The Garigal Clan had experienced another beautiful summer’s day at Tdjudibaring Bulbararing and were stoking the cooking fires - the camp fires for the Elders, the Women and children’s camp, the Mens’ camp and the Communal Circle where they were all going to gather after eating. In the Summer - or in this instance the season of the Salmon - the Clan liked to camp in the northern corner of Tdjudibaring, on and around the massive Midden that was the northern sand dune in the lee of the great headland, Bulbararing. They slept under the stars on warm summer nights. The children were taught all the names and stories of the Ancestral Beings up there, looking over them in protection. They learned of the Mirabooka (Milky Way); The Dark Emu; The Seven Sisters and many more. Everyone was taught to Recognise the Creator, Biaimi, and what his movements in the sky meant for the seasonal movements of the Clan.

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The Tdjudibaring midden was thousands of years old. The Clan had camped and eaten their fish, lobsters, crabs. oysters, pippies, cunjevoi and spiny sea urchins amongst other things and left the bones and shells on the dune. The winds coming over the dune would then cover those remains with a layer of sand and thus the dune would gradually grow higher and higher each year. This day had been a particularly good one for the tuckerbox. The signal fires on top of Bulbararing and Mourawaring alerted the mob to the huge school of baitfish being followed by the salmon, bonito and kingfish early in the morning. The large ocean- going bark canoes were launched ready to spear and net a feed while the Guparr (Dolphin) callers were slapping the water near the shore for some help from the local pod in herding the massive school towards the shore so the men and women could spear and net fish in the holes along the shoreline and share the catch with the Gupaar.

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Meanwhile, Elders and children went in search of food on the rock platform underneath the southern cliffs of Bulbararing. They methodically searched the holes and dived off the rocks to gather food such as oysters, tritons, abalone, cunjevoi, striped periwinkle lobsters and crabs. Others ventured north behind the dune into the freshwater billabong where they collected swan and duck eggs including ducks for the cooking fires. Eels and snakes were plentiful as evidenced by the name of the bay, Allagai - place of snakes/eels - and they were added to the menu for that night. Others still used the smaller bark canoes in and around the lagoon where the women fished with handlines with shell hooks and line woven from stringybark and younger men practiced their spearing skills with multi-pronged 3m fish gigs.

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As the fires grew into the late afternoon all the food was gathered for the feast. Everything was shared. Meat was cut using oyster shell blades, stone flake knives and sharp stone axes. The Elders were served first followed by their sons and daughters as the Warrior Men and Fisher Women and so on until the children had their turn last. Then the Story Telling began. Funny incidents of the day’s activities were related and often turned into a dance or song. The Song Men and Women would sing songs to Country, to the Ancestors, to the Spirits who were all around, to Biaimi the Creator for protection and respect.