
Creeks and rivers criss-cross Sydney’s Cumberland Plain, allowing barra (eels) to move from the inland rivers to the coast after the hottest part of the year.
Audio transcript
Yuruga Burra.
Yuruga means 'hot' and Burra means 'sky' in Dharug dalang or Dharug language.
Each year Barra (or eel) move from the rivers to the south east coast of Australia after the hottest part of the year.
They travel from Burramatta River through the rivers and creeks of the Cumberland Plain.
They are said to have a genetic memory giving them the ability to swim in freshwater and move easily into the saltwater of the oceans.
They can also move from water onto land. They have been known to climb over and under concrete barriers.
Barra are a delicacy to many Aboriginal people, and one of the Dharug creator beings.
Their meat is preserved by smoking it in a hollow of a large white gum tree, before we set off to travel.
Burra are at their fattest when the weather has been really warm, making this a time for saltwater and freshwater people to gather for ceremony.