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Interview with Gordon 'Snowy' Maltman regarding the history of the Australian fishing industry (tape 2)
Date1989 - 1990
Object numberANMS0871[105]
NameInterview
MediumCompact disk and tape
Copyright© Murdoch University
ClassificationsBorn digital media
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Murdoch University
DescriptionA recorded interview (tape two) with Gordon 'Snowy' Maltman in Moorooka, Queensland, as part of a series titled 'History of the Australian Fishing Industry'. It contains information on vanishing bait, charter boats, Great Barrier Reef fishing, birthdays, fisherman's stew and stories, amateur catches, professionals versus amateurs, weather conditions, tourism on the Barrier Reef, the darks, passing on experience, long trace, smell of bait, the REGAN STAR, outer Barrier Reef; sweet lip, purchase of vessel, spoiled fish, cyclone, snap frozen fillets, sharks, coral trout, exploring reefs, naming lagoons and a shark story.HistorySnowy Maltman was widely known among the fishermen of Queensland. He was now almost 80 years of age when tis recorded interview took place but still had close links with the industry. He spent much time fishing around the Swains and on the southern end of the outer Barrier Reef, much of which he charted and named. Snowy was an enthusiast and in this interview shares much of his lifetime of experience in fishing. He operated charter boats for some years and had many stories to tell of that part of his career. He was also a professional fisherman and operated successfully a line fishing enterprise using doreys on the outer Reef.
In 1951 a story about Snowy apperaed in the Brisbane Telegraph;
"SNOWY MALTMAN, well-known reef fisherman and boatman, was taking a party of Scouts and Rovers down the Bay last week-end when he was called upon to tell them a true fishing story. He said he wouldn't tell them about his exploits, but
about one of his father's experiences. "Many years ago," he said, "my father was fishing from a dinghy when he hooked a whopper. He played it for three days and then it got away. And that accounts for the bends in the Brisbane River."
- Brisbane Telegraph, Saturday 16 June 1951.
This recorded interview with Snowy Maltman is part of a larger series produced as result of an oral history research project conducted by the Economics Department of Murdoch University and coordinated by Malcolm Tull. The project commissioned researchers in every Australian state to interview fishermen and others involved in catching, processing and marketing fish. Their research involved questions about daily work, personal memories of life in the Australian fishing industry as well as questions about the economics of the industry.
SignificanceThis collection of recorded interviews is significant in providing a comprehensive record of commercial fishing from the 1950s to the 1990s across Australia.
